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Tag: Discovery Communications India

  • Tata will focus on enhancing company's domination in kids' animation and creating new growth opportunities

    Megha Tata joins Cosmos-Maya as CEO

    By Our Staff

     

    Leading animation firm Cosmos-Maya India Private Limited has announced the appointment of Megha Tata as its Chief Executive Officer. Tata who will oversee the company’s operations and lead the animation studio into its next phase of growth. Her appointment comes at the heels of the company’s recent announcement of a USD 50 million investment plan to facilitate growth and expansion in Europe and North America.

     

    Prior to Cosmos-Maya, Tata was a Managing Director at Discovery Communications India. She has held leadership positions across other eminent broadcasters such as BTVI, HBO, Turner International India, and Star India. At Cosmos-Maya, Tata aims to leverage her wealth of knowledge and decades of expertise to drive the organisation’s next phase of growth and solidify the studio’s position as the foremost animation studio in Asia.

     

    Commenting on her appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of Cosmos-Maya, Tata said: “I am thrilled to start my new journey with Cosmos-Maya. I have always looked for challenging yet exciting opportunities in my career, and animation is one such sector that poses immense growth potential. Cosmos-Maya has been at the forefront of the industry in India and Asia and I look forward to working closely with the senior leadership team to create a vigorous growth path for the company.”

     

    Added Ketan Mehta, Founder and Managing Director of Cosmos-Maya: “I am thrilled and excited to welcome Megha to Cosmos-Maya family. I look forward to working with her to build on top of Cosmos-Maya’s legacy and take our company to new heights.”

     

    Said Sachin Khandelwal, Managing Director at NewQuest Capital Partners, Asia’s leading GP solutions specialist and an investor in Cosmos-Maya, also commented on the appointment: “Having created several highly acclaimed animation shows as one of the leading kids-focussed animation companies in India and Asia,  Cosmos-Maya is well positioned to further cement its dominance and unlock new growth opportunities with Megha’s deep experience with broadcasters and in the overall media and entertainment industry.”

     

  • The event being planned for select invitees of the marcom industry on 3 December

    AdAsia 2021 Macao to be streamed on Dec 3

    By Our Staff

     

    The first day of the AdAsia Macao 2021 conference being held as a virtual event this year will be streamed into an event being planned for select invitees of the marcom industry on December 3.

     

    Srinivasan Swamy
    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Said Srinivasan Swamy, Vice Chairman Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA): “The first day at an AdAsia is eagerly looked forward to. This streaming would include the inaugural session with the awards ceremony, the keynote address by Mark Read Global CEO WPP and other interesting speeches and presentations, by leaders of industry like James Murphy Founder New Commercial Arts (previously founder of Adam&Eve DDB which was Cannes Lions Agency of the Decade), Rajeev Chaba, President and M.D. Morros Garage Motor India, Cynthia Lau Director of CruiSo Digital Solutions, Mann Lao Founder and Creative Director Chiii Design, to name a few. I am glad the Advertising Council of India has taken up this unique and useful initiative and I thank IAA India Chapter for having led this effort.”

     

    Locally, there will ba panel discussion featuring industry leaders like Megha Tata, MD- South Asia, Discovery Communications India & President IAA India Chapter; Pradeep Dwivedi, Group CEO & Executive Director, Eros International Media Ltd & Vice President IAA India Chapter; Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World; Anupriya Acharya, CEO- South Asia, Publicis Groupe & President-AAAI, who will discuss the relevance and implications of the keynote address on the Future of Marketing in a brave new world in the Indian context.”

     

    Megha Tata
    Megha Tata

    Adds Tata:”The AdAsia has always been known for its rich content and its great networking. Now, this hybrid effort combines the two features in a venue right here in Mumbai and we are inviting a select group of 100 marcom professionals.”

     

    Those interested in registering for this event can contact soumen/execseciaa@gmail.com. Entry is strictly restricted to registered invitees only.

     

     

  • Colors and Havas Group to partner discussion

    IAA to host discussion on gender sensitisation in media

    By Our Staff

     

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) will be hosting a high-powered virtual panel discussion with leaders of the marcom industry on July 27. The subject is Gender in media and the impact on children and their future.

     

    Said Megha Tata, MD- South Asia, Discovery Communications India and President, IAA: “A few weeks ago, we released the toplines of the results of a unique market research conducted on 1000 Indian advertisements by UNICEF and the Geena Davis Foundation. The IAA had facilitated this important research on gender representation in Indian advertising on July 27. UNICEF will present the results in depth, and then there will be a discussion on the implication of these findings on gender in media and the impact on children and their future. This will truly represent industry as the Voice of Change”.

     

    Speaking about the initiative, Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Head – Hindi Mass Entertainment and Kids TV Network, Viacom18 and Co-Chair – Women Empowerment Committee, IAA said: “Conversations and actions go hand in hand when tackling an issue as important and nuanced as gender representation in media and its impact. We are thus bringing together leaders across the ecosystem who can not only identify the change in discourse needed but also have the power to actually bring about that change.”

     

    The panelists include Rana Barua (Hon’ Treasurer, AAAI & Group CEO, Havas Group, India), Subhash Kamath (Chairman, ASCI & CEO, BBH & Publicis Worldwide, India), Atit Mehta (Head of Marketing, BYJU’s), Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (Artist, Filmmaker and Writer), Kainaz Karmakar (Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India), Dr A L Sharada (Director, Population First), Nina Elavia Jaipuria, (Head – Hindi Mass Entertainment and Kids TV Network, Viacom18) & Shreyasi Jha (Senior Advisor – Gender Equality, UNICEF, New York)

     

    Added Shreyasi Jha, Senior Advisor – Gender Equality, UNICEF, New York: “Gender related stereotypes are formed at very young age and prevent adolescents and young people from reaching their full potential. Advertising and media, more broadly, plays a key role in forming and perpetuating stereotypes. UNICEF is delighted to be the knowledge partner with IAA and its members for this important event that is the beginning of a very important journey to promote positive gender roles and practices through advertising so every young person can live a life free from stereotypes and achieve their full potential.”

     

    The discussion has UNICEF as its knowledge partner, Colors as the industry partner, Havas Group as an associate partner and Clutter Cutters as the on-ground knowledge partner.

     

  • Will lead marketing and communication teams across the network

    Azmat Jagmag to head marcom at Discovery

    By Our Staff

     

    Azmat Jagmag

    Discovery Communications India has brought on board Azmat Jagmag as Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications. As a part of her profile, Jagmag will lead the marketing and communications teams across the network including 14 linear channels and OTT brand Discovery+ for India. Based in Mumbai, she will report to Megha Tata, Managing Director-South Asia.

    Said Tata: “These are exciting times as we strategically step up our investments to take advantage of very dynamic growth in both Digital and Linear. Azmat brings that rare combination of creative flair, a strong instinct for the Indian millennial and a cutting-edge brand expertise in heading marketing for multiple iconic brands. We are very excited to welcome Azmat into the Discovery family.”

    Added Jagmag: “Discovery is a brand with incredible people and exceptional storytelling in real-life entertainment space and to get an opportunity of being a part of this passionate brand for India is very exciting. With so many interesting initiatives and launches coming up, I look forward to working closely with the team here to take the brand to even greater heights. I am truly excited for this journey with Discovery.”

  • Punit Goenka (Managing Director & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd) will continue as a member of the Managing Committee as the Immediate Past President

    IAA India unveils power-packed mancom

    By A Correspondent

     

    The India chapter of the International Advertising Association has announced the names of co-opted members and invited to the Managing Committee of the India Chapter of IAA for the financial year 2020-21. These were done by newly elected President, Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery Communications India.

     

    Said Tata: “I am delighted to bring together such a wonderful mix of youthful enthusiasm, experience, and diversity in gender, geography and industry-wide representation”

     

    The Mancom members are:

    :: Rana Barua (Chief Executive Officer, Havas Group India),

    :: Ashish Bhasin (CEO, APAC and Chairman India, Dentsu Aegis Network),

    :: Rajiv Kental (President – Marketing, Amar Ujala Publications Ltd)

    :: Rani Reddy (Director, Indira Television Ltd)

    :: Srinivasan K Swamy (Chairman & Managing Director, R K SWAMY BBDO Pvt. Ltd.)

    :: Sam Balsara (Chairman & Managing Director, Madison Communications Pvt. Ltd.)

    :: Umang Bedi (Co-Founder, Dailyhunt)

    :: Dr Bhaskar Das (Group President, Republic TV)

    :: Partho Dasgupta (President, The Advertising Club, Mumbai)

    :: Pradeep Guha (Managing Director, 9x Media Pvt. Ltd.)

    :: Nina Elavia Jaipuria (Head – Hindi and Kids TV Network, Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd.)

    :: Alok Jalan (Managing Director, Laqshya Media Group)

    :: Salil Kappoor (Business Unit Head-Appliances, Orient Electric Ltd)

    :: Tarun Katial (CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL)

    :: Anbuchezhiyan K (Independent Communication Consultant, Past President- The Advertsing Club, Madras)

    :: V. Shreyams Kumar (Managing Director, Mathrubhumi PTG & PBG Co. Ltd.)

    :: Sunil Lulla (Chief Executive Officer, BARC India)

    :: Ramesh Narayan (Founder , Canco Advertising Pvt. Ltd.)

    :: Sangeeta Pendurkar (Chief Executive Officer , Pantaloons (Aditya Birla Group)

    :: Kallie Purie (Vice Chairperson, India Today Group)

    :: Neeraj Roy (Managing Director & CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd)

    :: I Venkat (Director, EENADU)

    :: Ashok Venkatramani(Founder -Intelligent Insights Pvt Ltd -a business intelligence tech platform )

     

    Other than Tata, ​at the AGM held on September 28, 2020, the following officebearers were elected:

    :: Pradeep Dwivedi (CEO- Eros India of Eros STX Global Corporation) elected Vice President,

    :: Jaideep Gandhi (Founder -Another Idea) as Hon. Secretary,

    :: Abhishek Karnani (Director-The Free Press Journal) as Hon. Treasurer

     

    Punit Goenka (Managing Director & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd) will continue as a member of the Managing Committee as the Immediate Past President. ​

     

    The other elected members of the Managing Committee were:

    :: Anant Goenka (Executive Director, The Indian Express (P) Ltd),

    :: Avinash Pandey (CEO, ABP News Network Pvt. Ltd.),

    :: Janak Sarda (Managing Director, Deshdoot Media Group),

    :: Nandini Dias (Chief Executive Officer, Lodestar UM),

    :: Prasanth Kumar (CEO-South Asia GroupM- A WPP Company).

     

  • Actor Karunakaran to debut on TV as the host of ‘Asaalta Alaravidum Pullingo’

    Discovery takes DTamil on entertainment route

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Communications India has revamped DTamil into an entertainment channel which will have programming curated for family audiences in Tamil Nadu. DTamil has roped in Tamil actor Karunakaran, in his maiden appearance on TV, as the host of ‘Asaalta Alaravidum Pullingo’ premiering on November.

     

    Said Sai Abishek, Director–Content, Factual & Lifestyle Entertainment – South Asia, Discovery Communications India: “We are excited with how the new proposition of DTamil is shaping up. It is an interesting strategy – one which leverages our strengths and offers us a long-term scale-up of DTamil.”

     

    On the show with Karunakaran, Abishek added:  “This is the first time that such a show has been created for discerning Tamil audiences. Fail Army is the world-wide leader in funny fail videos and Karunakaran tops and tails these videos in his own inimitable humorous way, making the entire show more endearing. We are very confident that tamil audience will lap-up this new series.”

     

     

  • Arora will be based out of Mumbai and report to Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery

    Hemant Arora joins Discovery as Head of New Revenue Streams

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Communications India has appointed Hemant Arora as the Head of New Revenue Streams. Arora joins Discovery from Times Network where he was the Business Head of Times Influence.

     

    During his stint at Times, he also led sales for network channels including Times Now, ET Now & Zoom at different points of time. Arora will be based out of Mumbai and report directly to Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery.

     

    “We are evaluating each subset of our network strategy in light of the fast-evolving media landscape. The introduction of ‘Head of New Revenue Streams’ in our org structure is a manifestation of that thought process,” said Tata. “We are excited to have Hemant Arora lead the new revenue streams vertical. He will play a key role in conceptualising and building new models to scale revenues from untapped opportunities while Head of Advertising Sales Vikram Tanna will concentrate his efforts in ensuring that [the] adsales revenue stream of our core network continues to grow northward.”

     

    Added Arora: “The new-look aggressive Discovery excites me. The company played a key role in the formative years of my professional life and in this second innings, I look forward to capitalise on multiple opportunities in the horizon to create successful alternate revenue streams.”

     

     

  • A dedicated vertical for digital has also been created

    Discovery India announces new top deck

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Communications India has announced changes in its top deck. The earlier division of roles basis mass and premium networks has been done away with and the new structure has distinct verticals for content development and marketing to “drive deeper focus and offer greater leverage across the 13 network channels”. A dedicated vertical for digital has also been created.

     

    The company announced that Issac John will take on the role of Business Head for Digital with singular focus to build a strong D2C presence via digital product offerings. Sai Abishek will lead the content vertical for factual & lifestyle entertainment while Vednarayan Sirdeshpande will take over Marketing portfolio for the network including factual, lifestyle & kids as well as trade.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery Communications India, said: “We have made select changes in our org structure in light of the opportunities available in the evolving media landscape. The sharper focus on functional areas will help us become more potent, more agile.”

     

    Discovery Communications India’s leadership team led by Megha Tata includes: Vijay Rajput, Senior Vice President – Affiliate Sales & Product Distribution; Vikram Tanna, VP, Head of Advertising Sales and Business Head of Regional Clusters; Ruchir Jain, Senior Director – Finance; Gaurav Garg, Senior Director – Consumer Insights and Research; Issac John, Director- Digital Business; Uttam Pal Singh, Channel Head – Discovery Kids; Sai Abishek, Director, Content- Factual & Lifestyle Entertainment; Vednarayan Sirdeshpande, Director-Marketing; Ruchi Kuthiala, Director – Director- People & Culture; Mansha Shukla, Director – Legal Affairs; Sameer Bajaj, Director – Corporate Communications & External Affairs; Praveen Chaudhary, Associate Director – Strategy.

  • Launches Tamil language audio feed in addition to existing English and Hindi feed

    Animal Planet unveils new brand identity & programming line-up

    By A Correspondent

     

    Animal Planet has kickstarted its 20th anniversary celebrations in India by adopting a new brand identity. The new logo incorporates a fresh and distinctive image of a leaping elephant, which aims to keep the childhood joy and wonder of animals alive by bringing people up close to animals in every possible way.

     

    Animal Planet also announced that it will offer new programming as part of the celebrations. The channel will increase its focus on blue chip programming related to Indian wildlife. Animal Planet has also launched a new YouTube channel Animal Planet India with an aim to build an online community which is passionate about wildlife.

     

    Said Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery Communications India: “We are kickstarting 20th anniversary of Animal Planet in India by refreshing our brand identity and brand personality. The channel’s mission is to celebrate and explore our vital, enriching and ultimately humanizing connection with the animal world. The new look Animal Planet will offer a trusted heaven for the whole family to enjoy the best of wildlife content. To make the connect deeper with our younger audiences, we will be introducing a dedicated weekend programming slot. Animal Planet will sharpen focus on stories linked to animal conservation as it aims to awaken viewers to the need for animal welfare and conservation. We will be launching multiple initiatives to harness the power of millions of animal lovers across the country for the cause of animal conservation. As a corporate, we are already taking affirmative action to help conserve world’s most iconic and endangered creatures. Through Project CAT and our partner WWF, we have already made progress in our goal to help double the world’s wild tiger population by 2022.”

     

     

  • It will be hosted by actor Jim Sarbh

    Discovery’s Planet Healers to feature India’s promising start-ups

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Channel has premiered a four-part original docu-series ‘Planet Healers’ featuring eight of India’s promising environment friendly startups, who are innovating ways to pave a path to a sustainable tomorrow. Hosted by actor Jim Sarbh, the series will deep dive into the journey of how these start-ups are working out innovative technology led solutions to environmental hazards faced by our country.

     

    “Planet Healers is not just a TV show; it is an attempt by Discovery to create mass awareness about environmental hazards faced by our country which will have significant long-term impact,” said Zulfia Waris, Vice President, Premium & Digital networks, Discovery Communications India. “We have focused this series on individuals who have dedicated themselves to create innovative technology led solutions for the conservation and preservation of our planet. They are common people with uncommon ambitions and incredible self-belief who are making a difference.”

     

  • Garners more than 50 million views within 9 days of the soft launch

    Discovery India partners Dailyhunt for its content offering

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Communications India has entered into a partnership with news and local content app – Dailyhunt. It has introduced a video destination, Discovery Plus on the home page of Dailyhunt app offering short form video content customised for digital audiences in India. The content is currently available in five languages namely English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu and Bengali.

     

    Talking about the initiative, Simon Robinson, Managing Director, Discovery Asia Pacific and Chief Financial Officer, Discovery International, said: “The partnership with Dailyhunt offers us an exciting opportunity to understand, analyse and explore India’s burgeoning digital play. We are delighted with the initial trends, they further reinforce our belief that Discovery’s content offers immense unexplored potential for the digital domain in India.”

     

    Added Umang Bedi, President, Dailyhunt: “At Dailyhunt, we are super excited about this partnership with Discovery. We understand Bharat and its content needs the best and we feel very confident about Discovery’s content being a massive hit with vast diaspora of India. This partnership is completely aligned with our overall content plans of providing unique, exclusive, high quality content from great content partners like Discovery as we rapidly scale our business.”

     

     

  • Discovery Communications India (DCIN) is offering their bouquet of nine channels at only Rs. 8

    Taproot Dentsu promotes Discovery’s new offering in latest ad film

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Communications India commissioned Taproot Dentsu to promote its bouquet of nine channels being available at Rs 8 per month.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu said: “Our challenge lay in landing a tactical, price-point related message without losing the brand essence of exploration that Discovery epitomises. Using the visual device of binoculars flipping to the number 8 was, to our minds, a simple, engaging way to drive home the point effortlessly. Hopefully people will find something new about the ad every time they see it, just like they will learn something new every time they will watch a channel from the Discovery Pack.”

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Vednarayan Sirdeshpande, Director Original Content & Marketing, Discovery Communications India added: “Discovery endeavours to tell stories that makes you learn more about your world and open new worlds. It becomes the road that bridges audience curiosity around topics, passion points, people and places. The communication aims to establish the brand as the catalyst in giving audiences the ‘window to the world @Rs. 8 with an interesting visual device that is memorable. It also emphasizes on our network brand offering, a plethora of content choices at the most appropriate price.”