MAM
Kyoorius opens call for entries for 2015 Kyoorius Advertising & Digital Awards
MUMBAI: Entries to the 2015 Kyoorius Advertising & Digital Awards will open on 2 March 2015.
This year the Kyoorius Advertising & Digital Awards introduce a series of new categories that acknowledge emerging and under-recognised areas in advertising and digital communication. These include Branded Film Content & Entertainment, TV Cinema & Title Sequences, Show Programme Promotion, and Tactical Advertising for Press & Film. Recognizing the popularity of last year’s Design for Good category, Kyoorius has created Advertising for Good, to recognize campaigns and movements aimed at promoting social awareness. A complete list of categories and pricing is available at awards.kyoorius.com.
Kyoorius also revealed the jury for the 2015 Advertising & Digital Awards. These include a diverse mix of the top creative minds from international, regional and Indian agencies. Voting is always done in private, never by a show of hands, and unlike other advertising awards, all jury members gather in India to review, discuss and elect the best of the best over an intensive three-day session in Mumbai which will be open to the public.
Advertising
Jury Foreman: Nils Leonard – Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, GREY London
Andy Greenaway – Executive Creative Director, SapientNitro APAC
Arun Iyer – National Creative Director, Lowe Lintas & Partners
Bobby Pawar – Director, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis South Asia
Joji Jacob – Group Executive Creative Director, DDB Group Singapore
Juhi Kalia – – Executive Creative Director, JWT Singapore
Malvika Mehra – National Creative Director & Executive Vice President, GREY India
Nik Studzinski – Executive Creative Director, Droga5
Rajiv Rao – National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather India
Digital
Jury Foreman: Andy Sandoz – Creative Partner, Havas Work Club / Deputy President of D&AD
Kunal Jeswani – Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy & Mather India
Melanie Clancy – Creative Director, BBDO Proximity Singapore
Tim Doherty – Chief Creative Officer, Isobar China
Vassilios Alexiou – Creative Partner, DARE
Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO of Kyoorius, commented: “The Kyoorius Awards recognize the wealth of talent that exists in the country. Last year we were overwhelmed by the support from the creative communications and digital industries. In 2014, the Kyoorius Awards received 2131 entries across all categories. This year, we hope to see a wider participation, with many more innovative and impactful campaigns and ideas from all sizes of agencies and all corners of the country. Show us what creativity can do!”
Key dates for Advertising & Digital Awards
Call for Entries open: 2 March 2015
Call for Entries close: 10 April 2015
Jury Session: 29 April – 2 May 2015 in Mumbai
Awards Night: 22 May 2015 at NSCI Stadium, Mumbai
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.
