TV18, ViacomCBS joint venture Viacom18 names Jyoti Deshpande as CEO

Viacom18, the joint venture between India’s TV18 and US media giant ViacomCBS, has appointed Jyoti Deshpande as its CEO.

Jyoti Deshpande

Deshpande moves over to Viacom18 from TV18’s owner, conglomerate Reliance Industries, where she has served as president of media platforms and content since 2018.

Earlier this year the media and entertainment network shook up its leadership team to focus on scaling and bolstering its digital and broadcast businesses.

This followed the departure of its CEO and MD Sudhanshu Vats last year, when Rahul Joshi, MD of Reliance Industries-owned Network18, took on the additional roles of group CEO and MD of Viacom18.

“Viacom18 is poised to grow as a truly integrated media company across broadcast, OTT and content studio business spanning general entertainment, movies and sports across languages,” said Adil Zainulbhai, chairman at Network18.

“Given Jyoti’s rich experience in the media sector around content, distribution and monetisation across traditional and emerging platforms we believe she is best placed to lead the company and its operations.”

Viacom18 was formed in 2007 as a 50/50 venture between TV18 and ViacomCBS, then known as Viacom, to bring MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1 into India.

The group now operates more than 50 television channels, including the original three plus networks such as Colors, Nick Jr and Comedy Central, as well as streaming services Voot Kids and Voot Select. TV18 became the controlling shareholder by upping its stake to 51% in 2018.