MAM
Maxus strengthens top management in south; appoints Anil Sathiraju as GM
MUMBAI: In a move to further strengthen their top management, global media and communication planning firm Maxus has appointed Anil Sathiraju as general manager Maxus South 2.
Maxus South has been growing rapidly and handles some of the biggest clients of the region. Sathiraju will report to Maxus South India & South Asia managing p Sanchayeeta Verma.
With Sathiraju coming on board, Maxus consolidates the senior management strength in the South, along with Kishankumar Shyamalan as GM South 1.
Maxus South Asia managing director Kartik Sharma said, “Our South operations have been the trail blazers in many areas for Maxus and we are looking forward to scale new heights. Anil is an important and strategic addition keeping this in mind.”
Commenting on the new appointment Verma added, “The media landscape is possibly at its most dynamic state today. It’s a time of rapid and big changes. Not only do we have to stay on top of this and ensure that we incorporate the new state of things in the way we do the communication planning for our brands, we also have to ensure executional excellence so that strategy translates to reality. On top of it, in today’s uncertain economic conditions, our media monies have to result into tangible business results for our brands. All of this means, more engagement and more speed at the senior management level. This prompted us to create two distinct SBUs within Maxus South and bring in the best people to man them, i.e, Anil and Kishan. Anil typifies Maxus PACE and we are delighted to have him on board.”
Elaborating on his new role, Sathiraju said, “Moving from an agency after 15 yrs was not at all easy for me. Maxus gave me that confidence and motivation to take the leap. With the vision that Maxus has, and the kind of work that they do, my decision making became that much easier.”
Armed with an experience of 19 years, Sathiraju worked with Mudra Max prior to this.
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.
