MAM
Practo’s new Coronavirus rap song is a reminder to stay safe
New Delhi: Practo, a leading digital healthcare company, has released a new rap song, titled ‘#Flashback2020’, marking the end of a year that saw the entire world in the grip of a pandemic on a positive note.
Created in collaboration with Jagdish Chaturvedi – who besides being an ENT surgeon is also a stand-up comedian and writer – the latest track is a satirical round-up of the year that has just gone by. The special number forms part of a campaign by Practo that aims at reminding people that the pandemic is not over yet and that they should continue taking precautions and maintain ‘2 gaz ki doori’.
In his inimitable style, Chaturvedi takes the audience back and forth in time, from the beginning of the lockdown phase when the virus jostled us into taking a hard look at the way we live, work and interact with each other. Peppered with humour and witty remarks, the video nudges us to take a moment and reflect on our recent past before we step into the new year.
The campaign is a concerted effort to spread awareness about safety and hygiene measures, and reinstates the fact that even as the launch of vaccines brings a lot of hope, we will have to continue fighting till the disease is completely eradicated.
Chaturvedi said, “It doesn’t always happen that a doctor turns a rapper to convey a healthcare message. ‘#Flashback2020’ will always remain close to my heart, given that we are trying to put a smile on people’s faces and bring some positivity while we continue to wade through gloomy times.”
The video is live and can be viewed on Practo’s YouTube, blog, and social media channels.
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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.
