MAM
MTV ropes in Tata Docomo as presenting sponsor for Youth Marketing Forum
Mumbai: MTV is bringing back the ‘Youth Marketing Forum’, which is to be held in Mumbai on 27 April. The youth brand has roped in Tata Docomo as the presenting sponsor for the 2012 edition.
The forum is targeted at the brand curators, marketers, media experts and everyone who sells, markets and creates for the Youth. It will discuss MTV’s comprehensive research of youth voices, their sphere of influence, relevant youth causes and their creative side on digital media. The sessions will explore the manifestation of youth power and how brands can leverage the power to create brand movements.
MTV India EVP and business head Aditya Swamy said, “The key change we have witnessed is the power young people are feeling. Armed with information and strength in the collective, they believe they can make a difference. Comfortable in their skins, and devoid of conflict, they know exactly what they want and how to get it. It is this constant reinvention that makes the Youth Marketing Forum a thought provoking experience.”
Tata Docomo head brand marketing Ritesh Ghosal added, “Youth is not just a life-stage, it’s almost a distinct tribe. In the wired world of today, the Youth pick up, adopt as their own and disseminate trends from across the world. YMF is a forum where Marketers can dip into the rich world of youth stimuli and get a chance to catch up or lead the trends of tomorrow.”
MTV has been doing research in order to know its target better. In 2011, the MTV focused on their attitude towards money, career, relationships and changing ethics through ‘Age of Sinnocence’ study. Prior to that, it had also published studies like MTV Recreation Redefined and MTV State of Cool to explore the relevant youth trends and themes that can be actively deployed in marketing to the youth.
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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.
