ADMC's Ricky Ghai Is Eros Digital CEO

Film studio Eros International Media Ltd has appointed Ricky Ghai as chief executive of its digital and new media arm.

His appointment is in effect from July 2011.

Ricky Ghai has experience in emerging technologies especially VOD and the convergence opportunities and his appointment is in tune with Eros' recent digital focus. It recently began digitising and cataloguing its film library using Prime Focus Technologies' CLEAR Management platform.

"Eros Digital will be an increasingly large contributor to Eros International Plc's growth over the medium term and the appointment of Ghai is a statement of our intent in this arena. We are already involved in cutting edge developments in the digital sphere, including the full digitization of our extensive movie library. I am confident that Ricky will add greatly to our existing digital momentum," said Kishore Lulla, Executive Chairman of Eros, in a media release.

Ricky Ghai was the Executive Director for Digital Media, Abu Dhabi Media Company and was heading all its new media and digital projects. He is responsible for various investments by the company since 2007 including setting up of the joint venture Vevo.com in association with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. Other brands under ADMC's digital media division include online sports site ADMCSport.com, fashion and lifestyle site for women AnaZahra.com, digital out of home media brand Al Barq Digital and gaming studio Karkadann Games . Prior to ADMC, Ghai has had top management roles such as Director of Programming for TV3 Sweden, EVP of Programming for Orbit, CEO of ARA Programming & Distribution (Subsidiary of MBC) and Director of Programming BT (VOD) Nevis.

"As media companies across the globe look for new ideas and migrate traditional business to digital platforms, Eros has all the right ingredients; credentials, talent, compelling content and technology at its fingertips, to lead the field. In the coming months, we aim to take Eros to another level," said Ghai. Other top management at Eros International include Andrew Heffernan, CFO and Kamal Jain, Group Chief Financial Officer-India.

Eros, which is listed on AIM, BSE and NSE, has invested in digital cinema network UFO Moviez, Valuable Group and B4UTV.com. According to a report on the Indian media and entertainment industry by FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) and KPMG published in April 2011, annual growth rates in the digital sub-sector of the media and entertainment industry in India exceed 30 per cent.