MAM
“This year’s’ was the best lineup of speakers at Goafest,” Nakul Chopra
MUMBAI: Be it statistics or experience, Goafest 2016 has outdone previous editions by a healthy margin much to the pride of Goafest Organising Committee chairman Nakul Chopra.
“We got lot of feedback on the spot in Goa, and most complimented the speaker sessions. They all also appreciated the leadership summits. For many, this year’s was the best line up of speakers atGoafest. Broadly speaking, the feedback has been good on the whole production of the event as well,” Chopra added.
While on the one hand the likes of Arjuna Ranatunga, Rajdeep Sardesai, Shobha De, Karan Johar, R Balki upped the ante of the celeb factor at the three day conference, international creative geniuses like Benny Thomas, Fergus O’Hare, Tara Marsh, Carter Murray and Jean Lin gave industry insights and look aheads from a mature market perspective.
Looking at logistics and itinerary, “This year was a huge improvement on timings. While last year wasn’t bad either, for this one we managed to stay on time for the most part,” Chopra shared. While day one saw a slight delay at the Abbys, the organisers tried their best to make day two and day three awards nights within enjoyable timings and kept the delays under check.
Speaking about the highlights of the three day Abbys Chopra said, “I am definitely happy about Publicis’ performance at the Abbys. We have won several metals for meaningful work and that makes me proud of the team.
Between several small and big tweaks, the organising committee did manage to address several logistical and experiential issues, and introduced a fresh fervour to the advertising festival. “We tried introducing Wifi for all at the venues and the Goafest 2016 app kept everyone tuned in with the proceedings of the day, those inside the auditorium or outside on the lawn alike. The innovations were a huge success and we plan to work and make it even better for the coming year as well.”
Going by sheer numbers, Goafest outweighed its predecessors fairly well. “The total number of organisations who participated, either through their delegates or through their entries in the creative Abbys has gone over 350 this year, which is saying something,” revealed Chopra..
This year also saw the biggest number of sponsors for the advertising festival. While this couldn’t be confirmed, the very obvious branding on display for various media showcased the collective interest in making the festival more interactive and fun. Starting from the Times Network branding at the entrance to the several fun booths that TLC, ABP Live, Magic Bricks Now, Movies Now Plus, and ZOOM etc., set up across the festival, the sponsors truly livened up the three days in creative and interactive ways.
Given the successful execution of this year’s Goafest, the bar is definitely set higher for next year. Chopra however is optimistic that this ‘ By the fraternity, of the fraternity and for the fraternity’ festival will only get bigger and better in years to come.
AD Agencies
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.
