ABP CRO Rupali Fernandes moves on

The Chief Revenue Officer of ABP, Rupali Fernandes, has decided to move on from the media house after working with them for around two years, sources have confirmed. It is said all top management executives were called in for a meeting on Thursday morning when this announcement was made.

Over her tenure, Fernandes was leading revenue across both linear and digital platforms. She also played a pivotal role in expanding business geographies and scaling revenue verticals through events, branded content, and traditional sponsorships. 

Fernandes was instrumental in driving strategic partnerships and innovative revenue streams for the organization.

With a distinguished career spanning over two decades, Fernandes has been a seasoned leader in media, advertising, and brand partnerships. Prior to her role at ABP Network, she served as Head – Brand Partnership at Matrix IEC from June 2021 to June 2023. In this role, she spearheaded brand endorsement deals for top celebrities, including Vicky Kaushal for Charged by Thums Up, Varun Dhawan for Maruti Suzuki, and Alia Bhatt and Ram Charan for Frooti. 

Fernandes also held key leadership positions at Disney Star, where she worked for over two decades in various capacities. As Executive Vice President – Emerging Sports (2018-2020), she managed the premium sports portfolio, including the Indian Super League (ISL), Premier League, and Grand Slam Tennis. Earlier, as Senior Vice President – Ad Sharp, Advertising Sales, and Strategy (2014-2017), she led the sales and strategy for geo-targeting products, playing a crucial role in onboarding regional advertisers and converting print advertisers for STAR Plus and STAR Gold.

Her long-standing tenure at Disney Star also saw her as the National Sales Head for STAR Plus (2008-2014), where she managed advertising sales for the organisation.

Her career began at The Indian Express, where she managed ad sales for large-scale print campaigns in the FMCG and financial sectors.

Fernades’ next move remains undisclosed yet. 

In June last year, Avinash Pandey, who joined ABP Network in 2005 and became CEO in January 2019, stepped down from the organization as well. After this, the team was supposedly reporting to Dhruba Mukherjee.