GECs
Marathi channels gear up for Ganeshotsav
MUMBAI: Maharashtrians eagerly await one festival every year- Ganesha Chaturthi. Preparations begin days ahead of the 11 day long festival. While homes are busy preparing for the occasion, Marathi TV channels are all set to attract viewers by lining up special programmes.
Zee Marathi has lined up a special series for the festive season called ‘Jallosh Ganarayacha’ that will be aired at 6pm from 29 August, Monday to Saturday. The series will see performances by TV artists as well as darshan and prasad distribution.
The tradition has been staunchly followed by several Maharashtrians after Lokmanya Tilak popularised it during the freedom movement. A part of that will be shown on Zee Marathi on 9 September. This apart, its regular shows will have Ganapati special such as Home Minister and Aamhi Saare Khavayye. A new show Ram Ram Maharashtra has been introduced at 8am.
The channel logo will have a Ganesh incorporated into it. Branding activity will be taken up across the state specially Mumbai and Pune in big and small pandals in the form of banners and hoardings. Through this the channel will give festive greetings to people.
Star Pravah viewers will see aartis being conducted on shows such as Pudhcha Paaul while Gauri pooja will be visible in all shows. Devyani will see the establishment of an eco-friendly Ganapati. An anchor based reality show Jallosh Bappacha will be telecast at 6pm all days. With Siddharth Dandekar, the show will travel to various mandals across the state as well as highlight the festivities that took place years ago.
Meanwhile, ETV Marathi will show a three hour long private celebration with its TV stars on 7 September at 7pm. In between shows people will see Ganeshotsav wishes from the channel for all days. Six times a day, every day, a three minute video with various artists performing aarti will be shown. This apart, it will also have branding across pandals in Mumbai and Pune.
Zee 24 Taas has been preparing for the season from the last two weeks. It has begun showing 1000 Ganapatis across the state. The channel has organised contests for best household Ganapati’s, mandal Ganapati’s and eco-friendly Ganesha. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has tied up for the third one to promote awareness about eco-friendly idols. Prizes will be distributed during a private function post the 11 days.
The first and the eleventh day will see the channel focus fully on the festival. Anchors will be dressed traditionally covering topics such as shopping and food preparations. Packages of how celebrities celebrate the festival will also be aired at various slots reserved in the morning and evening. Live telecast will be shown from all beaches of Mumbai on all the immersion days. New advertisers for the season include real estate companies, banks and agarbattis.
IBN Lokmat has various shows including Bappa Morya Re that will show idols from across the state, Gauri Aalya Ghari that will show celebrities performing pooja, Ganesh Nidhi that will be based on an NGO, Kalaganesh will show celebrity Ganapati idols and Naivaidyam will feature special recipes for preparing prasad. Here too, female anchors will be seen in sarees and male in kurtas. The channel has issued advertisements in leading Marathi papers for the same. On immersion days, it will show live telecast of the procession.
Channels surely are hoping to make a mark with these 10 days.
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
