MAM
CNN stretches reach among the affluent Asians
HONG KONG: CNN is continuing to build cachet among the well heeled Asians. Its audiences earned US$79.9 billion in the past year according to the latest Pan Asia Cross Media Survey (PAX 2002/03).
The results of the full-year survey also show CNN’s continued leadership of the news genre for the seventh consecutive year. More viewers tuned in than all other international news and business channels combined.
PAX 2002/03, conducted by Synovate from July 2002 to June 2003, reveals that CNN is the leading channel for the top management group and business decision makers. It attracted 39 per cent more top management in Asia than the next most targeted channel for this elite group. An official release adds that PAX also showed that CNN excels in the broader PAX demographic groups, with no channel reaching more viewers in total than CNN.
Turner International Asia Pacific senior VP ad sales Nick Morgan said, “For the seventh year running, CNN leads the field in reaching this region’s most affluent consumers. Synovate’s 2003 PAX results underline yet again, that CNN is essential viewing. Busy, successful people who don’t have time for television, make time for CNN, in order to stay informed.”
Turner International Asia Pacfic’s Research VP Duncan Morris added, “Based on the PAX survey findings for the top 10 Asia Pacific markets in income terms, it’s clear that CNN remains the most targeted means of reaching a high proportion of the region’s more affluent, mobile and successful people. We continue to rely on Synovate’s PAX survey for it is thorough and continuous coverage of these difficult-to-reach demographic groups. This is something that other measurement methods are not equipped to do.”
CNN also continues to be the channel of choice for frequent business travelers. PAX 2002/03 reveals that CNN is the most effective channel in attracting these hard-to-reach viewers. The new results from PAX show that CNN viewers accounted for 28 per cent more business hotel nights than the next most watched channel.
The survey sample universe consisted of business decision-makers, top management and affluent adults aged between 25 and 64 in the surveyed markets. PAX 2002/03 is the first full year of continuous tracking, providing an annual database updated quarterly to show the trends over time.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
