Disney’s international content and operations group has appointed Sajith Sivanandan as executive vice president and head of Disney+ Hotstar. Sivanandan will assume his new role in Disney+ Hotstar from October with a dual reporting line to Rebecca Campbell, chairman of Disney’s International content and operations group and K Madhavan, president, Disney Star. Prior to this appointment, Sivanandan was with Google.
Sajith Sivanandan will join the executive team and lead the innovative team at Disney+ Hotstar, Rebecca Campbell, chairman, international content and operations, The Walt Disney Company, said. “His deep experience in the region, combined with his strong leadership and business management skills will greatly benefit Disney+ Hotstar as the platform embarks on its next phase of growth,” he added.
Sivanandan will oversee Disney+ Hotstar’s overall business operations in India with direct responsibility for defining the streaming service’s strategic business priorities and charting a product roadmap for Disney+ Hotstar’s sustained and exponential growth in the years ahead. He will also work closely with local leadership in international markets as well as with the Disney+ team in the US to drive Disney+ Hotstar’s continuous growth which, with its unrivaled scale, innovation and breadth of content, has become the leading streaming service in India.
“After witnessing rapid growth in recent years, the OTT market in India has entered a transformational phase which calls for an ingenious approach to the manner in which we innovate for growth. Sivanandan’s wealth of experience that he has gained over the years makes him the best person to lead Disney+ Hotstar on this journey,” said K Madhavan, president, Disney Star and country manager, The Walt Disney Company, India, stated.
Sivanandan is a seasoned professional with rich experience in strategic business and leadership roles across international markets. He has spent over 14 years at Google, most recently serving as managing director and business head of Google Pay and Next Billion User Initiatives for their APAC region. Sivanandan began his professional career with Star TV in India in 1996, where he managed the North India market for Channel V. “Disney and Star are brands with an incredibly rich history of innovation, user focus and storytelling, and Disney+ Hotstar brings those attributes together flawlessly. The opportunity to come back home to where I started my career and to work alongside a very talented team to serve Disney+ Hotstar users in Ind
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