Hires & Promotions: Gaana, Netflix, ShareChat, Madison Media

Gaana Shuffles Leadership; Adds Sandeep Lodha As New CEO

Gaana has strengthened its management by appointing Sandeep Lodha as its new CEO and roped in former Times Internet executives Vivek Pandey as COO, and Ram Awasthi as CTO. By strengthening the leadership, All the three leaders bring with them almost 60 years of rich experience that is poised to provide Gaana with the growth impetus.

Speaking on the announcement, Gautam Sinha CEO Times Internet said, “The Indian OTT ecosystem is about as exciting, dynamic, and competitive as it has ever been. We have seen an amazing batch of OTT brands develop and flourish over the last few years, and we have seen unprecedented interest from global companies keen to tap into the Indian consumer opportunity. At Gaana, we are equally excited about our next stage of tech-led relationships with users, content producers and advertisers with Gaana. Our new CEO Sandeep’s experience leading hyper-growth brands like Disney & OYO, Vivek's 360-degree product, growth and monetisation experience, and Ram’s strong & visionary leadership in technology make us believe we can achieve the audacious goals we have set for the brand in the coming years.” 

A proven leader within the media & entertainment industry, Sandeep has 22 years of rich experience in scaling brands in hyper-growth sectors with Disney, Bain & Company, Weddingz.in & Intel Capital. Sandeep founded Weddingz.in and created India’s largest wedding co which he then sold to OYO. The brand scaled 14X within 15 months post acquisition, while Disney’s consumer products business grew by a healthy 50% YOY under his leadership. Sandeep holds an MBA from The Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, and  BTech from IIT Delhi.

 Vivek has been the Vice President of Revenue Strategy and Analytics at Times Internet, also managing TIL's AdTech stack. He has contributed towards the goal of increasing the group’s reach to a billion Indians and monetising this reach effectively through revenue initiatives. He has also been instrumental in major digital transformations at companies like Tata Cliq, MakeMyTrip and Indiatimes Shopping.

Ram is a technology leader with hands-on experience in envisioning, architecting and delivering a broad range of distributed, internet-scale & real-time applications. In his earlier role, he was responsible for leading new business initiatives & setting up high performance technology teams & evaluation of tech stacks for different business units under Times Internet, technology evaluation for new business acquisitions, integration of central services to different business units, responsible for cyber security of all Times Internet businesses and acquired businesses.

With over four decades of combined experience between them, Vivek Pandey & Ram have been the key pillars of the Times Internet’s central leadership team, having set up and led high performance analytical product, marketing & technology teams for the group over the years. 

Swiggy's Srivats TS Joins Netflix India As VP Marketing

Srivats TS has joined Netflix India as the vice president, marketing. He will report to Barry Smyth, vice president, APAC Marketing and will lead the marketing team in India.

Srivats joins from Swiggy where he helped build the brand from the ground up over the last nearly five years.

“Srivats is an original thinker and an incredible marketer. As we bring more great stories from India, he will lead marketing to drive conversations and form deeper connections with consumers," Smyth said.

“Netflix is home to incredible stories and characters that become a part of our lives and conversations. I am excited to be a part of this phenomenal team and find more creative ways to drive engagement with millions of Netflix fans in India," Srivats said.

At Swiggy, Srivats was senior vice president, marketing and consumer experience. He joined Swiggy in 2016 as head of marketing.

Srivats began his career with Nokia, where he worked for close to nine years in roles across brand marketing, consumer insights and key account management. Prior to Swiggy, Srivats led digital brand marketing at Quikr, a leading online classifieds platform.

Srivats holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

ShareChat Appoints Akshat Sahu To Lead Its Marketing Efforts

ShareChat has named Akshat Sahu as Director, Marketing. With over 15 years of experience in branding, marketing, consumer research, strategy, sales and P&L management, Akshat has worked with companies like Disney - Star India in Sports and Entertainment verticals and VIP Industries. He will lead all the marketing efforts at ShareChat, drive the platform towards a more accelerated growth among the user community, and build top of the mind recall in the branding and advertising community.

Prior to ShareChat, Akshat was heading marketing for Emerging Sports at Star Sports, which is now part of Disney. He led the marketing strategy for diverse Indian sports, including football, kabaddi, hockey and badminton. He also led tshe entire marketing and strategy of Channel [V] India in his earlier role at Star India.

At ShareChat, he will be reporting to Ajit Varghese, Chief Commercial Officer, Moj and ShareChat.

Welcoming Akshat to ShareChat, Ajit Varghese said, "Akshat brings in a strong set of skills and his expertise in branding and marketing will add a lot of value to our team. He is a proven marketing leader with strong strategic acumen, in-depth consumer insights and highly efficient operational focus. We hope he will bring immense value and spread our brand reputation across the diverse group of stakeholders as we continue to build ShareChat on our long-term strategy."

Joining ShareChat, Sahu said, “I have always been intrigued by the diversity of India and it is a special opportunity to be working with a company that is pioneering the Indic language conversations in the internet space. I am looking forward to contributing to the company’s growth with my core area of expertise and making ShareChat a household name in India.”

Alumnus of Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), Akshat has been instrumental in building a vibrant sports culture in India and a deeper connection with the consumer by unlocking the potential of local insights and communication in various Indic languages across the country.

Madison Media Elevates Abhik Banerjee To COO Madison Media Plus 

Madison Media has promoted Abhik Banerjee to Chief Operating Officer, Madison Media Plus to lead its Delhi office. 

Abhik Banerjee has overall 17 years of experience and joined Madison Media in 2012. Over the last 9 years, he has played a key role in Madison Media’s Mumbai office, leading accounts such as Asian Paints, Abbott and Liebherr, amongst others. 

Says Vikram Sakhuja, Partner & Group CEO, Madison Media & OOH, “Abhik, who has been acclaimed as a Client leader of the Year in our industry awards a few years ago, personifies the Madison spirit of undying client orientation, innovation, passion and executional brilliance. It is very satisfying when we can promote our internal talent to handle new challenges. I have full confidence in Abhik taking our Delhi office to new heights.” 

Says Abhik Banerjee, COO, Madison Media Plus, “I am excited and look forward to adding value to the organization with my new role and additional responsibilities. I am thrilled to take on the challenges and opportunities it will bring.” 

Madison Media, India’s largest homegrown media agency that started media operations in 1995, was ranked by Recma, amongst the Top 5 Global Independent Agencies of the World in 2019. Comvergence attributed 211Mn$ of new business wins to Madison Media, double that of the next Agency in its Business Barometer Report for 2020. Similarly, Recma gave Madison Media the top score of A+ in its Comp Pitches Report for 2020. The Agency is also ranked the 2nd most powerful media agency by The Economic Times, Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner, 2019.  Some other Agency accolades include Best Digital & Social Media Agency of the Year at IDMA 2020, Media Agency of the Year at Prime Time Awards 2020 and 2021.  Agency of the Year at Digies Digital Awards 2019 and Mobile Media Agency of the Year at IDMA 2019. In addition, the Agency has won over 250 awards since 2019.