The Executive Vice President & Head of Ad Revenue at the leading sports broadcasting unit, Star Sports, Anup Govindan has reportedly served his last day on July 20 and is expected to join Viacom18 as Chief Revenue Officer.
The resignation was anticipated as Anup’s head, Anil Jayaraj, who was the Executive Vice President at Star TV Network for over six years quit the company to join Viacom18 last year as Chief Executive Officer – Sports. Anup is likely to join Anil’s team at Viacom18 to create a formidable team ahead of the major sports events.
Following Viacom18’s triumph of the digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023-27 cycle, the Reliance-backed entity is looking forward to gathering a specialised and dedicated team with a hefty experience in selling digital sports properties. Viacom18’s acquisition of the digital rights for the marquee Indian T20 league was even more expensive than the TV rights acquired by Star. Viacom18, with an experienced team, will look to leverage IPL’s popularity in selling digital assets.
Ahead of the IPL 2022, Viacom18 will focus on the highly anticipated Qatar World Cup 2022, which is scheduled to take place between November 21 – December 18. The elite football competition is likely to receive massive viewership in the Indian sub-continent, considering the time difference. India is just 2.5 hours ahead of Qatar, the official broadcaster will look to capitalise on these aspects during the competition.
Another top professional from Star Sports, Atul Gandhi, Executive Director – Advertising Sales has reportedly quit and is serving his notice period. Atul is also likely to join the team of Anup and Anil in Viacom18. More resignations are anticipated to take place followed by the recent ones.
Star’s woes prolong as professionals at the higher managerial level continue to resign. Star will look to hire some qualified individuals who could fill the big shoes of the professionals who have left the company in the past 12 months.