The move will consolidate the company’s national Hindi, youth, music and English entertainment offerings under the leadership of Raj Nayk.

Ferzad Palia, head – Youth, Music & English Entertainment, will now be responsible for branded content and white label solutions as well as MTV Music Project’, which will nurture new and established artistes and create original music content. This is in addition to Ferzad’s existing portfolio that includes MTV, MTV Beats, Colors Infinity, Comedy Central and Vh1.

Anuj Poddar has been promoted from his current role at Colors Marathi and Colors Gujarati to lead the rural expansion as head of rural business, including Rishtey Cineplex. Meanwhile, Saugato Bhowmik, as head of consumer products & integrated network solutions, will continue to drive Viacom18’s efforts towards building home-grown experiential IPs.

Under the restructure, Viacom18 has also brought the responsibility of its existing regional TV channels (Colors Kannada, Colors Super, Colors Marathi, Colors Bangla, Colors Odia, Colors Gujarati) and the soon-to-be launched Colors Tamil under the remit of Ravish Kumar, head of regional entertainment, Viacom18.

The joint venture between India’s Network18 and Viacom of the US says as it enters its tenth year of operations, it plans to enhance its home-grown children’s content for Nickelodeon, with more live events under the leadership of Nina Elavia Jaipuria, head - Kids Cluster, Viacom18.

Its digital streaming platform VOOT is also set to expand its content catalogue, launch collaborations and segmented offerings, lead by Gaurav Gandhi, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures. The company’s Motion Pictures arm will continue to be lead by its COO, Ajit Andhare.

“Viacom18’s DNA has enabled it to pre-empt market shifts and adopt unconventional approaches to address conventional business challenges. Since inception, our top line has grown 40 times and channel count has grown over 12 times while being PAT profitable,” said Sudhanshu Vats (pictured), group CEO, Viacom18.

“Today, Viacom18 has five diverse lines of business - in addition to a core broadcast offering it now has a strong presence in digital, filmed and live entertainment along with a fast-growing licensing and merchandising operation. None of this would have been possible without our most valuable asset – our team.

“Our endeavour has always been to build a future ready organisation with distinct capabilities and a distinctive culture with an emphasis on developing internal talent. This new structure will power us as we enter our next growth phase,” Vats added.

The new leadership structure will be operational with immediate effect.