MAM
Outbrain India onboards Mehul Rao as head of engage
Mumbai: Outbrain, a recommendation platform for the open web, on Thursday announced the onboarding of Mehul Rao as head of engage in India.
Rao, who previously served as general manager-corporate at Times Internet, brings 14 years of digital and media expertise to the new role. His prior leadership roles include associate vice president digital at Times Network, associate vice president corp planning and strategic alliances at NDTV Convergence.
“We are excited to have Mehul join the Outbrain team. Outbrain will be poised to expand the list of top premium publisher partners in the region” stated managing director India Shouneel Charles. “We are sure that Mehul will help publishers achieve their key goals using Outbrain’s platform to recommend personalised content and boost revenue.”
In his new role, he will be responsible for expanding top premium publisher partners in India.
“After working and spending a good amount of time in publishing business in various revenue related roles, it’s an exciting move for me in native advertising and digital ad tech space,” said Mehul Rao. “India is poised to be one of the fastest-growing digital advertising markets and I am privileged to work with Outbrain, an established market leader across the world, increasing its reach in India, looking forward to working in this region to scale the business and be instrumental in the next growth phase of Outbrain in India.”
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
