MAM
Piyush Kale joins JioStar as director programming strategy and insights
Media strategist brings experience from Star TV Network and Network18.
MUMBAI: In the fast moving world of television strategy, sometimes the biggest story unfolds behind the screens rather than on them. Piyush Kale has taken on a new role as director – programming strategy and insights at JioStar, strengthening the company’s leadership bench in programming analytics and audience strategy. Kale shared the update on his professional network, announcing that he has stepped into the position after several years working in programming strategy roles across India’s broadcast and media landscape.
Before joining JioStar, Kale served as manager – programming strategy and Insights at Star TV Network, a role he held from December 2019, where he focused on analysing viewership trends and helping shape programming strategies using audience data.
Earlier in his career, Kale spent 3 years and 7 months at Network18 Media & Investments Limited in multiple roles including manager, assistant manager and senior executive. During this period, he worked on media analytics, programming insights and market research aimed at improving channel performance and content scheduling decisions.
His professional journey began in the television research ecosystem with TAM Media Research Pvt. Ltd., where he spent 1 year and 6 months, first as a management trainee in 2015 and later as a senior executive.
At TAM, Kale’s work focused on translating television viewership data into actionable insights for broadcasters and advertisers. His responsibilities included analysing audience behaviour at a micro level for new channel launches, advising networks on programming schedules, repeats, distribution and promotion strategies, and delivering performance reports on TV channels and radio stations.
He also worked closely with advertisers, analysing data across product categories and media platforms including television, print and radio, while preparing weekly reports on channel performance and audience trends.
With more than a decade of experience spanning media analytics, audience behaviour and programming strategy, Kale’s move to JioStar comes at a time when broadcasters and streaming platforms are increasingly relying on data led insights to shape content decisions.
In a market where programming strategy is becoming as much about algorithms as it is about storytelling, Kale’s expertise in audience intelligence and media analytics could play a key role in guiding JioStar’s programming roadmap in the evolving Indian entertainment ecosystem.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
