Noorings: Being Uday - A Media Mogul’s Rise & Rise
Journalist turned CEO, Uday Shankar, has transcended beyond the roles of media leadership, continuing to be among the leading voices that are setting India’s media agenda
July 17, 2024 marks Uday Shankar's 62nd birthday - for many journalists in India, Shankar has been an inspiration for more than a decade. His ability to charter new courses and constantly evolve himself makes every peak appear like a pitstop for a bigger jump.
As is popularly known, Shankar began his career in journalism, from Subhash Chandra's Zee Group in fact and grew into several roles including Aaj Tak until he finally joined Murdoch's Star -- a place from where he would choreograph many miracles. Many years ago, Shankar remarked at a friendly gathering that whenever he retires, he will retire as a journalist, a hat he has cherished.
However, the r-word is not in any of Shankar's plans. In each of his leadership roles, whether it was at Star News, from where he made the jump to Star India as its CEO and steered the company into its many avatars until it became The Walt Disney Company or now, in his role at Bodhi Tree Systems (established with former-boss-turned-partner, James Murdoch), Shankar has constantly challenged every known media norm.
This quality may not make him the most liked person in the room, but competition and peers alike have no choice but to admire his acumen, his ability to look and plan ahead, and in many cases, follow the lead.
The Digital & Tech Strength
Over the years, Disney Hotstar's success has laid the groundwork for many streaming players in India. It was not that Star was not investing in this earlier but it really was when Shankar and his team of Sanjay Gupta, now CEO of Google India and Ajit Mohan, now APAC CEO of Snap Inc, made the platform finally work. This team was challenging every known rule of digital media at the time and sure enough it broke the mould.
Shankar's prioritisation of tech was seen when he set up his venture Bodhi Tree, which leverages technology to provide solutions for sectors that have deep consumer engagement. The venture was gaining momentum but Shankar is all about scale. The fact that setting up Bodhi Tree was merely the first step became clearer in time, and therein also came the Reliance and Viacom18 connection. Bodhi along with Reliance invested in Viacom18 early last year, and Shankar became part of the Viacom18 board at the time.
This brought him right into the mix of the mega-merger deal including Reliance-Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Company.
The Big Deal
The Indian media landscape is going through a major shift. Earlier this year, when Reliance Industries/ Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Company signed a binding definitive agreement to form a joint venture that would combine Viacom18 and Star India businesses, it created a groundswell of change. This development, once all is in order as green signals are awaited, will mark the start of a whole new chapter in Indian media. What new characteristics will mark the Indian media then will be an exciting journey.
The broadcasting sector will be impacted but a significant impact will be seen in the digital media sector as well, which is India is still dominated by Google and Meta. Viacom18 and JioCinema are eyeing everything in this space from what can be called mainstream digital platforms to streaming platforms. Shankar is driving this push, and his track record will make things very interesting for all involved.
A simple example is that of sports. The growth of sports in India is credited to many factors, but one should not forget that it was Shankar's leadership when back in 2013, Star India earmarked a then-crazy amount of Rs 20,000 crore as investment in sports not limited to cricket. At best, it could have been called a gamble at the time and many went on to write that it did not work in Star's favour. In hindsight, however, if the Indian Premier League had not worked out for Star and Viacom18, then very little of anything else has. Star, and therefore Shankar, was among the few names that really put might in developing sports in India.
Now, the media mogul is busy again. It is very difficult to gauge what he plans to do next, but one can be sure that he would continue to be making headlines, and setting the media and entertainment agenda for India, like he has done for decades now.
