Saavn's Abhesh Verma joins nexGTV

He has been appointed as chief operating officer.

nexGTV, the subscription-driven video entertainment app, has appointed Abhesh Verma as its chief operating officer (COO). He joins the company from the digital entertainment portal Saavn and Saavn Interactive where he served as the chief growth officer and CEO respectively. In his new role at nexGTV, he will spearhead executive decision-making and long-term strategic planning for the organisation.

Speaking on the appointment, G D Singh, director and CEO, Digivive Services, says, "Verma's in-depth practical proficiency in the digital entertainment sector is one of the prime reasons why he has been chosen to spearhead nexGTV. We are confident that his on-boarding will help spur nexGTV into its next era of growth."

Explaining his motivation behind joining nexGTV, Verma adds, "Joining nexGTV, which has already established itself as one of the most promising digital entertainment brands in India, gives me a chance to do exactly that. I look forward to optimally leverage my experience with internet-based entertainment and advertisement services to further the brand's value proposition and firmly secure its position as a front-runner in the Indian digital entertainment ecosystem."

Verma has over 16 years of experience across several industries such as entertainment, e-commerce, SEO, advertisement, venture capital and real-estate. Though he has mostly operated from the US, he has developed, implemented and managed many India-centric digital media and advertisement solutions.

Verma has worked with ShopClassic.com as president, driving e-commerce way back in 2000 as a website that allowed Indians to purchase and deliver gifts to each other within India. He was also instrumental in transforming Saavn's business approach from a B2B to B2C model.

Verma has has been associated with internet ventures such as SmasHits.com, India Broadcast Live Inc, MyIndoSpace.com and IndiAds.com.

Before merging with Saavn in January 2009, SmasHits.com was amongst the top three most-visited music and entertainment websites in India with a monthly visitor traffic of over 30 million.

India Broadcast Live Inc. was India's first IPTV Company with exclusive licenses for Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), and was the first to live stream more than 25 Indian TV channels across the world on broadband internet. Verma's other venture, IndiAds.com, saw a monthly traffic of over 1 billion ad impressions on an average, and was ranked by Alexa as the 'Number One Ethnic Marketing Website'.

Verma also pioneered the concept of Smash Chat, a first-of-its-kind feature that enabled live celebrity chat in India with leading superstars such as Sunil Dutt and Gulshan Grover.

nexGTV, owned by Digivive, claims to have over 25 million downloads across devices. It offers content that comprises movies, TV shows and videos.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com