MAM
Maxus strengthen top brass; Priti Murthy upped as chief strategy officer
MUMBAI: Global communications consultancy firm Maxus has promoted Priti Murthy as chief strategy officer in order to strengthen its top brass.
Maxus managing director Kartik Sharma said, “Over the years Priti Murthy has built a strong insights team across offices who are working tirelessly to raise the bar. Priti’s contribution to the business is exemplary and the 2014 award wins for data, research and analytic across forums is a testimony of great work being done by team Insights across clients under her leadership. One can definitely expect very interesting breakthrough initiatives from Priti and her team very soon. A proven leader she will be leading and constructing quite a few cutting edge engagement initiatives for us.”
In her new role, Murthy will be working towards building the Maxus product focusing on Insights, effectiveness and behavior change projects through Moribus, its behavioral science unit for delivering client delight. Additionally she will also be working closely with the Maxus APAC regional planning team in developing new methods and techniques for strengthening our communications planning offering.
Murthy added, “I am delighted to come on board as the chief strategy officer at Maxus. I am sure my new role will further broaden the horizon for me. I am excited to bring alive the trinity – data, digital and content. My focus will be to use the right consumer data, to come up with solutions that will deliver for our strong portfolio of clients and take the solutions to the next level with strategic and creative programmes that go beyond just traditional platforms and to blend content and creativity at the heart of our delivery. In the innovative span of time that I’ve worked here, I have got an encouraging glimpse of a very positive working atmosphere. My focus will be I look forward towards another thrilling round at Maxus.”
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.
