MAM
Leo Burnett ropes in Amritraj Thakur as VP – planning
MUMBAI: Leo Burnett has appointed Amritraj Thakur as vice-president- planning at its Delhi office.
In his new role, Thakur will work closely with Leo Burnett executive vice president – integrated strategy planning Antony Rajkumar in sharpening the agency’s strategic focus on key clients.
Thakur started his career in advertising in 1999 and soon left the industry to become a specialist in the consulting space. He moves back to advertising with Leo Burnett after a long hiatus, and having worked with many multinational clients in diverse areas such as strategy planning, business analysis, consumer research, etc.
He joins from Intellecap Consulting India where he worked as associate vice president.
Leo Burnett India North president Samir Gangahar said, “Amritraj comes with rich experience in communications and more recently in consultancy. In him, we have found a strategist who has the ability to grasp business problems and think through compelling solutions that will add value to clients’ businesses. In his experience of over 15 years, he has acted as the change enabler for many clients across industries. I’m sure his strength in strategy and business analysis will prove to be an incredible asset to us.”
Leo Burnett India executive strategy planning Antony Rajkumar added, “Amritraj has spent a large part of his career in the consulting space, solving complex business problems for both Indian and International clients. That experience coupled with his temperament, natural intelligence and passion to study and influence human behaviour, will add tremendous value to our clients’ businesses, and thus for the agency itself. It’s great to have someone like him on the team.”
Thakur said, “Leo Burnett’s outlook on how the client’s business is evolving and the role communication companies can play in the change is spot on. I’m truly excited to be a part of the team that believes in defining the purpose brands and creating targeted and meaningful conversations with consumers. After having worked in the consulting space for more than 10 years, I was looking to get back to advertising. I would be foolish to have missed the Leo Burnett opportunity, as it has in its team some of the finest strategic thinkers in the country.”
Over the years Thakur has worked with Unilever, Bosch, NCSoft, RDF Media, Danone, in designing new market entry strategies, implementing sustainable business models, managing marketing and communication requirements and new product launches.
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.
