GECs
Sony Ent extends Kapil Sharma’s contract by a year
MUMBAI: Speculation has been rife for several months now that Sony Pictures Networks India’s Sony Entertainment Television was going to dump the comedy man Kapil Sharma and his show. The reason: the viewership and following was consistently dropping, and the price that it was forking out for it was really high.
But, the gossip has been put to rest now with SET announcing that it has renewed its partnership with Kapil and his team at K9 Productions. The extended contract between the two is valid for another year. The channel says it decided to go ahead with Kapil as his show continues to reinvent itself as the benchmark in comedy entertainment.
Adds SET EVP & head Danish Khan: “The Kapil Sharma Show bring smiles to millions of viewer every weekend nights across the globe. Kapil is an extraordinary talent and we are delighted to have further cemented our relationship with extension of this contract. We are confident that the show and its talented cast will continue to enthrall the audiences across the globe.”
Sources indicate that the renewed contract has some caveats attached to it. For starters, they say, that its budget has been shaved by close to 25 per cent; in keeping with the shows downward trend in ratings. The cast of the show is also reportedly being pruned in keeping with the lower budget. Reports had suggested that the earlier contract was for Rs 110 crore.
However, that was at a time when Kapil was still ruling the ratings, and he had parted ways with Colors. At that time, Kapil was being paid close to Rs 1.25 crore per episode, which catapulted him into the highest paid TV star list. Forbes had stated that his earnings totted up to Rs 30 crore in 2016.
SET has expanded its weekend programming since by bringing in another comedy show called The Drama Company.
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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.
