MAM
COVID-19 not to impact quarter registers much: INOX
NEW DELHI: The ongoing crisis because of the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has been impacting global businesses adversely. In India, several places, including Delhi, Bangalore, and Maharashtra, have taken actions like shutting down malls and cinema halls to control the epidemic that has taken more than seven thousand lives globally. Along with it, several big production houses have deferred the releases of films, including Sooryavanshi and A Quiet Place 2, to contain the situation. Additionally, the box office numbers were below average for latest releases Baaghi 3 and English Medium.
This certainly is straining the business of cinema houses and can appear as a red mark in their cash registers when the quarter closes. However, the officials at INOX are not bothered about monetary losses right now and are hoping that they will be able to make up for it when the situation settles down. In an exclusive interaction with Indiantelevision.com, INOX revealed, “Our financials are a function of content. The better the content, the better will be the numbers. The quarter so far has seen the influence of good content, moderate content, and health-related concerns. We completely respect and appreciate the health concerns, and hope that we are able to compensate their hunger for cinematic entertainment once the concerns wane off.”
The cinema chain is positive that after this momentary glitch, people flock the cinemas once normalcy settles. “There is no doubt that the current situation demands a lot of our attention and focus, and therefore, we are channelising and committing our energies into ensuring a safe and healthy cinema-viewing experience for our guests. But at the same time, we firmly believe that with all the precautions and medical know-how, collectively, we will see through this impermanent phase. Thanks to the unparalleled passion and love for the cinemas, we have always been extremely optimistic about the business. Once the situation normalises, and the movie releases get back on their schedule, we are sure that our guests will start thronging the cinemas as they do always.”
For those cinema houses that are still functioning across the country, INOX is taking special preventive measures to take care of the health of their employees and customers. “We have increased the frequency of our housekeeping and daily deep cleaning routines. Disinfectants are being used for sanitising and wiping all touchpoints like food countertops, box office counters, armrests, grab rails, door handles & knobs, light switches, and other frequently used equipment. Kitchen stewarding processes have been intensified and are being carried out with utmost care,” said an Inox spokesperson.
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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.
