MAM
SureWaves Media to expand its operations in south Asian countries
KOLKATA: SureWaves Media Tech, a Bengaluru based digital media-technology company, is looking beyond the Indian shores. The company is planning to expand its presence and operations in the south Asian countries.
“We are extending the frontiers for growth. Since, we have covered the length and breadth of India, we are setting out to expand our scope and look for additional geographies. Nepal and Sri Lanka are on the radar now,” said SureWaves founder Rajendra Khare exclusively to Indiantelevision.com.
According to Khare, there are advertisers in India that are looking at consumers in these countries. And so, through a single gateway, SureWaves is now extending its scope and reach in order to enable the advertisers in these markets with the ease of technology. “We are also looking for additional strategic partners,” added Khare.
The services will be fully functional in the next quarter. “Many product companies, auto sector, FMCG and e-commerce players have shown a strong interest,” he informed.
Both Sri Lanka and Nepal markets are not yet digitised and so have a combination of terrestrial, cable and satellite channels. SureWaves is in the process of tying up with around 12-15 top media properties in Sri Lanka and another six to eight media channels in Nepal.
“Bangladesh is also important for us,” he hinted. As for Pakistan, Khare said that it would depend on the relationship between India and Pakistan.
Currently, the company, through its internal team in the south Asian countries, is working on the initial research. “The geography and culture in the south Asian markets is not very different from that of India,” he said.
SureWaves provides real-time data monitoring of ads, which for the first time, has made cable TV advertising accountable.
The company, which has penetrated over 100 different markets across India by tying up with close to 250 local channels, plans to approach more satellite channels to extend its solution in the country.
At present around 150 brands including HUL, Wipro, Dabur, Parle, Aircel, Vodafone, Nestle and Honda among others are using SureWaves services in India. Of these, a few have already shown interest to use the services in the neighbouring countries as well. “We are also targeting national advertisers who want to reach all the markets,” he concluded.
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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.
