MAM
Ad Club Bangalore receives 1200 entries for Big Bang Awards 2016
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club, Bangalore has received a record number of entries for Big Bang Awards this year. A total of 1200 entries were received making it the highest number of entries received in last 20 years. Keeping in mind the changing media scenario, many categories have been added this year especially in the digital, strategy and data spaces.
“The response we received this year is unprecedented and we are all gearing up for putting up a great event for our prestigious annual award night”, said Sanchayeeta Verma, President of Ad Club Bangalore.
“The Big Bang Awards, is unique as it is fully online from its entry to judging stage. This enables both, people from across cities to participate and judges from across the country and APAC to evaluate the entries”, Verma further added.
Malavika Harita, former President and Chairperson of The Big Bang Awards Committee, said “We have put together a jury of over 75 eminent people drawn from Creative, Media, PR, Marketing, Advertising, Reasearch and Healthcare, to judge the record number of entries received this year. We have been conducting the Big Bang Awards for over 20 years now, without ever courting a controversy.”
Arvind Kumar, Executive Director of the Bangalore Advertising Club for the past 10 years, said “There would be a panel of judges for each category, who would judge the entries over a span of a week, online, according to pre-set criteria. The entire technology back end is managed by Global Best Awards, USA, for the fourth year in a row. The entire system is very transparent because all entries have a computer generated unique id which does not reveal the agency or entrant name. The panel of judges do not know who the other judges are in their group. This a very robust and well oiled system that we follow and is unique to our club.”
The Big Bang Awards Event will be held in Bangalore on September 23rd and entry is by invitation only. For further details, log on toww.adclubbangalore.net .
Visit our Facebook page The Ad Club Bangalore and follow us on Twitter @the adclubBangalore
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.
