Sameer Nair

Sameer Nair (born 1965) is a Senior Indian media executive and business professional currently serving as CEO of Applause Entertainment Limited.

He played a vital role in revamping the Star TV network and the launch of Amitabh Bachchan & KBC, and the Balaji soap operas on Star Plus. These catapulted the channel to the Number 1 slot in the year 2000, making it the undisputed leader for a span of 9 years. The revamp of Channel V and launch of Star Gold, Star Vijay, Star One & Star Utsav also happened under his watch.

Personal life

Nair received his Higher Secondary Certificate from Wilson High School in Mumbai. From 1982 to 1984, he studied physics at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He later earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Madras via correspondence courses while studying hotel management from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai.

Sameer always have political inclination and he managed to study Indian history and politics in his college days. So when the apt time came he took the plunge and joined Aam Adami Party (AAP)

Career

In his initial career he spent 2 years in Yellow Pages in Mumbai and 4 years in Advertising & Film making with Goldwire in Chennai. Sameer entered the nascent television industry in the early 90s with STAR India Network taking charge of Star Movies, the only English movie channel in India. Over a 12-year career at STAR India Network, he went on to handle a variety of portfolios, including Movie Acquisitions, Head - On Air Promotions, Programming Head - Star Plus, Executive Vice President, Network - Programming, Chief Operating Officer (overseeing Content, Communication, Advertising Sales and Distribution) in 2002, and finally Chief Executive Officer in 2006.

In 2007, Sameer turned entrepreneurial with NDTV Imagine Ltd. The venture had a strategic partner in NBC Universal at 26%. Imagine broke new ground by introducing mythology and historical programming into daily primetime schedules, an industry first and commonplace today. While the channel Imagine did not quite succeed, the lessons from steering a ship through the turbulent times of recession, intense competition and failure were sobering and invaluable.

In August 2017, Sameer began a new professional journey to helm Applause Entertainment - a Media, Content & IP Creation Studio - promoted by Aditya Birla Group chairman - Kumar Mangalam Birla. With Applause Entertainment, Sameer aims to build a new ecosystem for content creation & monetization bringing together talent, producers and platforms with an innate ability to merge quality and creativity with commerce.