MAM
Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs partners Business Broadcast News
NEW DELHI: Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India and Business Broadcast News have formed a strategic partnership to introduce a series of trade shows in the Indian market.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two is aimed at developing exhibitions in India around various themes including but not limited to infrastructure development, power and energy as well as telecommunications. The two companies are expected to synergise to deliver innovative offerings in the Indian market.
Reliance Broadcast Network, which is part of the Reliance Group of India and is associated with Business Broadcast News, owns and manages a portfolio of media vehicles across India that covers everything from radio and television to print and digital media.
The MOU was signed by Raj Manek, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India, and Sriram Kilambi, President of Business Broadcast News, in Mumbai. Messe Frankfurt, through its own initiatives and experience, has already established a series of shows within India, including Light India, ACMA Automechanika and Techtextil India. These fairs have become highly-recognised staples in Messe Frankfurt’s global portfolio, which includes more than 100 exhibitions annually worldwide.
Speaking at the ceremony, Manek noted: “Messe Frankfurt has received great success and recognition so far with the three shows we have in India. But in order to continue on the growth path, and tap emerging opportunities in the country, it is imperative that we form strong alliances with strategic partners where we complement each other’s strengths. To date we have received fantastic support from government departments and industry associations, and believe this will now only increase and further enhance after our tie-up with an experienced powerhouse Business Broadcast News, which will enable us to reach these new sectors in India and install both the heritage and proven professionalism of the Messe Frankfurt brand within this market. We very much look forward to working with our new partners, and I believe our firms will benefit greatly from this cooperation.”
“We entered this new partnership because we truly believe that Messe Frankfurt is committed to the India market. They offer professional platforms which have been proven again and again to be effective, informative and well-rounded. Our goal is to present Messe Frankfurt a better understanding of key growth areas in India’s economy and ultimately work together to conceptualise and ideally position our joint exhibitions as the leading events within the chosen sectors. Through our extensive network of media channels and products, as well as our knowledge of the Indian business needs, Business Broadcast News plans to grow our influence in the Indian exhibition industry,” said Kilambi.
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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.
