MAM
Starcom MediaVest Group appoints Hanley King as chairman, SMG India
MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has roped in Hanley King as chairman, SMG India. King will report to global operations president John Sheehy and will be based in SMG’s Mumbai office. As chairman, SMG India, King will be focused on key client relationships, new business and commercial operations for the agency. SMG India CEO Malli CR and SMG Convonix CEO Vishal Sampat will dually report to King and will continue to lead daily operations for their respective organisations.
“Hanley is a consummate professional with a proven track record of delivering results across our globally networked clients,” said Sheehy. “Our recent acquisition of Convonix and our robust digital and analytics practice prove that our operations in India are among our most future-focused. I look to Hanley to work hand in hand with Malli and Vishal to continue to build upon our momentum in India.”
King was most recently SMG Global Client Lead for APAC, based in Singapore. In this role he managed multifaceted SMG client teams for Samsung, Mars Wrigley, Kellogg’s, Novartis and Bank of America and others across the APAC region. Prior to joining SMG, King was CEE President for Universal McCann, where he was responsible for 22 markets across the Central European region with 500 plus staff and billings of close to $1 billion. Prior to this role, he was UM CEO, Czech Republic, and previous to this he spent seven years working for media independents and full service communications agencies in his native New Zealand. In his career Hanley has worked on many global accounts in Asia, Europe or New Zealand spanning FMCG, Auto, Financial, Breweries and Telcos.
“India is a fascinating, fast-paced and constantly evolving market,” King said. “And that’s why it’s such an honor to be joining SMG India and working with Malli and Vishal – a team that is so relentlessly focused on the future.”
SMG India is leading the industry with its robust digital and analytics practice, as well as it best-in-class consumer insights work led by its Human Experience Strategist Network. SMG India’s client list includes Dabur, Axis Bank, Aircel and Ranbaxy In 2013, PublicisGroupe acquired Convonix, which aligned with SMG India. Founded in 2003, Convonix today employs more than 400 digital marketing specialists, making it the largest digital agency in India, serving such clients domestically as well as internationally as Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Budweiser, Taj Hotels, DBS, Mahindra Holidays, Tata Global Beverages among others.
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.
