Pooja Khare joins Zee5 as vice president of digital ad sales

Pooja Khare is swapping the television studio for the streaming screen. She has joined Zee5 as vice president of digital ad sales in Bengaluru, bringing more than 19 years of experience in driving business impact and accelerating growth across both linear and digital media.

Khare describes herself as a vice president of ad sales who acts as a strategic partner to leading brands and agencies. Her speciality is crafting high-value, cross-platform media solutions that align closely with her organisation’s goals as well as with the core objectives and vision of the brand. She is also passionate about building and inspiring high-performance teams, and says she develops the organisational capabilities needed to navigate a rapidly changing media landscape. She started at Zee5 in September 2026, on a full-time basis.

The move is worth watching, because her career reads like a map of how Indian media has shifted from screens in the living room to screens in the pocket. Start with the most recent stop. At Sony Pictures Networks India, Khare worked full-time in Bengaluru for a total of seven years and ten months. Her profile lists two roles there. She has been assistant vice president since April 2026, working on-site. She has also been region head of sales for Sony Entertainment TV since December 2018, a role that carries the same seven years and ten months tenure on her profile.

Before Sony, Khare spent four years and three months, from October 2014 to December 2018, at Disney Star as an assistant manager, full-time, in Bengaluru. Before that came a stint of four years and seven months, from February 2010 to August 2014, as assistant manager at TV Today Network, the home of Aaj Tak, based in Bangalore. Between them, the two roles gave her more than eight years inside two of India’s best-known broadcast operations.

Her earlier years were spent on the marketing and corporate sales side. From November 2008 to February 2010, a period of one year and four months, she was assistant manager of marketing at CyberMedia, full-time, in Bengaluru. From January 2008 to November 2008, about 11 months, she was corporate sales manager at Taxsmile.com. She began her career at Times Business Solutions, where from January 2007 to January 2008, a period of one year and one month, she was a corporate account manager.

What does this add up to? Three things stand out. First, Khare has sold advertising in both worlds. Her career spans news television, general entertainment television and, now, a streaming platform, which is precisely the cross-platform mix that advertisers keep asking for. Second, she has climbed steadily inside large networks, from account manager to assistant manager, then region head of sales, then assistant vice president and now vice president. Third, her stated focus on people is not decoration. Building teams that can cope with a fast-changing media landscape is a useful skill when budgets are moving from linear to digital. For Zee5, a leader who knows both sides of that shift is a handy hire.