MAM
Casbaa organises TV Upfront in Manila
MUMBAI: Casbaa‘s TV Upfronts road show 2012 landed in Manila this month with a programme of ad sales presentations for agencies, clients and media. The Philippines Screenings followed similar engagements in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
A showcase for pay-TV networks to screen their upcoming programming. The Philippines Screenings included presentations from BBC Worldwide, Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, History, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting.
The enthusiastic audience included agencies MediaCom, Mindshare, OMD, PHD, Starcom, Maxus, MEC and ZenithOptimedia, along with audience data providers AGB Nielsen and Kantar Media. The range of clients ran from senior buyers from Samsonite to P&G Philippines.
SkyCable chairman Eugenio Lopez III said, “The upscale consumer is one of the most difficult to reach and engage. Cable TV allows for the regularity of reaching this young, affluent, urban audience. Brands that are premium in nature, or that seek to create aspirational imagery, need to reach out to this segment of the market. Companies that do business with upscale consumers should recognise the power of the platform.”
Casbaa CEO Christopher Slaughter said, “The Philippines has incredible growth potential. The multichannel TV market is expected to benefit from economic development in the coming years, attracting more advertisers looking to target an economically advancing population.”
With approximately 7.6 million television homes in the country‘s urban areas, Metro Manila accounts for nearly half of TV households, where TV penetration exceeds 95 per cent.
“The growth potential of the pay-TV market is extremely favourable especially as multichannel TV digitizes and offers services beyond simply a greater choice of content but also high-definition programming and interactive services,” said Slaughter.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
