MAM
Pioneering Concept of an Open Jury Session for 2014 Kyoorius Awards Well Received
MUMBAI: Known for providing a truly neutral and ethical platform that recognizes the best of the advertising and digital communication, Kyoorius in association with D&AD has concluded their open jury session for the entries received.
This open jury format was welcomed by the industry and fellow professionals as the three day session was attended by over 65 visitors a day, who watched the jury debate over entries and were spectators to the best of Indian creativity on display. Also seen in attendance were youngsters who had come to gain insight and exposure into what goes into creating works that really work.
Not only did the jury session witness media and stalwarts from the creative community coming in to view the entries first hand, understand the judging process and watch the debate amongst jury member but could also raise objections if they found any work to be not genuine or a scam.
988 entries across Advertising and Digital were judged over 5 days by two juries and the results are in.
74 in-book winners have been awarded in advertising and 39 in digital. These in-book winners are now nominated for the coveted Blue Elephant and winners will be announced on the 12th of June at the NSCI Indoor Stadium in Mumbai.
In book winners include agencies from across the country – making this a truly national creative award. Grey Worldwide, Ideas@Work, Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis India, Famous Innovations, Happy Creative Services, Hungama Digital Services, Creative land Asia, Soho Square, Scarecrow Communications, Thought Blurb, DDB Mudra, Candid Marketing, BBDO India, BBH, JWT, Webchutney, Fractalink Design Studio, Isobar, iContract and Sapient are amongst the many in book winners at the 2014 Kyoorius Advertising Awards & Kyoorius Digital Awards.
Kyoorius are continuing to the push the envelope out and have released all in-book winners and blue elephant nominations on their website awards.kyoorius.com/ for public viewing 3 weeks before the awards night.
The industry is encouraged to get online and view all the entries and write to awards@kyoorius.com should there be any objections. Any objections raised will be preented back to the jury before any decision is made.
Abhijit Avasthi, National Creative Director at Ogilvy and Mather who is also a part of Kyoorius Awards jury said, “People should know what happens behind the scenes and that we judge with a lot of integrity.”
Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO, Kyoorius said, “Especially at a time when many agencies have questioned the lack of transparency and trust worthiness of award ceremonies, we felt that the jury session would ensure that the Kyoorius awards are fair and transparent.”
The Kyoorius Awards is scheduled to take place on 12th June, 2014.
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.
