GECs
Sony ushers in new programming with ‘Dil Ki Baatein’
MUMBAI: It has been struggling to regain lost ground in the Hindi general entertainment space for quite some time now. But, undeterred, the MulitScreen Media owned Sony Entertainment Television is taking another shot at attracting hordes of viewers to its prime time fare. In its first step towards that, the channel has launched a show called Dil Ki Baatein starring the popular TV actor Ram Kapoor in the lead.
“Sony has always prided in telecasting innovative shows. In the next 100 days we will be launching five new shows with interesting concepts as we believe there is an audience out there that exists for such content,” says SET senior executive vice president and business head Nachiket Pantvaidya.
Dil Ki Baatein will be Kapoor’s come back to TV. He will be seen opposite Gurdeep Kohli. The show also stars Pankaj Dheer as Kohli’s father, whereas Mahima Makhwana and Ratna Shinde will essay the roles of the couple’s daughter and son respectively.
Dil Ki Baatein has been helmed by filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and SET together. Sony took note of Bhatt’s narration about the concept a year and half ago.
Talking about the concept of the show, SET senior vice president and marketing head Gaurav Seth says, “It is an unusual love story that brings out the struggle and various emotions of the family to the fore. It questions how far one can go for a loved one and to what extent? The show explores the complexities of human relationships and one’s emotional downfall when fate intervenes.”
According to Seth, the biggest USP of the series is the role essayed by Kapoor. He will be portraying the role of a supportive husband to his cancer stricken wife, who faces a blood cancer relapse after two years. The programme has been produced by Guroudev Bhalla and Dhaval Gada from Bhatt’s production house, which also produced the show Udaan for Sony previously.
“We have shot five different promos where Ram Kapoor is essaying a different role and emotion. In the first promo, for instance, he is seen conversing with God about his problems,” informs Seth.
The promo was first launched on digital media, where along with active engagements from fan clubs, it trended at the top spot for five to 10 minutes. “For the first time, the promo itself registered one million views on YouTube,” says Seth.
A robust marketing campaign has been planned across 35 Indian cities along with active OOH campaigns. Seth informs that the communication showing Kapoor along with a bald headed Kohli, has generated the necessary buzz. It has also generated 21 crore digital impression so far across various social media platforms. On Twitter, SET invited reactions from fans of how far would fans go for their loved ones.
The show has LIC as the presenting sponsor and advertisers such as Otriven, Cadbury, KFC, Samsung Galaxy among others on board.
Dil Ki Baatein, which went on air on 23 March, will be telecast from Monday to Thursday at 9:30 pm on Sony.
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.
