GECs
Star India debuts ‘mobisodes’ with Star One show
MUMBAI: Star India is introducing the concept of mobile-enabled episode (mobisode) to Indian television. The company has associated with Hutch to create ‘mobisodes’ of the successful Star One comedy show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (TGILC).
A ‘mobisode’ is a brief episode of a video programme designed to be viewed on a mobile phone. Starting 10 October, Hutch subscribers across the country will be able to download video clips of the most intriguing moments of the programme through HutchWorld on their GPRS enabled Hutch phones.
Hutch’s GPRS customers will be able to download the ‘mobisodes’ of 20 seconds duration while Edge customers can have the luxury of watching 40-seconds ‘mobisodes’, according to Star India senior vice president Interactive Services Viren Popli. Hutch will be charging Rs. 10 per download. Subscribers can also call 7827 to listen to the TGILC jokes at a cost of Rs. 6.
Apart from ‘mobisodes’ and jokes, Star will also launch caller tunes on TGILC. Jokes figured in the show will be available to Hutch customers as caller tunes.
Speaking to indiantelevision.com about the new initiative, Star One programming head Ravi Menon stated the success of TGILC as ‘mobisodes’ would decide the company’s future strategies on mobisodes. “Presently, we are testing the waters with TGILC. We have plans to launch ‘mobisodes’ of some of our successful shows and the TGILC experiment will decide our future plans,” Menon said.
In a June 2005 interview with indiantelevision.com, Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea had spelt out ‘mobisodes’ as one key area Star India was looking to tap for growth. “At Star, we’ll have to explore how this ‘mobisode’ theme could be exploited for revenue. Probably, we’ll make one-minute mobisodes of the most popular serial of Star Plus. Definitely there is an opportunity,” he had said.
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.
