MAM
Cannes Lions announces Lions Live winners; to live stream sessions
MUMBAI: After a record breaking number of votes, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has confirmed the winners of Lions Live. The online initiative, in partnership with Mindshare and YouTube, brings a selection of sessions from the Festival stage live to people, wherever they are in the world.
As 19,135 people, nine per cent more than in 2014, cast their vote on the sessions they most want to see.
Google, Europe head of B2B brand marketing Donal Mac Manus said, “Cannes Lions is a key moment in the year where creators and innovators from all around the world come together to celebrate creativity and innovation. YouTube are happy to be part of that moment and believe Lions Live is a great opportunity to live stream some of the best elements of the Festival to those who are unable to make it.”
Lions Festivals CEO Philip Thomas added, “The results of Lions Live are always interesting, it shows what’s top of the industry’s agenda. This is a solid mix of current issues – from the buzz around ‘disruption’ to climate change with former Vice President Al Gore, as well as data insights and lessons in creativity from top-performing, global clients – we’re delighted that we can bring this content to those missing out on Cannes Lions this year.”
The Lions Live schedule has been confirmed as:
21 June: ‘How to Survive a Zombie Attack (and Harness Cultural Trends to Grow Brands)’, hosted by MediaCom
The guys behind the hit show The Walking Dead talk zombie attacks and cultural phenomena.
22 June: ‘Toolkit for Transformation’, hosted by Razorfish Global & Contagious
With combined expertise in creative business transformation, consumer culture and technology, Razorfish Global and Contagious offer learning on the future of the industry.
23 June: ‘Sentience: The Coming AI Revolution’, hosted by PHD
Creator of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners Lee, joins PHD’s Mike Cooper to talk about the revolution that is Artificial Intelligence.
24 June: ‘Marketing For People’, hosted by Unilever
Keith Weed explores how our industry can transform to market for people in everything we do.
25 June: ‘Social Networking Since 1864’, hosted by Heineken
Learn about Heineken’s legendary creativity and its role in unlocking social networking around the globe to ultimately elevate their creative output.
26 June: ‘The Cannes Debate: Sir Martin Sorrell in Conversation with Al Gore,’ hosted by WPP
Sir Martin Sorrell talks Live Earth: Road To Paris, The Climate Reality Project and the role of communications in political and environmental campaigning, with former US Vice President Al Gore.
27 June: ’25 Years of Disruption: Conversation with Today’s Most Disruptive Marketers’, hosted by TBWA
Some of today’s most disruptive marketers join Jean-Marie Dru to discuss the role Disruption continues to play in creating and growing global brands.
Mindshare global CEO added, “We believe that we work in the most exciting industry in the world and we are delighted to be able to share some of the reason why with the wider marketing world. We believe that marketing has to be fundamentally adaptive to achieve the best results and Lions Live is an experience that adapts by allowing the viewers to decide the content.”
Voting for Lions Live was open to everyone. Across a period of two weeks people were invited to cast their votes through www.canneslions.com. The seven winning sessions for 2015 will be streamed live via the Cannes Lions YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/canneslions, which will also be updated with Festival highlights throughout the Festival week, running from 21 – 27 June.
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.
