Viacom18 has announced the appointment of Anil Jayaraj as CEO – Sports.
He will be leading the company’s foray into acquisition, broadcasting and monetisation of sports properties.
Jayaraj moves from Star Sports, where he was executive vice president.
Adil Zainulbhai, chairman, Network18, said, “As a leading media and entertainment network in India, Viacom18 has been dialling up its offerings to tap into whitespaces across platforms. We believe that sports is an important category in our promise to deliver wholesome entertainment to our 800mn+ viewers across demographics and geographies. With his rich experience in identifying and building sporting events into high value sportainment phenomena, Anil is aptly poised to lead our newest sports vertical.”
Jayaraj added, “Sporting events in India have evolved beyond just one or two games with increasing fandom amongst audiences towards newer competitive sports. This democratisation has created an unmatched opportunity for sportainment and I am excited to build Viacom18 network’s foray into sports as a category.”
He has also worked at companies like Pidilite Industries and BP and Castrol in marketing roles based in the UK and India.