Anil Jayaraj, CEO of Viacom18 Sports for the last two years, has moved on, Economic Times reports.
The development comes as no surprise to industry watchers, as it was seen as more than when rather than if once Viacom18 made the decision in March that Kiran Mani, the network’s CEO for digital at the time, be given additional oversight of the Reliance-controlled media company’s sports business. This executive restructuring, which came in the wake of the announcement that Disney’s India assets would be merged into Viacom18, also saw Kevin Vaz, CEO-Broadcast, handed charge of Viacom18’s entertainment content clusters for TV and digital.
ET, quoting “sources familiar with the developments”, reported that the veteran media executive submitted his resignation on Monday, June 17.
As CEO, Jayaraj expanded Viacom18’s sports business on TV and digital platforms like Sports18 and JioCinema. Under his leadership, Viacom18 secured major properties such as the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) digital rights, the BCCI media rights, the Women’s Premier League (WPL), and the 2024 Olympics.
Prior to joining Viacom18, Jayaraj was in charge of ad sales at Disney’s Star Sports network. He created the advertising revenue plan for seven IPL seasons first at Star Sports, and subsequently at Viacom18.
Over his nearly 27-year career, Jayaraj has also held top marketing roles at Pidilite Industries, BP – Marine & Energy Lubricants, and Castrol.
