MAM
Leo Burnett ups Rich Stoddart as worldwide CEO; Tom Bernaddin named chairman
MUMBAI: Publicis Communications has made an important leadership transition at Leo Burnett Worldwide.
Effective 1 February, 2016, Leo Burnett North America CEO Rich Stoddart will be taking over as CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide. He will, however, continue to hold his post as Leo Burnett North America CEO.
Leo Burnett chairman and CEO Tom Bernardin will remain chairman through June 2017. Both Bernardin and Stoddart also serve on the Publicis Communications ComEx and Stoddart is one of the U.S. country leads for the new organisation led by Publicis Communications CEO Arthur Sadoun.
“Leo Burnett is a leading force within Publicis Communications. We want to make sure that this brand and its unique culture are stronger than ever as we pursue our ultimate goal – to be the indispensable creative partner to our clients,” Sadoun said. “Maurice Lévy and I are both confident that Rich is the best person to incarnate Leo Burnett on this new journey and lead the teams to great successes for our clients and our agencies. And we know we can count on Tom and his wealth of experience to actively help the Publicis Communications ComEx achieve its objectives.”
Bernardin joined Leo Burnett Worldwide as CEO in 2004 and the following year hired Stoddart back to the agency to run Leo Burnett Chicago. Under Stoddart’s leadership, Leo Burnett North America has seen significant growth and client acquisition, strong integration and collaboration across business units including Arc, Lapiz and Rokkan while delivering some of the most effective and integrated campaigns for clients including Allstate, GM, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, P&G and Samsung.
“Rich Stoddart is an incredibly talented business leader, a tremendous champion for creativity and talent and my obvious successor. I’m very proud, after 11 years, to have been the longest serving chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide since Leo Burnett the man. After 40 years in the business, it is the perfect time to pass the reins to Rich. As chairman of Leo Burnett, I will assist both Rich and Arthur in the continued success of Leo Burnett and of the new Publicis Communications,” said Bernardin.
“I’m so energised by the opportunity to lead this global company and the amazing talent within it during a time of unprecedented change, opportunity and reinvention,” Stoddart added. “In partnership with Arthur and Tom, we will deliver upon the promise and potential of Leo Burnett – ‘the best in the world bar none.’ To me this means the very best talent, the very best work and the very best business results for our clients.”
Stoddart will remain based at Leo Burnett global headquarters in Chicago.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
