MAM
Weekend Unwind with: DCMN India’s country head Bindu Balakrishnan
With another weekend upon us, it’s the time to unwind with some tete-e-tete that peeks into the mind of a corporate executive. An attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better, by having them share their nuggets on life and their mantras to deal with the curveballs that life throws – not necessarily revolving around work life – and sometimes going beyond work.
This week we have Bindu Balakrishnan, who leads DCMN’s operations and expansion in the Indian market, shares her musings and thoughts with IndianTelevision.com. Bindu also heads DCMN India’s offline and online marketing experts, while also being responsible for client strategy, bridging customer needs and commercial operations. An alumna of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, Balakrishnan has over 15 years of experience in marketing, mobile attribution and sales, and has worked across the Netherlands, Germany and India.
Here it goes:
Your mantra for Life
Do good for others and good things will come back to you.
A book you are currently reading/ plan to read
I love reading, but often don’t have time to do so. Recently, I enjoyed Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
Your fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic
Long walks with my dog, Loki.
Your comfort food
Comfort food is always one’s mother’s cooking. For me, that’s South Indian food and the dishes I grew up on.
When the chips are down a quote/ philosophy that keeps you going
Not to be put down by failures, because something better is always waiting right around the corner.
Your guilty pleasure
Playing games online, specifically crosswords, puzzles, and the New York Times’ Wordle. It helps me to switch off!
When was the last time you tried something new?
It’s been a while since I’ve tried something new, which makes me think it’s about time to be more spontaneous! One memory that sticks out is going dune bashing in Dubai, a form of off-roading in 4X4s across the sand. It was like being in the ocean, but with pristine dunes instead of water.
A life lesson you learnt the hard way
To accept that some people aren’t a good fit within your team, and let them go when you know it isn’t working out. When I haven’t listened to my gut, this has sometimes backfired and led to bigger problems.
What gets you excited about life?
Family, friends, travelling, food and movies.
What’s on top of your bucket list?
Going to Machu Picchu and skydiving – not necessarily at the same time!
One thing you would most like to change about the world
Putting an end to child poverty. It pains me to see children around the world not having the same access to food, water, education and opportunities in life. My dream, when I retire, is to start a small orphanage, or home, for children who have been abandoned or lost their parents.
An activity that keeps you motivated / charged during tough times
Working with forward-thinking brands, and the impact and growth that DCMN has on our clients. It’s hugely rewarding to have worked with many clients on their way to becoming unicorns or to IPOs.
What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?
Spending time with family and friends, and travelling somewhere new.
Your go-to stress buster
Taking my dog Loki for a walk in nature, where I can let him loose, is the ultimate way to clear my head.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Not to fret over things unnecessarily, because there is a bigger plan for you and things will always fall into place.
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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.
