Sidharth Shakdher quits Disney+ Hotstar

Shakdher joined Hotstar in 2016 as Senior Vice President and Growth Head

by Sonam Saini
Published: Nov 14, 2023 12:07 PM | 2 min read

Sidharth Shakdher, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, of Disney+ Hotstar has stepped down from his post.

Shakdher has been associated with Disney+Hotstar for over seven years. He joined Hotstar in 2016 as Senior Vice President and Growth Head, later in 2018 he was given a mandate to lead the consumer business for Disney+ Hotstar. He was elevated as EVP and Business head. In 2021, he started leading the marketing, growth and direct-to-consumer business for Disney+ Hotstar.

Shakdher resigned in March last year but withdrew his resignation in April and continued to spearhead the marketing function of the video streaming platform in India.

Disney Star has declined to comment when e4m reached for an official confirmation.

Before joining Disney+ Hotstar, he led one of the largest retail categories for Amazon in the US. He worked with Reckitt Benckiser before that, also in the US, leading some of its most successful new product launches and building Reckitt’s digital business. He has led innovation for Reckitt's flagship brand, Dettol for North America.

Sidharth has been a part of the founding leadership team of Disney+ Hotstar, and led marketing, international growth and D2C business at Disney+ Hotstar.

Over the past eight years, he has been the driving force behind making Hotstar India's largest premium video streaming platform, as well as the largest D2C subscription business in India. He has played a key role in Hotstar setting multiple live streaming world records and has held multiple mandates at Hotstar, including growth, operations, data science and the AVOD business leadership over the years.