MAM
Outbrain expands network to drive growth for Indian publishers
MUMBAI: Content discovery platform Outbrain has experienced substantial growth in developing its publisher network in India since the beginning of 2015.
Joining its list of premium publications in India and around the globe are leading titles across all major verticals, including: news, lifestyle, finance and youth.
Publishers that have recently joined the Outbrain network include Indian Express, ABP Live, Financial Express, MTV India, ScoopWhoop, Sanjeev Kapoor, StoryPick, MissMalini, and fossBytes.
Additionally, Outbrain has also renewed its partnership with Network18 in India.
India continues to be one of the company’s fastest growing markets and Outbrain already counts The Times of India, The Hindu and ESPNcricinfo within its network of premium publications.
Network18 vice president and head of mobile business Kavi Madan said, “Outbrain is constantly innovating its product and services to provide something truly valuable to online publishers. We decided to renew our partnership with them because over time they have provided the highest quality recommendations and best monetisation across desktop, mobile and apps for Network18.”
“Outbrain has been an integral part in helping us figure out how to drive engagement with our audiences, as well as supporting our efforts to improve personalisation. This isn’t just about that widget that you see at the bottom of an article. Through the Outbrain Engage solution, we are able to serve the best of our content to all kinds of audiences and deliver what users crave – the best content recommendations,” said Indian Express head of product Vikas Handu.
The continued expansion of Outbrain’s publisher network across all major verticals in India further extends the content marketing opportunity for brands in this region and significantly increases marketers ability to strengthen their audience relationships and get their content discovered. Outbrain’s network combines both local publishers and global sites such as CNN and recent wins like Time Inc., ESPN and Mashable.
Outbrain general manager SEA & India Gulshan Verma added, “We are thrilled to welcome these new publishers to the Outbrain network, as well as renew our partnership with Network18. Outbrain’s focus on trust and audience experience is what brings real value to our publisher partners. Our vision is to maximise the monetisation of our audience for publishers, while at the same time driving increased audience engagement, and providing key insights and analytics about their core digital users.”
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.
