In bid to propel ‘Animation Beyond Entertainment’

It is a very exciting time to be in the kids’ audiovisual space. With the sheer increase in consumption, proliferation of platforms and new technology coming in every day, the market is at a very exciting junction. Harnessing the tailwinds in the macro-economic scenario, Cosmos-Maya is targeting holistic growth for the new financial year. With the studio going great guns with its Production, International and Digital Businesses, there is enough and more scope to grow the New Businesses division which includes the maturing Licensing & Merchandising, Ed-Tech Content Creation, New Digital Media verticals, all working in concert.

Priti Karandikar has been appointed Senior Vice President, New Businesses at Cosmos-Maya. Priti will be based in Mumbai and will report in to Anish Mehta, CEO Cosmos-Maya. The appointment is in line with the company’s expansion plans and its dictum of ‘Animation beyond Entertainment’, which includes increasing reach, further exploitation and variegation of offerings for both owned and acquired brands.

Said Anish Mehta on the development, “My hearty welcome to Priti. Her appointment heralds a new growth phase. The revenue generation ecosystem at Cosmos-Maya has been very active. With her coming in, we envisage a more holistic approach to brand monetization, with all divisions working in tandem to drive revenues.”

Priti has over 15 years of Sales & Marketing experience and has held senior positions in the Consumer Products Divisions at The Walt Disney Company and Viacom18. At Disney, where she worked for close to a decade, she was part of the brand building efforts in India right from the start-up phase in 2004. Priti has been a part of the core L&M team at Viacom 18 as a Sales Director, managing 5 key categories for the entire kids portfolio across India and servicing brands like Colgate, Kellogg's, Perfetti and ITC for Viacom 18's promotional licensing portfolio.

Cosmos-Maya’s journey from being a standalone animation production studio to creator of both fully-owned domestic, and globally co-produced IPs, has been momentous and has seen the studio develop a robust sales and syndication pipeline. The next phase of organic growth will see a thrust on the New Businesses division. 

Priti said, “I thank the Cosmos-Maya family for making this transition so seamless. Cosmos-Maya has some of the most established kids’ IPs in its portfolio, those which lend themselves beautifully to licensing and brand extensions. My immediate focus areas are L&M, EdTech content creation and New Digital Media with the aim to further strengthen the value chain right from content creation to content monetization for the next cycle of growth.”

Devdatta Potnis, Senior Vice President, Revenue and Corporate Strategy said, “Priti is an astute salesperson with the right blend of enthusiasm, passion and diligence. She is a welcome addition to the sales force, which has now become stronger and more diversified.”