MAM
PNB MetLife names cricket superstar Smriti Mandhana as brand ambassador
Mumbai: PNB MetLife, one of India’s leading life insurance companies, is partnering with cricket sensation Smriti Mandhana to bring its message of ‘Karo Bade Sapno Ki Tayyari’ to every Indian. Her association with the brand is aimed to inspire and encourage customers to continue to dream big, whilst securing their dreams through PNB MetLife.
PNB MetLife’s new brand ambassador is an iconic figure in Indian cricket, renowned for her explosive batting prowess. Smriti is a two-time ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and Arjuna Award recipient. Her journey embodies the values of perseverance, trust, and discipline that drive PNB MetLife to become a trusted life insurance partner for every Indian.
PNB MetLife India Insurance Co Ltd managing director and CEO Ashish K Srivastava expressed his enthusiasm for this significant partnership. He stated, “We are pleased to welcome Smriti Mandhana to the PNB MetLife family. Her dedication to the sport and exceptional performance on the field is an inspiration to fans to work hard and dream big. Through this partnership, PNB MetLife hopes to inspire all Indians to dream big and enable them to do so by securing their future.”
Smriti Mandhana also shared her excitement about this collaboration. “I’m truly honoured to be joining hands with PNB MetLife as their brand ambassador. Just as cricket presents unexpected challenges and opportunities, and one needs to be prepared at all times, it’s best to be prepared for the ups and downs in life. I believe that life insurance can act as a valuable tool to navigate through life’s innings smoothly. And I’m excited to collaborate with PNB MetLife and spread awareness to others about the importance of planning and securing their financial future.”
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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.
