MAM
Crunchyroll and Sony Music present new podcast ‘Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect’
Mumbai: Crunchyroll, the ultimate anime destination for global fans, and Sony Music Entertainment are launching Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect, a weekly roundtable podcast spotlighting anime’s influence on the broader cultural zeitgeist. The Anime Effect will be available worldwide in English on all major podcast platforms beginning 16 February with new episodes every Friday.
You can listen to the trailer and subscribe to get notified when episodes drop here:
https://listen.sonymusic-podcasts.link/YX4u4bla?at=1010l396Y
As anime has exploded in global popularity, its influence can be seen on the screen and in fashion, sports, gaming, music and beyond… and not just on Crunchyroll. With coverage from the award-winning Crunchyroll News team as a throughline, Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect goes beyond specific shows and popular characters just on Crunchyroll to delve into anime’s growing impact across popular culture.
The weekly podcast is hosted by Crunchyroll’s own in-house, resident anime experts – Nicholas Friedman, LeAlec Murray, and Leah President. The show is a lively mixture of roundtable news and discussion with Crunchyroll hosts and special guests as they debate hot topics, provide recommendations, and tackle fan questions.
“The Anime Effect is a natural extension of our current Crunchyroll News program and a place where fans can dive deeper into everything anime and celebrate it regardless of what platform or service it is on,” said Crunchyroll’s chief operating officer Gita Rebbapragada. “Whether you watch anime every day or are a casual viewer, this podcast is a must-listen.”
Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect is available at launch as an audio show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts, and as a video show on Crunchyroll and YouTube with additional platforms – including the Crunchyroll Channel – coming in 2024. Crunchyroll Premium subscribers will also be able to watch the ad-free video show weekly on the Crunchyroll app.
Podcast Hosts:
Nicholas Friedman is a career journalist who lives in the anime world. As Publisher of Crunchyroll News, Nick sits at the center of the anime culture conversation, from the latest breaking updates to the deepest dives into what fans are talking about.
LeAlec Murray is a podcaster and pop culture enthusiast. With 15-plus years of experience in the anime and gaming industry, he lives his life one pixel at a time. LeAlec currently works as a Brand Manager at Crunchyroll, helping to bring to life the anime you see every day.
Leah President is a writer, editor and longtime acolyte of geek culture. From a background as a broadcast producer (but with a secret soft heart), they would rather be crying over shojo manga or picking only the “good” options in an RPG. Leah works as a partnerships manager, bringing fans from all over the world home to Crunchyroll.
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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.
