AD Agencies
First Partners wins communications mandate for Games24x7
Mumbai: First Partners has won the communications mandate for Games24x7. First Partners will be responsible for managing the brand reputation for Games24x7.
Founded by New York University trained economists Bhavin Pandya and Trivikraman Thampy in 2006, Games24x7 is one of the fastest-growing online gaming companies in India with more than a hundred million users. Backed by marquee investors like Tiger Global, The Raine Group, and Malabar Investment, the company specializes in using behavioural science, technology, and artificial intelligence to provide a best-in-class playing experience across all its platforms.
Speaking on the partnership, Games24x7 director communication Neha Singhvi said, “The online skill-gaming sector has witnessed an upward trend in the last few years and as the pioneers in the industry, we were looking for a communications partner who can provide a fresh and innovative approach for powerful storytelling.”
“We look forward to collaborating with the dynamic communication team at First Partners and using their domain knowledge & expertise in developing strategic campaigns that stand out before relevant industry stakeholders,” she added.
Atul Ahluwalia, Founding Partner, First Partners, said, “We are excited to partner with Games24x7 in shaping the emerging category of skill based digital games in India. This sunrise sector needs a holistic mix of expertise in reputation management, business outcome communication, and advocacy to get its due which our team at First Partners finds stimulating.”
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.
