Twitter appoints Viral Jani as head of TV Partnerships, India

Jani moves in from Times News Network. At Twitter, he will head strategic collaborations with TV channels.

Microblogging site Twitter has brought Viral Jani on board as the head of TV Partnerships for India.

As part of his role, Viral will work with the complete TV ecosystem of broadcasters, production houses and audience measurement systems, to make Twitter the second screen to TV in India. He will be based at the website's Mumbai office.

With more than 12 years of experience in the media industry, Jani has previously worked with Times Television Network, where he was involved in building a social media presence for its channels, managing the portfolio of content strategy and audience insights for the TV business. He has also been associated with media companies such as NDTV, Disney, Viacom and Mindshare.

Rishi Jaitly, vice president, Media, Asia Pacific and Middle East, Twitter, says, "Twitter is the ultimate companion to television, and we have invested considerable time and effort in partnerships with TV broadcasters worldwide to ensure they are able to amplify the live, public conversations about their shows on our platform. In his new role, Viral will expand Twitter's leadership and footprint in the social TV market in India, prioritising TV partners that drive audience engagement and growth."

On his new role, Jani, says, "Television is one of the largest conversation generators on Twitter, and viewers are far more engaged when they are watching TV and Tweeting at the same time. Twitter is also where viewers discover great TV content that is being watched now, from live events to scripted shows to reality TV. I'm thrilled to join the team at this exciting time for Twitter in India."

Jani aims to lead this social TV movement in India by bringing content from TV channels to Twitter for live public conversations, while enabling Twitter as a visual-driven storytelling platform to drive tune-ins and audience engagement for the TV channels.