Discovery APAC names Jhingan as President
October 27, 2021
Discovery has announced Anil Jhingan as its new President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific.
Jhingan will commence in the role from November 1st, as current regional head Simon Robinson steps away from the APAC business to lead integration planning activities in connection with the proposed WarnerMedia transaction. Jhingan will be based in London and report directly to JB Perrette, President and CEO of Discovery Streaming and International.
In his new role, Jhingan will lead all of Discovery’s businesses across Asia Pacific to drive further growth and diversification of a portfolio that today spans twelve office hubs across the region covering 52 markets, 25 channel brands in 18 languages, as well as the leading streaming service, discovery+.
Jhingan joined Discovery in 2019 as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, EMEA and APAC, and has over two decades of international media experience, including across Asia Pacific. His involvement has spanned both traditional TV and digital, pay-TV and free-to-air, content as well as distribution, and across all group business verticals.
Perrette said: “We are fortunate to have a terrific leader in Anil who knows the Asia Pacific markets well, and has already been well integrated with our talented leadership team in the region. APAC remains a key growth driver for Discovery, and Anil’s deep industry experience, impressive international track record and strong leadership qualities, working with our expert local teams, will be central in building continued scale and differentiation in this critical region.”
“Simon is an outstanding executive who, together with strong local leadership, has driven significant expansion in APAC, including the launch of discovery+ in India and the Philippines, as well as increased investment in local content and production,” Perrette added. “I want to thank Simon for his passion and strong strategic execution – his expertise remains critical in the lead integration role as we look ahead.”
“Asia Pacific offers immense opportunity for Discovery, with our focus on great local storytelling and ever broadening distribution of our content to audiences across the region,” said Jhingan. “I could not be more enthused to be working even more closely with our talented teams, as we maintain our strong momentum to drive further growth, during what is a hugely exciting time both across the region and for our company.”
Prior to Discovery, Jhingan served as Group Director of M&A and International Development for Sky, where he played key roles in its expansion. Prior to this, he held various senior executive positions at Sky, 21st Century Fox and News Corp.