Former Star India sales and revenue strategy head Basant Dhawan has joined sports management and marketing company Twenty First Century Media (TCM) as the Chief Executive Officer.
Basant will be responsible for leading TCM’s all the existing business verticals – sports consultancy, domestic league rights, in-stadia rights, athlete representation, sponsorship management and event operations.
Additionally, he will be developing and implementing sports content strategies & drive other new business lines for TCM across domestic & international markets, TCM has stated in a Press release.
“As a company with expertise in providing wholistic solutions to sports marketing and management, Basant’s deep knowledge as a leader in running broadcast business ,creating & managing Sports IPs with rich experience across functions will help us to further scale up and diversify our businesses”, says Lokesh Sharma, Managing Director, TCM.
TCM holds exclusive ground rights across various cricket stadia in India and globally. Outside India TCM holds the exclusive Naming, Sponsorship, In stadia rights across New Zealand cricket, Cricket West Indies & Asia Cup tournaments (Asian cricket council).Besides this , TCM has on-ground partnerships with cricket boards of South Africa, Bangladesh, England and Australia.
“I am excited to be back in the Sports Industry after my previous stint as CEO of business & English news channels at Network 18. I look forward to contributing towards TCM’s vision of establishing itself as a leader in the sports marketing & management in India & internationally. TCM has been in the sports business for close to three decades & is unique in terms of its services. It is continuously helping right holders & brands to leverage sports for driving business & marketing needs. It is further looking at new sporting opportunities in line with the demand & changing consumption of today’s sports fan,” said Dhawan.
Dhawan, a management graduate from IIM Calcutta, comes with an experience of over two decades with leadership roles across industries – Media & Entertainment, Telecom, Auto etc.
Prior to his recent stint with CNN News 18 & CNBC TV 18 as CEO, Dhawan was with Star Sports as SVP & Head Emerging Sports. He was part of the team that has delivered the new domestic leagues to India – Pro Kabaddi, Indian Super League ,Premier Badminton league etc besides establishing premium sports like English Premier League, Grand slams for Indian viewer.
Before Sar Sports , Basant was with Vodafone India where he successfully managed its brand sponsorship of the IPL & created activation IPs like Vodafone Superfan and the Zoo Zoos IPL campaigns. He headed the Media function as General Manager.