MAM
Titus Upputuru and Ayesha Ghosh exit Taproot dentsu
Mumbai: Taproot dentsu’s national creative director Titus Upputuru and chief executive officer Ayesha Ghosh have moved on from the agency. The development was confirmed by dentsu Creative India CEO Amit Wadhwa in a statement to IndianTelevision.com.
“Both Ayesha and Titus are great talents, and I am thankful to them for all their contributions at dentsu, ” said Amit Wadhwa. “As we gear up for our next phase of growth and continue to pursue our global ambitions into becoming the most integrated agency of the world, we will keep transitioning more and more of our strong & young powerhouses into our leaders of tomorrow.”
“We will also continue to add some exceptionally new talents who will embark with us on this fresh & exciting journey,” he further added.
At Taproot, Ghosh was elevated as CEO in June 2021 and was responsible for both Mumbai and Gurgaon offices. Previously, she headed the agency’s Mumbai office. Ghosh joined Taproot Dentsu in December 2015.
Titus Upputuru was promoted to the role of NCD at Taproot Dentsu Gurgaon in March this year and was leading the agency’s Gurgaon creative team. Titus had also been entrusted with the additional charge of leading integrated solutions for dentsu Creative India. Before that, he was the creative head at the agency, having joined the agency in April 2011.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
