GECs
Network18 hands Avinash Kaul, Rahul Kansal additional portfolios
MUMBAI: Close on the heel of a senior executive from Network18 group announcing his departure and internal synergies being brought about in the company for better cohesion and functioning, the organisation has handed some other top execs newer responsibilities.
Reliance Industries Ltd-controlled Network18 COO Avinash Kaul has been handed the sales responsibilities for the group with all national sales heads reporting into him. Kaul will continue to be the MD of A+E at TV18, the television arm of Network18 that controls the largest number of TV news channels in India.
Brand wiz Rahul Kansal , who cut his teeth at the Times of India group and joined Network18 earlier this year as group brand advisor, has been given interim charge of the overall marketing for network. Day-to-day activities will be taken care of by respective TV channels.
Two recent departures from the group and a joint venture included that of Forbes India CEO and Network 18 President (Revenue) Joy Chakraborthy and Viacom18 COO Raj Nayak . Nayak will stay on till early 2019 with the company that’s a joint venture with American media giant Viacom.
Apart from Kaul and Kansal getting additional responsibilities, Network18 president of special projects Priyanka Kaul will take over the charge of broadcast Focus and branded content and is shortly expected to revamp the Focus division.
The two Kauls and Kansal will continue to report to Network18 and TV18 MD Rahul Joshi.
Network18 Media and Investments Ltd is a media and entertainment company with interests in television, internet, filmed entertainment, digital business, magazines, mobile content and allied businesses. The company manages various digital businesses, including portals such as moneycontrol.com, ibnlive.com, burrp.com, in.com and firstpost.com.
It also operates digital commerce properties like HomeShop18 and bookmyshow.com. In addition, Network18 is a leading player in the publishing space having under its wing titles such as Forbes India, Overdrive, Better Interiors and Better Photography.
Through its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Limited, the group operates news channels such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC Bajar, CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNN-News18, IBN7, ETV channels and News18 Lokmat (a Marathi regional news channel in partnership with the Lokmat group).
TV18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom, called Viacom18, which houses a portfolio of popular entertainment channels like Colors, Colors HD, Colors Infinity, Rishtey, MTV India, MTV Indies, Comedy Central, Vh1, Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr, Teen Nick and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the group's filmed entertainment business. TV18 operates a factual entertainment channel History TV18 and FYI TV18 through a joint venture with A+E Networks.
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.
