MAM
IAA to host panel discussion on gender sensitisation in media on 27 July
Mumbai: The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) is all set to host a high-powered virtual panel discussion with leaders of the Marcom industry on 27 July. The session on- ‘Gender in media and the impact on children and their future’ will begin at 3:30 pm.
Discovery Communications India MD-South Asia and IAA president, Megha Tata, said, “A few weeks ago we released the top lines of the results of a unique market research conducted on 1,000 Indian advertisements by UNICEF and the Geena Davis Foundation. The IAA had facilitated this important research on gender representation in Indian advertising. On 27 July, UNICEF will present the results in depth, and then there will be a discussion on the implication of these findings on gender in media and the impact on children and their future. This will truly represent the industry as the Voice of Change.”
The panelists include AAAI treasurer and Havas Group CEO, India, Rana Barua, ASCI chairman and BBH and Publicis Worldwide, India, chairman Subhash Kamath, BYJU’S head of marketing, Atit Mehta, filmmaker, artist and writer Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Ogilvy India chief creative officer, Kainaz Karmakar and Population First director Dr A L Sharada and Viacom18, head- Hindi Mass Entertainment and Kids TV Network, Nina Elavia Jaipuria, and UNICEF, senior advisor Shreyasi Jha.
Speaking about the initiative, Viacom18 head – Hindi Mass Entertainment and Kids TV Network and IAA co-chair – Women Empowerment Committee, Nina Elavia Jaipuria, said, “Conversations and actions go hand in hand when tackling an issue as important and nuanced as gender representation in media and its impact. We are thus bringing together leaders across the ecosystem who can not only identify the change in discourse needed but also have the power to actually bring about that change.”
“Gender-related stereotypes are formed at a very young age and prevent adolescents and young people from reaching their full potential. Advertising and media, more broadly, play a key role in forming and perpetuating stereotypes. UNICEF is delighted to be the knowledge partner with IAA and its members for this important event that is the beginning of a very important journey to promote positive gender roles and practices through advertising so every young person can live a life free from stereotypes and achieve their full potential” says UNICEF, senior advisor, Shreyasi Jha.
The discussion has UNICEF as its knowledge partner, Colors as the industry partner, Havas Group as an Associate partner, and Clutter Cutters as the on-ground knowledge partner.
Registration link: https://bit.ly/IAAVoiceOf
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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.
