MAM
OgilvyOne hires Shukla who feels like a kid on his first date!
MUMBAI: OgilvyOne Worldwide India has appointed Sidharth Shukla as its new vice president and head of office for OgilvyOne Worldwide Delhi.
OgilvyOne Worldwide India president Vikram Menon said, “Sidharth with his many years of experience across digital, strategy, analytics, CRM and Direct Marketing has exactly what we’re looking for in someone to lead OgilvyOne Delhi forward.”
Shukla excels in digital and social planning and led a large team of digital planners and social media professionals leading projects for high volume prestigious brands, responsible for developing the vision, strategy and execution of their campaigns. He was also responsible for the development and execution and of the overall digital and social strategy for Samsung’s Note 5 and S7.
As the national head for digital and digital strategy at MRM / McCann for close to four years, he was additionally responsible for leading and driving P&L across a portfolio of priority accounts and spearheading projects in the space of CRM, Direct Marketing and B2B marketing. More recently he has spent the past few years driving larger organization agendas such as digital expertise, thought leadership, integration, new business acquisitions winning accounts such as Bata, Adidas, HCL Healthcare, Logitech, UC Browser.
Ogilvy Group North president and branch head Kapil Arora, “OgilvyOne Delhi is a young, spunky and inspiring place to be at. And I’m glad we have a leader of Sidharth’s experience, talent and drive to harness that energy, toward creating class leading work that works, for our clients. Together with Sidharth and creative lead Abhishek Gupta’s partnership, expect a lot more action from this part of the country.”
With 14 years work experience behind him at agencies such as McCann, Timesjobs, Indian Express, Cheil and Tyroo: Quasar, Shukla is well poised to enhance OgilvyOne’s already existing strengths in the Northern part of its India network.
Shukla asserted, “Like a kid going on his first date! I am truly looking forward to working with OgilvyOne, given the credentials it holds but also the challenges it presents. Most agencies face the same issues for the most part, and while it has barely been a week at OgilvyOne, I have observed that the people, system and culture are primed to take these challenges head on – it will be loads of fun to lead that. My objective is to create a winning culture and get people to have fun. If that is in place, everything else takes care of itself.”
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.
