MAM
Netflix, Jio lead in customer experience: Kantar report
NEW DELHI: Jio and Airtel have emerged as the top telecom operators in terms of customer experience, according to a report by consulting firm Kantar. Among streaming platforms, Netflix delivered the most consumer satisfaction, followed by Amazon.
Music streaming services like Amazon Music, Spotify and Apple Music also made the list as "special mentions" for providing great customer experience.
The new CX+ TMT report released by Kantar evaluates companies in the telecom, media and technology sectors based on a unique combination of their experience scores, and on dimensions that are critical to the customer's journey.
The study analysed responses from over 6,000 customers across 13 cities in the country in early 2020 to find out key brands in the TMT sector that consumers are most satisfied with.
In the mobile device segment, Apple topped the list, displacing Xiaomi as the technology brand that provides the best customer experience. OnePlus and Samsung tied for third place. As per the report, Apple has 1.8x higher engagement levels than those at the lower end of the index.
Tata Sky retained the top spot in the satellite service provider category.
The landscape across the TMT sectors has changed drastically over the last one year, said Sushmita Balasubramaniam, domain lead for CX and Commerce – South Asia, insights division, Kantar. "Consumers' adoption of and dependence on digital, whether for basic everyday living, working, studying or entertainment has presented enormous challenges to companies in these sectors. And, the changes in usage of products and services will also mean that customer priorities on the kind of experience they are seeking will be different from the pre-COVID era."
Soumya Mohanty, chief client officer, South Asia, insights division, Kantar explained that there will be vigorous competition in the TMT sector owing to tech convergence and emerging global media giants.
“Be it network services providers, handheld device brands or streaming media providers, all will leverage customer data to build personalised journeys, CX and owning the relationship with the end user will become increasingly important,” added Mohanty.
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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.
