MAM
Rucha Bhalekar joins Httpool APAC as marketing manager
MUMBAI: Httpool has appointed Rucha Bhalekar as a marketing manager to lead marketing and communications activities across the APAC region. She is based out of Httpool’s Mumbai office and in addition to India responsible also for Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
Bhalekar will report to Httpool APAC co-founder & regional MD Sunny Nagpal, and lead the brand marketing, and communication function to support and accelerate the growth of Httpool and its partners, including Twitter, Facebook, GrabAds, Lifesight, Opera, and others.
Nagpal said, "At Httpool, we continue to invest in the right talent and build a leadership base in India to support regional expansion in Asia. Rucha's experience in building local and global brands will be an important asset as we take Httpool to a more geographically widespread audience in the Asian countries.”
On her appointment, Bhalekar said: "I am excited to join Httpool at this key time when they are gearing up for the next phase of growth. I see challenges and opportunities in branding, marketing, and communications as the company expands its reach and relevance. I am looking forward to an enriching and learning experience."
Bhalekar has more than a decade of experience in the field of branding and communication. Before joining Httpool, she led marketing, public relations, and corporate communications for the Isobar India Group from the Dentsu Aegis Network.
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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.
