MAM
Michael Birkin is Omnicom’s new Asia-Pacific CEO
MUMBAI: Omnicom Group Inc. announced the appointment of Michael Birkin as president and CEO of Omnicom Asia-Pacific. Birkin who takes charge on 1 April, will also hold the title of vice chairman Omnicom Group.
Birkin’s position is new to Omnicom and reflects the increasing activity in the rapidly growing Asian markets. Through its advertising networks, BBDO, DDB and TBWA, the Omnicom Media Group and its Diversified Agency Services network (DAS), Omnicom already serves many multinational clients throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
The appointment of Birkin is to ensure that Omnicom is developing and aligning its capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region to serve its clients’ fast changing advertising and marketing services needs.
Omnicom Group president and CEO John Wren said, “Given the growing portfolio of Omnicom companies in the Asia-Pacific region, we feel it’s time for a senior representative of the holding company to be based in Asia and to further expand our services to meet the expectations and requirements of our major clients. With Michael’s international perspective and senior operating experience, we feel very confident that he is exactly the right person to take on this key strategic role.”
Since 1999, Birkin has served as Worldwide President of DAs, Omnicom’s largest network. Prior to holding this position, Birkin served as DAs International President from 1997 to 1999 and European managing director from 1995 to 1997. From 1987 to 1995 he was the CEO of Interbrand, the world’s leading brand consultancy agency, which was acquired by DAs in 1993.
“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to lead Omnicom in the Asia-Pacific region. We are experiencing enormous growth in the demand for our services in the region, and I look forward to working with our agencies and networks there to broaden and deepen the scope of our work,” said Birkin.
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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.
