Megha Tata, Managing Director, South Asia, Discovery Communications India is at the best of her game, top not just Discovery in India by means of its digital transition, but also the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association, becoming only the second lady immediately after Pheroza Billimoria to do so. Here, Megha Tata recounts in her personal words her eventful journey in the Media and Advertising business more than the final 30 years
My childhood was change…
My Dad was an Air Force officer and that meant moving to a new location just about every two to 3 years… I have actually lived from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in my childhood, and I have quite fond memories, although my younger sister and I would resent obtaining to aspect with old good friends and beginning at a new college all more than once again. Those have been quite emotional moments in our lives, but in hindsight, they became the foundation for us to be more versatile towards modify, mainly because modify seemed to be the only continual in our lives. It also created us who we are today – in our strategy to persons, interacting with them, understanding distinct cultures… There was so substantially studying in travelling, which later became my passion as properly.
I graduated from Star TV…
When I came into the Media & Entertainment business 30 years ago, I was fortunate to be aspect of a core group at Star Television bringing Cable and Satellite into the nation – it was large studying as properly as a quite humbling expertise to be aspect of such a phenomenal modify that overhauled the whole dynamics of content consumption. When persons ask me exactly where have you graduated from, I often say Star Television. My institution of studying was Star — I was there for about 12 years – the identical quantity of years you devote at college. I am what I am, for what I learnt and knowledgeable at Star. Initially, I was a sales executive at Star, attempting to discover how to sell. I bear in mind two shows — Bold and Beautiful and Santa Barbara — and how people’s lives revolved about them. Baywatch, created by David Hasselhoff, was also a terrific show, and I bear in mind obtaining a thank you note with a champagne bottle from Hasselhoff himself that created me ecstatic — more than any monetary incentive would — for cracking a sponsorship deal. In that journey at Star, and my stints at Turner, HBO, BTVI and now Discovery, at just about every stage I have felt that I am a student for life, studying just about every day from persons, from experiences, from failures, and from wins.
BTVI was the toughest…
I had by no means worked in an Indian corporation prior to BTVI, and I had by no means worked on news as a genre, leave alone small business news. So, the two years at BTVI have been to me the toughest and the most effective in lots of strategies. Toughest, mainly because it was some thing I had by no means carried out. It was not in my comfort zone. Also, I came in as a lady executive in a quite male-dominated set-up. And lot of persons questioned my capability to provide. When I joined BTVI, it used to be close to 4-5% share, and when I left, it was a 40% share channel. It’s unfortunate that the channel ultimately shut down, but the journey to me, fighting against all odds, overcoming my personal fears, became a large studying. I thank the group that actually supported me and also the group that did not help me – mainly because of them, I learnt a lot of items as properly. I learnt what not to do!