Viu has appointed Bimal Unnikrishnan as Vice President Content, Viu India to focus on the service’s original content portfolio. Bimal will report to Vishal Maheshwari, Country Head for Viu India.
Unnikrishnan will focus on driving a strong content-led value proposition for consumers, as well as strengthen the Original Content library for the brand through the 30 + originals that Viu has announced slated to launch in 2018.
Speaking about the new appointment, Vishal Maheshwari, Country Head, Viu said: “It’s an exciting phase for Viu. With Bimal’s leadership, depth of knowledge and expertise, we are confident that we will continue to build Viu as preferred destination for Indian Original content. Stay tuned for exciting Originals from Viu.â€
Speaking about his new role, Unnikrishnan said: “It gives me immense pleasure to be part of Asian regional OTT leader Viu. Viu has already emerged as the leading regional platform in South East Asia Markets. I am looking forward to working with the highly-driven and talented team which has been recognized for delivering unique, differentiated, youth-centric content offerings and create captivating Indian shows for audience around the world.
Reliance Broadcast Network Limited has announced the appointment of Manoj Lalwani as Network Chief Marketing Officer, RBNL; Renuka Iyer as Network Sales & Distribution Head, RBNL; Bimal Unnikrishnan as Creative Director, BIG Magic and Amita Srivastava as National Head – Account Planning, RBNL.
Lalwani in his role will spearhead the overall marketing function of the network (including television and radio), while Ms. Iyer will be responsible for Network Sales & Distribution. Both will report into Ashwin Padmanabhan, Chief Operating Officer, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited. Strengthening the programming team, Unnikrishnan will oversee content creation for BIG Magic. Amita Srivastava in her new role will be responsible for account planning for the network.
Tarun Katial
Talking about the new appointments, Tarun Katial, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited said, “We are happy to have Renuka, Amita, Manoj and Bimal on board who bring with them a wealth of experience and immense knowledge in their respective domains. Together, we aim to create differentiated and unique offerings for our discerning audience. I am sure that the team will add to existing talent pool and will successfully drive the growth story of the group.â€
With over 14 years of experience in marketing, Manoj Lalwani has been associated with prestigious brands like Mother Dairy, Cargill India, United Biscuits, VLCC Health Care, amongst others. Prior to joining Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, he held a leadership position as Vice President – Sales and Marketing, South Asia, VLCC Health Care for almost a year.
Spearheading the sales function in leadership positions across digital and traditional platforms for close to 15+ years, Renuka Iyer has been associated with brands such as Zee News, Digital Radio Broadcasting Limited and Homeland Networks (USA). She worked with Zee News for 10 years where she was Senior Vice President (Sales) and with Digital Radio Broadcasting Limited as National Sales Head before moving to Reliance Broadcast Network Limited.
Bimal Unnikrishnan has been an integral part of the television industry with an experience of 20 years. Bimal was Senior Creative Director and a key member of the Dance India Dance Franchise. Prior to joining Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, Bimal worked with BIG Productions as Head of Non-Fiction, UTV as Senior Creative Director, Miditech and also ran his own production house for over 3 years.
With an experience of over 17 years in strategic media planning, Amita Srivastava has managed communication solutions for market leaders across segments, from cosmetics and auto to finance and hospitality amongst others. Prior to joining Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, Srivastava was the Vice President at ZenithOptimedia, heading the Mumbai branch.
