Streaming platform Hotstar has announced the appointment of Punitha Arumugam as Platform Evangelist, with the mandate to showcase the power of the platform to India’s leading brands.
Hotstar has increasingly raised the pressure on Google and Facebook, especially in an environment in which many leading multinational brands have raised questions on the quality and safety of content on open platforms against which their ads are placed. The appointment is amongst Hotstar’s several initiatives to spur an increasing shift in marketing focus towards platforms with high quality content and engaged audiences.
Arumugam, a media agency veteran who has in the past been associated with Madison Media as Group CEO for over 13 years, and at Google as Agency Director for over 5 years, is seen as a leader who shaped many agencies’ and marketers’ increasing use of digital platforms for brand building.
Prior to this role, she was at Google where she led the organisation’s agency business, first from India and later for the region from Singapore, as Managing Director, APAC Agency for Google APAC. She is currently setting up her own firm in the communications tech space.
Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar said, “Punitha is a leader in digital who has a fantastic track record of having aided the creation of many agency and brand partnerships in India and around the region. Hotstar is a special place for brands. We are delighted that she is coming on board to help us introduce the unique power of Hotstar to marketers around the country.”
Arumugam added, “Hotstar has tremendous scale, very engaged audiences and remains open to advertisers. I believe the world of marketing is evolving quite rapidly, and Hotstar has the unique ability to marry the scale and engagement of television, with the power of audience understanding that digital brings. This is what brands have been waiting for, and I am delighted to play a role in shaping the next phase of the industry’s evolution.”
