MAM
GroupM banks on Vishal Jacob to choreograph its AI future
MUMBAI: Digital marketing heavyweight Vishal Jacob has taken on a new role as president of AI & digital solutions at Choreograph India, part of the GroupM family, after nearly five years at Wavemaker India.
The veteran, whose career has spanned the rollercoaster ride of India’s digital transformation from the dotcom crash to today’s data-driven marketing landscape, will now lead GroupM India’s artificial intelligence charter while crafting integrated digital solutions for clients.
“I’ll be working closely with the digital leadership teams to drive smarter outcomes for clients,” said Jacob in his announcement. “I’m excited to be at the intersection of innovation and impact.”
Jacob brings over two decades of digital marketing experience to the role, having served as chief digital officer and chief transformation officer at Wavemaker. His CV boasts an impressive list of past roles at GroupM, Maxus, The Upper Storey, Mindshare Interaction and Smile Interactive Technologies.
His previous achievements include transforming an eight-member team into a 100-strong digital powerhouse that garnered recognition at global awards including the Festival of Media, M&M Global and World Media Awards.
A certified coach from ICF with specialisations in transactional analysis and NLP, Jacob has built his reputation on connecting brands with consumers through integrated ecosystems of paid, owned and earned properties—a talent GroupM will now leverage as it dances into the AI era.
As traditional agencies scramble to embrace artificial intelligence, Jacob’s appointment signals GroupM’s determination not to miss a step in the industry’s latest transformation jig.
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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.
