Media firm Viacom18 launched its new digital business, Viacom18 Digital Ventures and recently appointed IndiaCast Media Distribution group COO Gaurav Gandhi as the chief operating officer of the new venture. Gaurav Gandhi’s appointment will be effective from August 1, 2015.

In their statement, the media firm said that the new entity ‘Viacom18 Digital Ventures’ will bridge traditional broadcasting and digital innovation. This decision to start a new venture of business was taken in order to focus on organization’s strategy to develop a convergent digital media platform for evolved consumers and marketers.

“The broadcast industry is growing rapidly, and digital content, delivery and access are the new green shoots. We are looking to leverage the interception between a highly digital audience and the current content offerings. Gaurav’s rich experience in media, keen understanding of digital, strong base in distribution and his entrepreneurial instinct have made him our obvious choice,” said Sudhanshu Vats, Viacom18 Group CEO.

Gaurav Gandhi has previously worked with NDTV Imagine, Star TV Tuner International India and Madison Communications in leadership roles and joined Viacom18 in March 2010.

Gandhi is extremely excited to start working and happy for this opportunity of building out a consumer facing digital business for a big media firm such as Viacom18. “I am very excited about this opportunity of building out a consumer facing digital business for Viacom 18. With the ever changing media landscape, fast growing high-speed internet access and explosive growth in video consumption across screens, there could not be a better time to move forward in this space. We at Viacom 18 want to be the forefront of this digital convergence with our products & content offerings,” Gaurav Gandhi said.