MAM
Govt’s algorithm-monitored ICPS will foster data R&D
MUMBAI: Minister of state for science & technology Y. S. Chowdary on Thursday inaugurated Aegis Data Science Congress 2017 at CIDCO Convention Center, New Mumbai. Hosted by Aegis School of Data Science, it is a one of its kind three-day conference on Big Data and Analytics.
Chowdary spoke about the recent initiatives by the Govt. of India in the field of Data Science. “Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India recently launched a new programme called Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS) to foster, and promote R&D in the emerging field of research. CPS is a mechanism controlled or monitored by computer-based algorithms, tightly integrated with internet and its users.”
The minister added: “Realising its importance, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India is offering financial support to research projects under Big Data Initiative (BDI). The government’s Skill India Initiative is aimed at increasing the competencies and average productivity. The flagship programmes of Govt. of India such as Digital India, Digital Village, and Smart Cities are data intensive, and use data and they generate data that has commercial value. Such data opens opportunities for start-ups and entrepreneurial development.”
Aegis School CEO Bhupesh Daheria explained, “Data Science Congress is aimed to bring India at the center of hub for skills and research in the fields of Data Science, Analytics, Big Data, AI, Machine Learning, Cyber Security and IOT. We have the largest talent pool of mathematicians and coders which can be groomed for these disruptive high growth fields, and we must showcase them at international forums like the Data Science Congress.”
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.
