MAM
Goafest 2016: Believe in instricts and data to keep up with change, feels Carter Murray
GOA: “Around 90 per cent of the internet traffic will soon be video based. Quoting figures from Google US, he said there are 60 trillion web addresses in the world with 4 million applications with 3 billion web searches per day.
Kick-starting the second session of the last day at Goafest, FCB worldwide CEO Carter Murray spoke on surviving and thriving in the times of intense change, replete with case studies and insights.
The 40 year old CEO said Murray pointed out that 15 per cent of the searches are never seen before. “This means that there are 450 million searches every-day for something that’s never been asked before. If there is a 0.5 second delay on a Google search, there is a 20 per cent drop in traffic. While on Amazon, a 0.1 second delay will cause a 1 per cent drop in sales.”
Speaking about what is happening at Silicon Valley and listening to some speakers at forums, clients and agencies, he said “We have to start being aware of fake prophets. You have to trust your own instincts. You should take what’s going on around the world and add it it to what you know. You don’t have to start fresh,” he noted.
He started his talk with the cryptic example on the difference between ‘being involved’ and ‘being committed’. “Take for example a bacon-and-egg breakfast. Chicken is involved and bacon is committed. What we put in and how it comes out has changed.”
He said marketers use only 6 per cent of data for decisions. “Data is waiting for its Scorsese. When are we going to use data to improve creative product not just improve sales?”
With agencies and marketers trying to be ‘different’ in a changing and challenging environment, he said, “Different doesn’t always have value – better does. Steve Jobs did not invent the telephone; he made it ‘better’.”
The CEO divided work into three buckets: Hero, Hub and Help. He explained the model in which Hero stands for what you want to say wrapped up in an emotional story which is memorable and invites further participation. Hub symbolizes a platform which is updated regularly or a social profile worth returning to. Help stands for what your target market are searching for.
Explaining this model, he cited examples of a few brands like Hero, Nivea and Valspar Paint which amused the audience.
He stressed on how important talent is when it comes to surviving and thriving. “This is an exciting time focus. Never think that an idea or brief is finished. You always learn and evolve. If you make a mistake, stand-up, and apologize. Do not try to hide it. Identify your micro-moments, deliver on needs in the moment and measure and optimize to connect the dots”.
Change is happening but instead of freaking out and trying to incorporate every change, the marketing community needs to believe in their instincts and data, he stressed.
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.
