JioStar’s New Leadership: Trailblazers in Digital, Entertainment and Sports

The long-awaited merger of Reliance Industries, Viacom18 Media, and The Walt Disney Company has finally materialized. The companies attested to the success of the INR 70,352-crore merger, which merged Viacom18’s media and JioCinema divisions into Star India. The task of steering the recently established organization into a period of innovation and market disruption has been given to three eminent industry leaders.

With a track record of success in the field, Kevin Vaz, Kiran Mani, and Sanjog Gupta will spearhead the effort to redefine the company’s strategy, spur growth, and seize new opportunities in the constantly changing entertainment sector. Uday Shankar has been named vice-chairperson of the joint venture, while Nita M. Ambani has been named chairperson.

Kevin Vaz:

Kevin Vaz, a renowned figure in the Indian media and entertainment sector with two decades of extensive experience, has taken on the position of Chief Executive Officer – Broadcast Entertainment in the RIL – Disney joint venture. Since 2023, Vaz has served as Viacom18’s CEO of Broadcast Entertainment, where he has been in charge of Colors and MTV. In addition to managing regional content and marketing plans for the media company’s digital entertainment division, he was in charge of the filmed entertainment division.

Vaz has nearly thirty years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. Before joining Viacom18, he was the head of the entertainment division at Disney Star. He was instrumental in the growth of the Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, and Marathi language markets. In January 2024, he was also named Chairman of the FICCI Media & Entertainment Committee. Throughout his more than two decades with Star, Kevin has been a key contributor to the network’s expansion.

Vaz started his career in sales and rose to the position of youngest network sales head for the biggest television network in India. He has led teams through almost every facet of operations with success, including marketing strategies, revenue generation, content creation, and business management.

Kiran Mani:

Kiran Mani, a seasoned business leader with a proven track record of digital innovation, has joined the Reliance-Disney joint venture as its new CEO-Digital. Over the course of his more than 20-year career, Kiran has made a name for himself in the technology and media industries. Prior to moving to Viacom18, he served as general manager of Google’s Android | Play ecosystems in Japan and Asia Pacific. He most recently held the position of CEO at Viacom18 Media, where he was instrumental in forming the organization’s content and digital strategies since taking over in November 2023.

Aside from his corporate leadership, Kiran is an angel investor and advisor who has supported several startups over the past decade. With an emphasis on changing the digital entertainment landscape, Kiran’s position at the Reliance–Disney joint venture comes at a time when media and digital convergence is speeding up.

Sanjog Gupta:

At the Reliance Industries – Disney joint venture, Sanjog Gupta has been named CEO – Sports. In this role, he will lead the company’s sports strategy and initiatives. His new position puts home at the forefront of the JV’s ambitious plan to increase the number of sports programming it offers on digital and television channels. Prior to this, he was the CEO of Disney Star’s sports division, where he was in charge of the network’s business operations, product development (including production and programming), marketing campaigns, and strategic planning. Gupta stands out among the three CEOs because she is the only one from Disney Star.

Sanjog pioneered regional sports broadcasting by providing live feeds in multiple languages and establishing regional sports networks in Hindi-speaking markets, as well as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. He began working for Disney Star in 2009 as a consultant and producer for Star Movies and BBC World Service Trust, and he has been with the company for more than ten years.

Sanjog led Sports Content (Production & Programming) on TV and digital platforms as Executive Vice President from 2017 to 2020. He was in charge of managing the programming and production strategy for all sports content in this role, making sure Star Sports continued to dominate the Indian sports broadcasting market. His leadership position in sports media was further cemented in 2020 when he was named Head of Sports for the Star TV Network.

Other important appointments

Alok Jain has been named Colors’ Head of Cluster, Entertainment, where he will oversee the Digital Hindi, Niche, Movies, and Studio divisions. Prior to joining Viacom18, he served as the EVP and Head of Disney Star’s Telugu, Bengali, Oriya, and Kannada operations on television and digital platforms.
Sumanta Bose will serve as the Head of Cluster, Entertainment for Star Plus and Bharat in Bengali, Marathi, and Gujarati. Before this, he was the Head of Content Studio for Disney+ Hotstar (Hindi) and the Business Head for Star Plus, Star Utsav, and Regional East.
Krishnan Kutty will serve as the Head of Cluster, Entertainment for South. He was the business and content manager for the entire South and Marathi regional portfolio.
Ajit Varghese has been appointed as Head of Revenue for the Entertainment and International divisions. He joined Disney Star in January 2023 as Head of Network Advertising Sales.
Ambuj Kashyap will collaborate with CEOs on business and strategic projects and work closely with Uday Shankar. He previously served as the Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder of the healthcare data platform IHX.
Rasesh Upadhyay will collaborate directly with Vaz to develop entertainment business strategy and operations.
Gaurav Gokhale will work closely with Kiran to develop digital business strategy and operations.
Piyush Goyal will oversee TV distribution. Prior to this, Goyal was Indiacast Media’s Chief Operating Officer.
Bharat Ram, who previously served as Chief Product Officer and Ad Tech Platform Lead, has been promoted to Head of Product at Viacom18.
Akash Saxena has been designated as Head of Technology. At Viacom18, he served as the Chief Technical & Product Officer.
Shoury Bharadwaj is the head of engineering. He had recently started as Viacom18’s Head of Engineering—Viewer Experience. Prior to that, he worked for Flipkart as the Senior Director of Engineering.
Additionally, Vijay Seshadri was named Chief Architect. Since July 2024, he has served as Viacom18’s Chief Technical Advisor. Sheshadri worked for Swiggy as an Engineering Fellow.
Ishan Chatterjee has been named Head of Business for Sports Revenue, SMBs, and Creators. Chatterjee brought experience from his time at YouTube to his position as Chief Business Officer at Viacom18 in October 2024.
The position of Head of Partnerships is assigned to Hursh Shrivastava. Prior to this, he served as JioCinema’s EVP and Head of Strategy & Rights Acquisitions, Sports Business.
Sushant Sreeram, who previously worked for Amazon Prime Video, has been appointed as the joint venture’s Head of Marketing.
Rishi Gaind has taken over as Head of Human Resources. At Disney Star, he oversaw human resources.
George Cherian is the Head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations. Prior to this, he had the same position at Disney Star.
Rajat Nigam is the transition head for IT and media operations.
Sandeep Jain has been appointed as the Commercial Head. Jain was Star India’s EVP of Commercials.
Mukesh Mundhra has been named the Transition Finance Head.
Mani Rangarajan will work on the financial integration of both organisations as a part of the transition.
Kshripra Jatana is the Transition Legal Head.

Tags: digital, Digital Convergence, entertainment, JioStar, Kevin Vaz, Kiran Mani, Reliance - Disney Merger, Sanjog Gupta, Sports Content, Viacom18 Media

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About Netra

Netra is a Dual Masters graduate in International Business and Marketing. She is a content-writing enthusiast and a social media addict. In her downtime, you will find her headbanging to Pop songs from around the world. She is also a sports fanatic and especially loves F1, Volleyball, and Cricket. Her hobbies are baking and watching Anime.

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