MAM
Mary George Parayil appointed as principal – Kantar Analytics India
Mumbai: Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, has appointed Mary George Parayil as principal – Kantar Analytics India. Parayil has been a part of Kantar Analytics for the last 10 years, having managed global engagements as part of the global analytics hub in Bengaluru before taking on the responsibility of the Indian market. Parayil’s expanded responsibilities confirm the company’s continued growth trajectory in the market.
Recent additions to the analytics portfolio include UMMO (Unified Marketing Measurement & Optimization), a cookie-less unified measurement solution that provides highly scalable, AI-powered, unified measurement of online and offline media, and Digital Mirror, an NLP-based digital analytics solution that decodes digital footprints using AI, helping brands to understand people more holistically – from unknown personality traits to emerging trends and detailed media consumption habits.
Kantar executive managing director South Asia – insights division Deepender Rana commented, “Our clients already use the power and precision of Kantar’s analytics solutions to answer critical business questions. Clients use our pricing analytics offer to enhance profitability and combat inflation. CrossMedia helps allocate campaign budgets across media for optimal brand outcomes. Our AI-infused solutions are a natural evolution of our offer. Link AI is helping our clients test hundreds of creative assets, including digital ones, cost-efficiently in a matter of hours. UMMO uses AI for real-time advice on media allocation to optimise short- and long-term sales. Advanced technology capability is core to Kantar’s differentiation, and we will continue to invest in this area, helping businesses grow with speed and profitability.”
Kantar MD & chief client officer South Asia – insights division Soumya Mohanty said, “Kantar in India is the leader in brand measurement, and as our client teams work closely with Mary, it will further amplify our ability to provide end to end solutions to modern-day brand problems.”
In her new role, Parayil will report into Kantar lead – innovation South Asia – insights division Ranjana Gupta and will continue to be based in Bengaluru.
Kantar Analytics is a global network of over 1,500 data scientists, analytics consultants, technologists, and designers. Kantar’s analytics offer delivers world-class thinking, innovative technology, and solutions to help clients achieve differentiation across the entire marketing journey.
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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.
