Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has implemented a sweeping revamp of its revenue and sales organisation following the exit of longtime ad sales head Ashish Shehgal, as the broadcaster looks to realign its monetisation strategy with the fast-evolving media landscape.
The overhaul, led by Chief Operating Officer – Advertisement Revenue Sandeep Mehrotra, marks one of the company’s most significant structural resets in recent years. It is aimed at building a future-ready, integrated sales engine that bridges television and digital, while sharpening execution across high-growth segments.
According to senior executives, the move comes amid “tremendous growth” in the business and is designed to better align leadership capabilities with emerging opportunities across platforms.
Integrated, data-led monetisation focus
At the core of the restructuring is ZEEL’s push to create a unified, data-driven monetisation framework in response to structural shifts in the media and entertainment sector.
With audience fragmentation accelerating, connected TV gaining scale, and digital platforms reshaping consumption behaviour, ZEEL is recalibrating its sales architecture to deliver cross-platform, omni-channel solutions. The new design is intended to enable faster decision-making, unlock new revenue streams, and deepen client partnerships through integrated offerings spanning linear TV and digital.
The company believes this approach will help it capitalise on what executives describe as a “golden period” of growth across both traditional and digital businesses.
Leadership elevation and market realignment
As part of the revamp, ZEEL has elevated several long-serving executives into Chief Sales Officer (CSO) roles across key markets and clusters, expanding leadership bandwidth and decentralising decision-making.
Sanjay Chatterjee will lead the East market, while Gunjanar Nayak will oversee the West along with high-margin verticals including HMG, Brand Works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will head southern markets covering Bengaluru and Chennai, along with Kannada and Tamil clusters.
Divijot Dhanda has been tasked with leading Hyderabad and Kochi markets while overseeing Zee TV, Zee Keralam and the Telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a wide portfolio of channels including Zee Marathi, &TV, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biscope.
Strengthening digital and second-line leadership
In parallel, ZEEL has bolstered its second line of leadership with the appointment of multiple National Sales Heads across retail, regional, digital and brand solutions segments.
A key highlight is the onboarding of Ankur Kapila to lead digital sales, signalling a sharper strategic focus on fast-growing digital revenue streams. The company has also introduced dedicated strategy and operations roles across both linear and digital verticals, with Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar taking on key responsibilities.
This expanded structure is designed to improve execution capabilities while continuing to invest in internal talent development and leadership grooming.
Future-ready structure amid shifting ad spends
The restructuring underscores ZEEL’s intent to capture a larger share of advertising spends migrating towards digital and connected TV ecosystems.
The new sales framework, effective immediately, creates a more empowered leadership structure aimed at driving sharper execution and delivering stronger value to partners across the ecosystem. It also enhances focus on high-growth verticals, positioning the company to better tap emerging opportunities in the digital landscape.
Sandeep Mehrotra will continue to report to Chief Executive Officer Punit Goenka and lead ZEEL’s overall advertising revenue strategy.
Transition underway; Laxmi Shetty to take on new role
As part of the transition, senior executive Laxmi Shetty, Head – Advertisement Revenue, Broadcast & Digital, will be assigned a new role, with details expected to be announced shortly. She will support the transition process to ensure continuity as the new structure is implemented.
The revamp marks a significant step in ZEEL’s broader strategy to future-proof its revenue engine and align with the convergence of television and digital platforms.
By integrating sales, strengthening leadership layers and sharpening its focus on high-growth segments, the broadcaster is positioning itself to navigate an increasingly competitive and fragmented media environment while driving sustained revenue growth.
