Balaji Telefims appoints Nachiket Pantvaidya as CEO of ALT Digital

In previous assignments, Pantvaidya has headed Sony Entertainment Television and Star Plus as Business Head

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | December 2, 2015

Nachiket Pantvaidya

Nachiket Pantvaidya has been appointed as CEO of ALT Digital Media Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms. ALT Digital was announced earlier this year as part of the group's strategic intent to extend Balaji's creative expertise to the digital domain by developing on-demand, original, edgy and contemporary content for digital audiences globally.

At ALT Digital, Pantvaidya will have P&L responsibility of the company's operations spanning content, marketing, distribution and revenues as the company gears up to launch its services in 2016.

In his earlier assignment, Pantvaidya was Business Head of Sony Entertainment Television. He has also been Business Head of Star Plus and held several roles in the Star TV Network, including Head of Star Pravah and MD of Fox Television Studios. An IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, he has also held key management roles in BBC and Disney.

Commenting on his appointment, Ekta Kapoor, Joint MD, Balaji Telefilms, said, “We are pleased to welcome Nachiket to the Balaji family. These are exciting times as Balaji takes a leap onto the digital landscape with ALT Digital – a significant milestone in our growth story. We are most excited as Nachiket brings not only a rich expanse of industry experience but also new energy and dynamic execution skills to lead our new venture and build a strong and valuable B2C brand.”

Sameer Nair

Sameer Nair, Group CEO, Balaji Telefilms, said, “Nachiket shares our passion for entertainment, has extensive operational experience and brings with him an excellent understanding of the entertainment ecosystem as well as the transformation it is rapidly undergoing. I am confident that supported by a team that is amongst the best in the industry, ALT Digital is on course towards creating its own differentiated position as a leading digital entertainment content creator and distributor in India for global audiences. We look forward to working together, bringing our individual and collective strengths and expertise to the business and creating greater value for our shareholders.”

Pantvaidya commented, “I am delighted to be leading ALT Digital at a time when a tremendous mobile, video and ecommerce revolution is underway and media consumption across the globe is increasingly taking place in digital formats. The increase in the number of devices capable of supporting digital media along with increasing Internet access speed has provided consumers with an option to access the media content of choice – be it information, entertainment or social activity anytime and anywhere. Against this backdrop, the opportunity to leverage Balaji Telefilms' creative sensibilities as India's leading production studio, to a new digital arena is most exciting. We will move from a conventional one size fits all approach to a more evolved and targeted approach to marketing and creating unique and differentiated content.”

ALT Digital strengthens digital team

ALT Digital has been actively ramping up its capabilities over the past nine months with the appointment of a number of key appointments in Mumbai. Sameer Nair said, “We are fortunate to have built one of the most talented digital teams in the country and we are planning to grow rapidly over the next few months. At the core of ALT Digital are its people. Nachiket joins Sunil Nair, Ashish Bhansali, Joyce Andrade, Sudarshan Kadam and Meenakshi Mediratta among others.”

Sunil Nair

Sunil Nair is COO at ALT Digital. He is one of the veterans of the Indian VOD space having set up the first online video distribution platform called Nautanki.tv which was acquired by Hungama Digital. His current role entails building India's first pure play original VOD platform and establishing a distribution network for the same. He was earlier with One Channel Media LLC, and has previously worked at Reliance Jio and Star India among others, with a combined professional experience of about 15 years in the digital industry. He jointly holds a process patent for virtual stock trading platform for early stage ventures. He has mentored several startups like OkListen, The Roobin Project, OnceuponAtime and GroupGames.

A B.Tech from IIT-Bombay, Ashish Bhansali has been responsible for leading digital technology products in corporates as well as start-ups including Starplayer, Bigflix, Eemli.com and Clapshare before taking up his new role as Product Head at ALT Digital. He has worked on core technology areas around video delivery, connected devices, payment systems and ecommerce platforms. Bhansali is active in the startup scene in Mumbai.

Sudarshan Kadam is Head, Alliance and Partnerships at Alt Digital and has over 13 years of experience in business development, content acquisition and digital distribution of games, news and VOD content. He has partnered with major brands like Samsung, Micromax and Airtel, Idea and Reliance Communication to set up distribution channels for content in his past roles. He has held senior roles in companies like Reliance Jio, Walt Disney and Next Education.

Meenakshi Mediratta, who heads the Digital Marketing team at ALT Digital, is a digital media professional with over 12 years of experience in developing media and brand solutions, She has spent around nine years in Mindshare working across categories like FMCG, Airline, Financial Services and Telecom on brands like Idea, Castrol, Kellogs, Pepsico, Lufthansa, Amex, Nestle and Godrej. She specialises in devising a brand's digital roadmap, and delivering key KPIs. She has worked with McCann Eriksson and WebChutney in the past.

Joyce Andrade has more than five years of experience in content and delivery operations, project management, product operation across all connected platforms and customer experience / relationship management both offline and online. She has worked with digital media companies like Star India (Indya/MyStar), Zee Entertainment (Ditto TV) and Spuul. She has managed product integrations into Telcos and has expertise in content metadata processes across various Video CMS like Ooyala, MediaMaker, Brightcove, and Siemens. She will be responsible for Content, Product and Ad operations and CRM of ALT Digital.

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