Amazon Prime Video is all set to be led by its new leader in a couple of months. The e-commerce major, Amazon has hired Gaurav Gandhi as its new Director and Country Manager (India) for its video streaming service – Prime Video.
Amazon as a commercial company has increased its market share in the country from both urban and rural grounds. Amazon offers have attracted customers to log in to the website and take home good quality products at amazing discounts. With this, Amazon has finally filled the high profile position which was vacant from the past 6 months. Earlier, Nitesh Kripalani was serving at this position but suddenly exited from Amazon in August last year.
Gaurav Gandhi already made his mark in the industry by serving as Head of video streaming service- Voot, before submitting his resignation papers to Viacom18.
Gandhi, an alumnus of NMIMS Mumbai, has been working in Viacom18 from past 8 years. He had joined the company in 2010 as the Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International Business, where he did a commendable job in taking the franchise globally. In the later years, he was named as the COO of IndiaCast. IndiaCast is a distribution joint venture between TV18 and Viacom 18, and Gandhi again did an impressive job in establishing a strong distribution network for IndiaCast.
In the year 2015, he was given the responsibility of being the COO of Viacom18 Digital Venture. This venture later launched Voacom18’s over-the-top video streaming service, called Voot.
His entry into Amazon is being perceived as an intelligent strategic move by Amazon, as Gandhi was an active contributory in bringing Voot among the top 3 OTT services in India, in terms of both monthly active users and number of hours spent.
Prior to his commendable work at Viacom18, he also led many media companies. He served as Executive Vice President – Business Operations & Content Sales at NDTV Imagine, and as Vice President – Commercial and Business Planning at Star group. He also worked at Turner International India and Madison Communications.
While Voot is more focused on leveraging the content of TV Channels like Colors, VH1 India, MTV India, Nickelodeon India and other channels falling under the flagship of Viacom18 group, Amazon is betting big on its exclusive original content.
Series’ like Inside Edge has worked well on Amazon. Further, a good response is expected from The Remix, Inside Edge 2 and its other products. Both the companies compete with homegrown giants like HotStar and Jio TV, along with international players like Netflix. With this big shift, it will be interesting to see how OTT services scenario changes in India.
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