Kevin Vaz of Jio Star Appointed as the IBDF President

The Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) has elected Kevin Vaz, CEO of Jio Star's entertainment division (TV and digital), as its next president. K Madhavan, the former Disney Star country manager, is replaced by Vaz.

Vaz is serving as IBDF president for the first time. Vaz was instrumental in the expansion of Viacom18 as Chief Executive Officer of Broadcast Entertainment before joining Jio Star.

Highlights of Vaz's career include a fruitful period at Disney Star, where he led creative content initiatives, managed 53 television channels, and played a key role in the development of regional markets.

Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (The Times of India Group) was where he started his career.

In addition to Vaz, Rajat Sharma, Gaurav Banerjee, and R. Mahesh Kumar were chosen by the IBDF to serve as vice presidents.

"It is an honor to take on this responsibility at such a transformative time for the media and entertainment sector," said Kevin Vaz, the recently elected president. "India has an unrivaled thirst for content, which makes it a special market where all media continue to expand. Additionally, Indian material is becoming more and more well-known abroad, enhancing India's soft power internationally. We must democratize content creation so that it is not restricted by geography or demographics as we use technology more and more to scale up. We must make sure that possibilities to produce professional content from regions outside of the existing hotspots are a feasible future for the business, even though India consumes content from anywhere thanks to the spread of 5G, smartphones, linked TVs, and improved Pay TV infrastructure."

He also emphasized that "there are tremendous opportunities for growth at scale due to the multiplier effect of the media and entertainment industry, which extends to industries like sports. We must examine business models based on fair partnerships that promote value generation for all ecosystem stakeholders if we are to make sure that this growth can be sustained. Additionally, I'm excited to collaborate with the government and business community to create innovative, flexible policies that enable the industry to innovate and realize its full potential for long-term, sustainable growth."

Since its founding, the IBDF has grown significantly, from seven members in 1999 to 60 members in 2021, which equates to around 400 channels. These stations, which serve India's varied linguistic and cultural environment across a range of genres, together make up almost 90% of the country's television viewership.