Skandha initiates MENA expansion with hire of Dubai-based Managing Partner of Product & Growth
Skandha Media Services, a leader in scalable
managed playout, broadcast, and OTT services that leverage cloud technology,
automation, AI, and machine learning, has appointed Neha Modi as its Managing
Partner of Product & Growth to lead the company’s expansion into the Middle
East and North Africa.
MENA is a key market for Skandha. The demand for
live streaming of sports and events has rapidly increased since the region
began investing heavily in sports infrastructure and hosting events such as F1
and FIFA 2022 World Cup. According to The World Economic Forum, the Middle East's sports industry is expected to grow
by 8.7% by 2026 – compared with global sector growth of 3.3% over the same
period.
“The region’s growing fanbase of mass-appeal and
niche sports, as well as the demand for local and Arabic content, is presenting
new revenue opportunities for rights holders, content aggregators and
advertisers,” says Nitin Jain, managing partner, Business & Solutions Engineering
at Skandha Media Services.
“We can add real value to OTT/streaming platforms
in the region by helping them realise and maximise on these new commercial
opportunities and to navigate the nuances that come with Ad-supported models.
With Neha’s deep-rooted knowledge and familiarity with the decision makers in
this market, we can engage the region's most innovative M&E organisations
in meaningful conversation.”
Modi will assume a strategic role at Skandha,
focusing on the market penetration of its cutting-edge cloud and on-prem
playout services and monetization platforms. She will also help steer the
direction of the company’s product roadmap, leveraging market insights and
feedback from her extensive network of industry peers, innovators, influencers
and potential customers in MENA.
“With Skandha’s proven success in South Asia where
there is a similar diversity of users, viewer preferences, interests and
languages, their expertise in tailored and scalable playout operations and
AI-powered Ad delivery and verification tools is of high value to the MENA
region, particularly when it comes to the generation of new revenue
opportunities in the streaming of live events and sport,” observes Modi.
Modi brings a wealth of experience from her 13+
year career in the M&E industry, spanning technical support, testing, QA,
and product management roles. Based in Dubai for over a decade, she has been
instrumental to the success of numerous user engagement and monetization
initiatives at some of the region’s most high-profile broadcast and OTT
platforms.
Most recently, at OSN, Modi contributed to the
development of new features on the OSNtv box, including On-Demand, TVOD, and a
Gen AI-powered recommendation engine, resulting in a significant increase in
user engagement. While serving at STARZPLAY for eight years, during which time
its customer base grew from a few thousand to 2.5million, Modi held various
product management roles where she led cross-functional teams, shaped strategic
roadmaps, and optimised resource allocation. She also successfully launched
four OTT white-label products across South Asia and the GCC involving
integration for multiple telco bundles and payment gateways, driving product
scalability and engagement.
In her early career, Modi secured positions at Jio
and Millennium Semiconductors in India after qualifying as a Bachelor of
Engineering in Electronics & Communication from Gujarat University. Modi
also recently completed a post graduate certificate program in Product
Management with The Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), Indore.
“Skandha is focused on understanding the
intricacies and challenges that are specific to meeting the business objectives
of MENA’s M&E organisations on a local, regional and international level,
as they have already demonstrated with existing customers Disney+ HotStar,
Tata/Sky and Jio Cinema,” continued Modi. “The company’s collaborative
approach, plus the team's enthusiasm to embrace new technology and ideas will
be warmly received by organisations in the region.”
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