MUMBAI: Suheil Mohan has taken charge as senior manager 2, brand marketing at Flipkart, marking another high-profile move in India’s fast-evolving digital marketing space. Based in Bengaluru, Mohan joined the Walmart-owned e-commerce major in May 2025.
Mohan brings with him over a decade of experience across top-tier startups and agencies. Prior to this, he led brand and growth marketing at agritech disruptor Ninjacart, where he spearheaded the platform’s rebranding and digital storytelling campaigns. His earlier stints include brand roles at Byju’s, Mobile Premier League (MPL), and Junglee Games, where he played a key part in executing big-budget campaigns tied to Hindi cinema and gaming IPs.
A former strategy and branded content manager at GroupM, Mohan also worked with Airtel as a digital consultant during a pivotal phase of its 4G growth drive. Starting his career as an engineer, he later pivoted to marketing after completing his management studies.
At Flipkart, Mohan is expected to bolster the company’s brand storytelling and campaign strategy as it prepares for festive season blitzes and deeper consumer engagement in tier 2 and tier 3 India.
His appointment signals Flipkart’s ongoing investment in top marketing talent to stay ahead in the fiercely competitive e-commerce space.
Mumbai: Mobile Premier League has launched a gaming studio called Mayhem Studios to develop AAA mobile games for domestic and global markets. Ojas Vipat will lead the studio as CEO.
“Mayhem Studios aims to harness the strength of India’s talented game developer community and produce high quality games,” said the statement.
The studio will have a team of professionals in the area of animation, art, cinematics, design, engineering, UI and UX game design and game production.
“India has the potential to become a gaming hub of the world,” said MPL co-founder and CEO Sai Srinivas. “It is imperative to create requisite infrastructure for making world-class games to help achieve the country’s vision to make the Indian digital gaming sector a world leader. Mayhem Studios launch is our first contribution towards achieving this vision.”
Mayhem Studios will be based out of Bengaluru and will work on multiple esports and other game titles to meet the demand for gaming in India and other markets.
“Mayhem Studios will be focused on developing games that all gamers can relate to and enjoy the best-in-class gaming experience,” said Mayhem Studios CEO Ojas Vipat. “Setting up such a state-of-the-art studio is the first major step towards development of many AAA mobile game titles from India for the global markets and we are on the right track.”
Mumbai: E-sports and skill gaming platform Mobile Premier League has announced the launch of two new games Helix Jump and Color Road in partnership with Voodoo.
Headquartered in Paris, Voodoo is one of the largest hyper-casual developers and publishers globally, with five billion+ total downloads. Helix Jump and Color Road are amongst their biggest titles with over 500 million downloads till date.
This is the first time Voodoo has launched their game with a publisher in Asia. This collaboration has been made possible using the MPL developer SDK that offers a host of features. With this launch, the MPL users continue to experience the best of hyper-casual games with easy to play and engaging games.
With the developer software development kit (SDK), any game developer can now publish and monetize their games as well as conduct e-sports events on the MPL app. The SDK also enables developers to enjoy a host of benefits like publishing games cross-continent with a single click, adding cash-rewards and also live stream gaming sessions for a larger audience. Multiple gaming formats like built-in tournament, battle and knockout are supported in the SDK to enable the users to engage in a format of their choice.
“We are excited to partner with Voodoo and let our users enjoy some of their biggest gaming titles on the MPL app. With over 90 million users playing every day, we have built deep technology capabilities to enable seamless game-play at this scale,” said MPL vice president developer platform Vaibhav Viswanathan. “We are thrilled to offer these capabilities to any game developers and help them deliver best in class games and enjoy optimised engagement and revenue.”
The SDK can be easily accessed by the game developers by logging on to the developer console from MPL. Developers can utilise the console to take advantage of the single build single integration of the SDK for seamless game publishing. Developers need to maintain only a single build across playstore/ Appstore and MPL app, reducing operational burden and providing for a consistent user experience across various platforms.
Mumbai: With its vision ‘Built For Now’, YAAP, a new-age specialized content design, discovery & distribution company, has won over 20 new businesses and 4 awards in the last few months. The clients onboarded are largely from BFSI, travel & tourism, government and gaming sectors covering names such as NPCI, Mobile Premier League, NITI Aayog, Meghalaya Tourism and Dubai Fitness Challenge. YAAP will be responsible for the content strategy & development, influencer marketing, media buying and social media of these new mandates.
Owing to the unpredictable market situation where industries are collapsing and employees are in continued distress due to pay cuts, YAAP continues to celebrate its employees’ efforts with no pay cuts and no layoffs. Moreover, appraisals have been conducted.
A company that is ambitious towards servicing its clients to the best, has opened 12 new positions across sales, creative, servicing and strategy. YAAP is looking for people who are striving towards a collective goal no matter the odds.
It is said that every new phase often comes with hurdles. With this, YAAP would like to announce that Irfan Khan has moved on from the company. He was a partner at YAAP where he was responsible for the influencer marketing vertical, new business development and overall operations of the company. Manan Kapur, partner at YAAP will be taking on the influencer marketing business.
Sharing his views on the company's novel moves, Irfan Khan, Partner, YAAP, said, "In my time at YAAP, we achieved the growth trajectory few companies have, especially in the content and influencer marketing space. We successfully led some of the biggest content-led activations across India and the Middle East. It's always bittersweet to leave a place enjoyed and helped nurture, but today we have a solid foundation that has been set. I'm positive the team will take it to greater heights in the near future.”
Manan Kapur, Partner, YAAP, said, “The past year has seen a drastic shift in the status quo, and YAAP was no exception. This change meant we had to be more agile and adapt to the new normal while keeping our team, our clients & our partners as our primary priority. And now, as 2020 comes to a close, we have an ever-expanding team, we’ve forged many new relationships and we’re entering the new year stronger than ever, because of our unfaltering passion and our unwavering vision. I look forward to adding influencer marketing to my responsibilities and build on the strong foundation set by Irfan.”
MUMBAI: The moment we hear the name Bigg Boss, what comes to our mind is the cacophony of emotions and behaviours ranging from love to jealousy to anger to sorrow to Machiavellianism to kindness. And of course the paternalistic – at times – and strict – at others – face of superstar Salman Khan, who has been the host of the show since we ever can remember.
Viewers are bombarded with a barrage of histrionics by contestants arguing, fighting, caring, romanticising, dancing, and doing a number of other acts – which is what the show has come to be known for. Interestingly, every year one or the other contestant turns into a household name such as Gautam Gulati, Shehnaz Gill, Rohit Shukla, Dolly Bindra, Gauhar Khan, and Hina Khan.
Scene palatne ka waqt aa gaya hai! #BB14, jald hi sirf #Colors par.
Despite Covid2019, the Colors team has put in gargantuan efforts to bring back the show. Bigg Boss 14 promos have been getting impressive air time to whip up interest for the show – slated to air from 3 October at 10:30 pm on weekdays and 9 pm on weekends – from advertisers and viewers.
SHETTY THINKS THAT THERE CANNOT BE A MORE
PERFECT TIME FOR BIG BOSS
“Bigg Boss is a much-needed respite for audiences, it enjoys a very strong and loyal fan base across age groups. There cannot be a more perfect time than now for a show like Bigg Boss as the audience will relate to it more than ever. The country has been through a lockdown and television has been a constant companion during this time. The audience has been eagerly waiting for it, a show that is packed with drama and entertainment and a great differentiator from the regular shows,” says Viacom18 network sales head Mahesh Shetty.
Advertisers & Brand Integrations
Industry estimates are that Bigg Boss earned Rs 180-200 crore in advertising revenues from nine sponsors and about 100 advertisers in 2019. Viacom18 has labelled Bigg Boss 13 as the most successful season that went on for 139 episodes setting new records in both viewership and revenue terms.
2020 ke manoranjan ka scene palatne aa raha hai #BB14, jald hi sirf #Colors par.
This year the channel has already signed fantasy sports brand Mobile Premier League (MPL) as the presenting sponsor while Dabur Dant Rakshak Ayurvedic Paste and Hindustan Unilever's TRESemmé' have been roped in as co-powered by sponsors.
Shetty highlights that due to ease in the restrictions, businesses are going back to normal and as a result, advertising spends are also increasing. According to him, television is doing good in terms of volumes which is a very positive sign. “As we enter the festive season with Bigg Boss, we are sensing a lot of optimism from advertising and viewers,” he adds.
According to industry experts, Viacom’s revenue from the show is likely to get a 15-20 per cent cut compared to last year. Its card rate is between Rs 300,000 and Rs 500,000 for a 10 second spot. And it is not budging on discounts.
Shetty shares, “In a normal scenario, we would have increased the rates by 25-30 per cent from last year but we are neither increasing nor decreasing the prices. As per the BARC data in June, our ad-volumes have also recovered. We initiated discounting in the month of April-May owing to the low demand but starting July, we have let go of discounting and as of this month, we are on zero discounting and the ad volumes are still holding strong.
" Mediacom India south Asia chief growth officer Soumak Banik said that Bigg Boss is a marquee property, hence it will get the required viewership as audiences have not had much fresh content to watch over the past five months. It is not just Bigg Boss Hindi but the Tamil and Telugu versions will do better in terms of viewership and revenue.
He adds: “There is already traction from advertisers for sponsorship on Bigg Boss. Also, I don’t think so impact properties will have 15 to 20 per cent of revenue cut. In fact, I think both viewers and advertisers are open to welcome reality shows on TV. Bigg Boss has already signed two sponsors and the makers are in discussion with other brands. Similar to IPL, Bigg Boss will also have sponsors on board before it begins to telecast.”
In its fourteenth season, it is all set to cover everything from Dussehra, Diwali to Christmas and New Year during its telecast. Viacom18 is currently in talks with several brands for sponsoring other categories and is looking forward to brand integrations.
Shetty points out that it Bigg Boss is a format which suiting all kinds of brands from e-commerce, automobiles, beverages, snack foods, appliances to gaming apps, and payment gateways. It appeals cuts across categories and offers great brand integration solutions across episodes and in between the episodes on the various Colors digital properties.
“There are some sponsors who sign deals for both Bigg Boss and the channel while there are others who are only digital exclusive. Typically, we have separate sponsors for Colors and Voot. Last year, Voot had close to eight to nine sponsors and this year also we are expecting the same or more. On Voot, we also create some very similar shoulder content around Bigg Boss like Bigg Buzz that the brands find attractive.”
The format of Bigg Boss 14 is going to remain the same with a bunch of people stuck inside a house. Shetty reveals that innovations are planned for the new season which will weave in the existing realities of the pandemic into its narrative. All the luxuries that most have been deprived of will be made available to the contestants. There will be small shopping and dining areas, a spa and a health club, and even a movie theatre. Some or all of these will be accessible to the contestants, if they do well on activities and tasks that are set for them. Shetty says the format affords a lot of opportunities brands to become a part of the narrative of Bigg Boss 14.
Expectations are that the current edition will run for 106 episodes, with Shetty declining to talk budgets that are being kept aside for it.
Why Brands Love it
BARC India data reveals that Bigg Boss 13 garnered 213 million viewers and the finale alone witnessed 10.5 million impressions. Over the years, the show has been delivering very strong numbers and has helped brands generate a high top-of-the-mind recall and impact.
Shetty reveals that the response from brands and advertisers has been very encouraging. A lot of brands are now looking at investing in big-ticket properties and Bigg Boss serves as a befitting platform for brand associations and integrations.
Recently, the Indian government banned a set of Chinese apps, possibly one of the major reasons why Vivo backed out as a sponsor. According to Shetty, only due to certain operational issues and government norms certain brands may not be able to come on board.
“We expect most of the brands that have partnered with us and have been associated with us in the previous years to come back and renew their partnerships,” he highlights. “Some of the brands which are keeping a low key because of government rule may not be a part of the mix. Dabur is a case in point of a returning partner. It was a powered by sponsor last year and has come on board this year as well.”
Coinciding with IPL
This is for the first time the IPL is clashing with Bigg Boss and there is a lot of buzz that it is going to impact the viewership. However, Shetty believes that the clash is very minimal.
He mentioned that Bigg Boss starts on 3 October and runs for 106 days whereas IPL starts on 19 September and goes on until 8 November. So, the overlap is only for 37 days out of 106 days. Also, any head-on clashes between Bigg Boss 14 and the IPL this year will be rare, given the former’s telecast time of 10:30 pm and the latter’s at 7:30 pm. “The matches will most likely be over by the time Bigg Boss begins,” says an observer.
The overlap will take place only on the weekends for eight days because Bigg Boss airs at 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday. “So, from a viewer's point of view, there is not much of an overlap. Both the IPL and Bigg Boss are very strong properties and have a very strong following and I am certain people who follow and watch both will continue to do so. From the advertisers' standpoint, they have a scope to invest in two big properties. The IPL ticket size being very high may not be affordable to some of the advertisers but I think there is enough space for both to coexist,” shares Shetty.
MUMBAI: Bigg Boss 2020 will be back on Colors and take viewers on an entertaining ride packed with drama, thrill, and excitement. Hosted by Salman Khan, for the new season, COLORS joins hands with India’s largest esports and mobile gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) as the presenting sponsor.
Speaking about the partnership, Viacom18 network sales head Mahesh Shetty shares, “Bigg Boss is the biggest reality show in the entertainment space, and it appeals to demographics across geographies. Given its strong fanbase makes it one of the sought-after marketing platform for sponsors. Over the years, several brands have come forward to explore innovative customizations and partnerships to deliver their business ambitions. Mobile Premier League (MPL) is one of India’s leading esports and mobile gaming platforms that provide unparalleled gaming experience to the users and we are glad to welcome them as the presenting sponsor for the new season of Bigg Boss.”
Mobile Premier League (MPL) growth and marketing VP Abhishek Madhavan said, “Bigg Boss is one of the most-watched reality shows in India and easily the most popular and most talked-about reality TV show across the country. With a superstar like Salman Khan hosting it, every season is eagerly awaited by millions and promises something new. With MPL expanding into areas like entertainment via its live-streaming and a bunch of video-first features, Bigg Boss was the most obvious choice for us to associate with. We eagerly look forward to this season and hope to cement MPL’s position as a household name through the partnership.”
Elaborating on the partnership, Mediacom India & South Asia CEO Navin Khemka said, “We are delighted with this partnership of MPL and Bigg Boss. This is one show that has shown consistent performance over the years. We are confident that we will be able to leverage a strong association with the loyal Bigg Boss audience through some innovative associations that we have in store for our exponentially increasing gaming audience. India loves to play and this time it’s going to be inside the Bigg Boss house with MPL.”
Being the most-awaited and entertaining reality show on Indian Television, the upcoming season of Bigg Boss will enthrall the audience who will once again witness all the high-voltage drama and action unfold on their screens.
NEW DELHI: Mobile Premier League (MPL) has announced its sponsorship of the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the upcoming T20 season. Through the partnership, MPL is positive about leveraging its online presence to create maximum visibility for the team and engage with fans during the tournament.
Royal Challengers Bangalore chairman Sanjeev Churiwala said, “We are delighted to have Mobile Premier League as one of our partners. RCB’s biggest strength lies in the love and supports the team gets from their fans and it would be exciting to open avenues for them to engage with the team and we share this ethos with MPL of being committed to our fans to bring continuous at-home cricket experiences for them.”
MPL VP growth and marketing Abhishek Madhavan said, “This is a great opportunity for us at MPL to associate with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB is one of the strongest teams in the IPL led by Virat Kohli, our Brand Ambassador, and is also one of the most recognised brands in the country with a huge fan following. RCB’s philosophy of #PlayBold is shared by us and Virat as well, and we hope to become a household name in India with our IPL associations.”
The T20 tournament which will be played in the UAE this year is scheduled to start on September 19, 2020, and will conclude on Nov 10, 2020. As the League will be held overseas, MPL's association is in tandem with its plans of taking the gaming platform to the global sports arena. MPL has also signed as principal sponsors of the Kolkata Knight Riders.
MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) announced that its brands division, PFT Brands, has partnered with Mobile Premier League (MPL), India’s leading mobile e-sports platform, to create multiple ad films and videos for the brand. PFT has created an extensive content inventory for MPL, in sync with the organization’s long-term, strategic communication goals. As a one-stop video agency, PFT Brands is handling all aspects of content creation for MPL – from conceptualization and scripting to production to postproduction.
As part of the collaboration, PFT has designed a series of ad films showcasing the wide variety of fun games available on MPL, including Rummy, Fantasy Cricket, Fantasy Kabaddi, Carrom, Fruit Chop and Pool. These films have been further localized in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Kannada and Gujarati. Leveraging humorous narratives, the films pique viewers’ interest and inspire them to install the MPL app and start playing specific games. The ads are being showcased on both TV and digital platforms.
In addition, PFT has also created several testimonial videos for MPL which showcase positive real-life stories and experiences of MPL users who have won major cash prizes. The videos aim at inspiring consumers to download the MPL app and start playing to win. The PFT team shot videos of MPL winners from different parts of the country, highlighting their winnings and emphasizing how MPL has made their lives easier and better.
MPL vice president – growth Abhishek Madhavan said, “Our users are our ambassadors and thanks to them, we have grown to become India’s biggest mobile gaming and skill monetisation platform. We want to reach out to our users and involve them to reiterate the trust they have placed in us. The PFT team completely understood the user sentiments at play, and executed both the ads and the customer testimonials superbly. We are confident the campaign will be extremely successful, and we look forward to producing more such stellar work with PFT as our partner!”
PFT vice president – brand services Umesh Bopche added, “We are immensely excited to be partnering with an innovative market leader like MPL, and are grateful to their team for giving us this incredible opportunity. The content we have created for MPL is based on two key objectives – building brand awareness and significantly strengthening their user base. We look forward to creating a host of world-class videos for MPL in the coming months.”
MUMBAI: Following the appointment of Lowe Lintas Bangalore as its creative agency, Mobile Premier League has launched its maiden advertising campaign featuring cricketing-star Virat Kohli. The campaign celebrates budding heroes from the streets of India.
The campaign idea rests on the insight that for a billion-strong nation there are few national icons who inspire a sense of pride creating unconditional love and acceptance. Sportstars, in particular, attract immense reverence, respect and recognition, primarily because a sport marries nationalist pride, skills of the game, and fame. 'Ab har galli se niklega hero' packs this insight and fills this perceptional void of inspiring sport stars with avid gamers across the country.
Commenting on the maiden campaign, Sai Srinivas, CEO, Mobile Premier League said "We wanted to launch with a bang and ensure our first TVC resonates with our brand and customers, which is why we wanted to keep it young, full of energy, exciting and appealing to Indians across. You will see Virat Kohli in a completely new avatar; shaking a leg with the heroes of Mobile Premier League that resembles a typical Bollywood song and dance celebration. Through this piece of communication, we hope to drive customer interest and build awareness about our brand, inspiring everyone to play MPL and win and become a Hero".
A series of four high-energy anthems rendered in unique local flavours celebrate heroes from across the country. Shot as a typical 70mm movie, with larger than life hero entry sequences, power-packed music to complement the on-screen grandeur, the films are fun to watch. Virat Kohli surprises with spell-binding moves even off the pitch.
Sagar Kapoor, Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas says “Gaming as a category is fun and full of energy. Hence our idea and execution kept these at the heart of the thinking. The song and dance package the mood perfectly. The idea of "Har galli se niklega hero " is an exaggerated celebration of the avid gamer. Virat of course is the best person to present these gaming heroes, embodying the spirit of both the competitiveness and fun.”
“Our strategic perspective was that for a country of 1.3 bn, India has very few heroes. Not everybody can become a cricketer or an Olympic medal winner. MPL is a platform that democratises fame and fortune. Our creative idea stemmed from that context- Har Gully Mein Hero. With Virat Kohli’s superb off the pitch performance, we’re hoping that this campaign goes on to create even more success for MPL.” says Hari Krishnan, President, Lowe Lintas.
MUMBAI: Lowe Lintas has won the creative mandate for Mobile Premier League (MPL), following a multi-agency pitch. The account will be handled by the agency's Bangalore office.
Talking about appointing Lowe Lintas, Mobile Premier League director Sai Srinivas said, “We went through a long multi-agency pitch before finalising on Lowe Lintas as their campaign idea resonated very well with our brand and their team understood our core consumer really well. The projected growth in the mobile gaming sector is massive and with Lowe Lintas as our partner, we are confident of growing even faster.”
Elated about the win, Lowe Lintas president Hari Krishnan said, “Launching brands is something that Lowe Lintas has consistently done successfully and that is what we intend to do with MPL, an exciting platform that democratizes fame & fortune. Mobile gaming is a very fast growing and dynamic category and we are excited to be a part of this journey with MPL.”
MPL is a mobile gaming platform that allows users to play online games like Cricket, Pool, Bike Racing, etc. winning them bumper incentives. It had recently signed Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador.
