Location Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Regions Asia-Pacific (APAC) Gender Male
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With over 25 years of leadership experience, Avinash has held senior roles across product, tech, business development, strategy, analytics and research—spanning print, radio, television, web, and digital—across Indian and global markets.
Professional Summary
• Co-Founder & CEO, HT Labs – Leads digital innovation at HT Media; launched
award-winning platforms such as OTTplay, Slurrp, HT School, Mint Genie and Upublish
• Chief Product Officer, Network18 – Drove digital strategy and product innovation for marquee brands including Moneycontrol, News18, CNBC-TV18, Firstpost, CricketNext, Tech2, Overdrive and Forbes India
• Vice President, Saregama– Invented Saregama Carvaan, a landmark product that delivered over 200% topline growth and sold 4 million+ units
• Vice President & Business Head, Times Internet Ltd. – Co-founded and launched Gaana; led Indiatimes’ content and product strategy, livestreamed IPL for the first time in India
• Editor-in-Chief & Product Head at In.com; Cluster Programming Head, Radio Mirchi South; Partner at Microsoft BhashaIndia & BPL OyeIndia.com
Detailed Profile
Avinash Mudaliar is the Co-Founder and CEO of HT Labs, a digital innovation hub focused on building cutting edge products across content, technology, and consumer experiences. Leading HT Labs since its inception in 2020, Avinash has spearheaded the development of digital platforms across diverse sectors—OTT (OTTplay), FoodTech (Slurrp), EdTech (HT School), FinTech (Mint Genie), and Digital Publishing (Upublish)—serving both B2B and B2C markets.
A flagship product of HT Labs is OTTplay, India’s leading OTT aggregation platform. Initially launched as a content discovery engine, OTTplay has evolved into a full-scale aggregator offering curated subscription bundles across 30+ platforms, including JioHotstar, Amazon Prime, ZEE5, SonyLIV, Lionsgate Play, Sun NXT, aha and others. Avinash’s vision is to make OTTplay a category-defining player in India’s dynamic digital entertainment landscape, blending technology, creativity, and market insight.OTTplay was recognised as one of the Top 10 Entertainment Tech Startups of 2025 by Silicon India Magazine.
Another standout initiative, Slurrp, a personalised food and drinks recommendation platform with the largest community of home chefs, has also received widespread industry recognition. Both platforms have received great accolades across global and Indian industry forums, including WAN-IFRA South Asian Digital Media Awards, INMA Global Media Awards, afaqs! Digies Awards, ET Brand Equity Disruption Awards, and IAMAI India Digital Awards.
In addition to this, he has led the digitization of HT Media’s century-old archives, leveraging AI-driven metadata tagging and smart search to transform a vast historical repository into a dynamic, monetizable digital asset. These archives have also been reimagined as timeless keepsakes — from limited-edition collectibles and customised birthday books to lifestyle products like T-shirts, hoodies, stoles, jigsaw puzzles, mugs, tote bags, and more — turning a century of legacy into cherished memorabilia.
Prior to HT Labs, Mr. Mudaliar was the Chief Product Officer at Network18. He was instrumental in building the new Moneycontrol app, delivering an evolved user experience. He was part of the core team that diversified revenue streams through Moneycontrol’s subscription strategy—rebuilding Moneycontrol Gamechangers, launching Stock Reports with Thomson Reuters, and rolling out a premium, ad-free version later named Moneycontrol Pro. At News18, he led the platform’s expansion into 12 Indian languages, strengthening its leadership in the Indic news segment. He also launched CNBCTV18.com, collaborated with Jio on Jio News, scaled podcast adoption across the network and boosted YouTube revenues.
Before joining Network18, Avinash was Vice President of Product, Technology, and IT at Saregama. He is the inventor of Saregama Carvaan, a landmark product that drove over 200% topline growth and has sold over 4 million units to date. He led the development of D2C platforms like the new Saregama.com, streaming apps such as Saregama Classical and Shakti, and backend tech and analytics systems supporting both B2B clients and internal operations. He also significantly expanded Saregama’s YouTube business. Before moving to Saregama, he worked with Times Internet Ltd (TIL) which he joined as VP, Head of Content, Creative and Product for Indiatimes. He handled product responsibilities across Indiatimes properties. It was during this stint the music app Gaana was conceptualized. He then moved internally from Indiatimes to become Co-Founder of Gaana and led it as Business Head during the initial growth years. During his tenure at Times, he led the first-ever livestreaming of the IPL in India.
He has also held leadership roles at In.com (as Founding Editor-in-Chief and Product Head), Radio Mirchi (Cluster Programming Head, South), and as a partner with Microsoft’s BhashaIndia initiative and BPL’s Oyeindia.com. Through his ventures, Mr. Avinash Mudaliar continues to shape the digital media landscape in India, focusing on delivering seamless, personalized, and cost-effective content experiences to a diverse audience.
