MAM
Vdopia realigns its top management
MUMBAI: In order to strengthen the business and its product offerings, Vdopia has made changes in the top management.
To meet the distinct demands and challenges of the ad tech industry, it has appointed Saurabh Bhatia, who co-founded Vdopia in 2007 and has served since as its chief business officer (CBO), as its chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Srikanth Kakani (also a co-founder) who becomes the company’s chief technology officer (CTO), a new position. Chhavi Upadhyay, another co-founder, who has served as chief operating officer (COO), becomes Vdopia’s president, also a new position.
Bhatia believes that under Srikanth’s direction, Vdopia served video ads to 63 of the top 100 ad age advertisers and expanded globally opening up offices in nine countries. He says: “Building on the momentum set by him, we aim to innovate with greater speed, efficiency and capability in a fast-changing world. We are in the most exciting phase of our growth, as the mobile video ad market is expected to grow by more than 300 per cent in the next four years. As an organisation, we will build a stronger, growing business portfolio by further solidifying our core technology offerings. This structural reorganisation is indispensable for Vdopia to respond with agility to the changing business environment.”
As Vdopia’s CEO, Bhatia will have global responsibilities for driving the company’s growth and vision, leading the company’s strategy, defining the product road map and be in charge of overall revenue growth.
With over 10 years of sales and business development experience, prior to co-founding Vdopia, he held executive positions at Maxcellence, Peak Performance Solutions and Insways Software. Bhatia holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
As Vdopia’s first CTO, Kakani will oversee the development, implementation and growth of Vdopia’s technology vision. This includes but is not limited to strengthening the core technology of VDO, Vdopia’s proprietary ad format, launching and building a mobile video marketplace, development of big data targeting engines and Vdopia’s approach to native advertising.
Upadhyay, as the company’s president, will provide leadership and direction to human resources, legal, accounting and finance in addition to her current responsibilities of global operations and business development.
“With these management changes we will focus on making internal and external processes at Vdopia more productive, efficient, simple and scalable,” adds Bhatia. “We will continue to focus our energies and efforts on building great products and providing value for our customers, stakeholders and the advertising industry.”
MAM
Talking heads: TV9’s chief takes the host’s chair with style — but could do with a laugh
Barun Das has swapped the boardroom for the studio and is pulling off a polished interview show — mostly
MUMBAI: There is something quietly audacious about a media chief who decides that running a television empire is not quite enough and plants himself in front of the camera for a good chinwag with the great and the good. Barun Das, chief executive of TV9 Network, has done precisely that, and for the most part, he carries it off with considerable aplomb.
Duologue with Barun Das, now in its fourth season on JioHotstar, is exactly what it says on the tin: two people, two chairs, no frills. In the earlier seasons, Das has sat across from a rather stellar roster, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Aparna Sen, Viswanathan Anand, Kiran Rao, among many other renowned names. And in the fourth instalment he has had guests of the likes of Aamir Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Bianca Balti (Italian super model and cancer survivor), Lothar Matthäus (German football World Cup-winning captain). Throughout, he has coaxed from them nuggets that their publicists would probably rather keep under wraps. Cricket, relationships, spirituality, acting, health, behind-the-scenes machinations that plague politics, intellect, nepotism, nothing is entirely off the table.
Das’s greatest asset is his manner. Unhurried, well-dressed and disarmingly calm, he has the rare gift of making his guests feel so thoroughly at ease that they occasionally forget they are being filmed for television. The questions arrive softly, like a spinner tossing up a googly rather than a fast bowler hurling bouncers, and more often than not, they draw out a telling answer. He has no cue cards or teleprompter to help him along, which is probably a rarity for a host. Some credit must go to the research team operating quietly in the wings, who evidently do their homework so that Das does not have to fumble for his.
Where Duologue stumbles, however, is in its almost determined refusal to lighten up. Each 45-minute episode carries the solemn weight of a budget speech. A dash of wit, a moment of mischief, the odd belly laugh, none of it makes an appearance. Serious conversation has its place, but even the most earnest of interviewers, think David Frost at his best, knew when to let the air out of the room.
Das has built something worth watching. He simply needs to remind himself, and his guests, that a smile never hurt anyone.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5.
Available on JioHotstar.
