Spuul names Rajiv Vaidya as India CEO, promotes Prakash Ramchandani as global content head

Singapore-based Spuul Pte Ltd, which offers an ad-supported premium subscription-based online video streaming service for Indian cinema and TV shows, has appointed Rajiv Vaidya as its CEO for India operations. As part of his new role, he will be focusing on brand and ad sales. He is replacing Prakash Ramchandani, who is moving to the company's headquarters in Singapore to take over as chief content officer (COO) for its global operations. Ramchandani will oversee international marketing.

"The restructuring will allow us to take the business to its next level of engagement with this fast evolving ecosystem. This will include expanding to new markets, generating access to the ballooning digital ad spends and building mutually beneficial partnerships," said Subin Subaiah, co-founder and global CEO, Spuul.

Vaidya joins Spuul from Hughes Networks, where he headed the sales and marketing for the Americas and later for the APAC region. He had started his career in advertising with DDB Mudra and went on to head Triton BDDP in India.

Ramchandani has held various management positions across TV networks in India and Sydney where he worked in the DTH space, prior to moving to Mumbai to establish Spuul's Indian subsidiary office.

Started in 2010 by Sudesh Iyer (co-founder of Sony Entertainment TV in India), Subaiah, and S Mohan (the founder of companies like Accellion and buUuk), Spuul offers a set of free-to-watch content that are supported with ads as a revenue stream. However, its subscription plans are ad-free.

Last November, the company launched a cheaper ad-supported subscription plan, called Premium Lite that costs Rs 120 a month, which is less than half of the existing premium subscription plan that costs Rs 300 a month. The company has also tied up with mobile payments company Boku to make operator billing available for its new and existing subscription packs.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)