MAM
MAGNONTBWA beefs up senior team
MUMBAI: Post its acquisition by Omnicom’s TBWA, MAGNONTBWA has strengthened its digital capabilities with three senior level appointments in web/mobile technology, social media as well as client development functions.
The appointments come as the agency’s preparations to strengthen its presence in the capital and also penetrate tier two cities in North India.
The agency has got on board KN Ajit Narayan as group director, social media marketing, Paurush Pandit as group director, web/mobile technology and Alok Garg, associate vice president, client development for MAGNONTBWA.
Garg comes with over 16 years of strong experience in client acquisition and managing key customer relationships. His digital experience is rich and vivid and he has led business teams at independent digital agencies in the past. He will be spearheading the client acquisition team for MAGNONTBWA in the Delhi NCR region. He will also be responsible for setting up MAGNONTBWA offices in key northern Indian cities like Lucknow and Chandigarh, and drive MAGNONTBWA’s penetration in tier two Indian cities.
Narayan moves in from Interactive Avenues, where he was managing social media offerings for a range of clients. He has worked with several leading as well as startup organizations and has experience in new media marketing including online reputation management (ORM), social media marketing (SMM), SEO, content management and user acquisition. Apart from managing the group profile, he will also actively coordinate on account management for SMO services, social media consulting and campaign execution.
Pandit is a technology evangelist with over 10 years of experience in both start-ups as well as large organisations. In the past he has worked in with Makemytrip.com and Yatra.com. He specialises in web user interface design, development, optimization, usability and web marketing. At MAGNONTBWA, he will be operating at the group level and will be responsible for driving technology excellence on both web and mobile platforms, across the board.
MAGNONTBWA and MAGNON E-GRAPHICS founder and group CEO Vineet Bajpai said, “At MAGNONTBWA, people have always been central to strategy. As digital media evolves, agencies and marketers will need to find new innovative approaches to connect brands and consumers. The team expansion at Magnon is in sync with the current and potential opportunities and challenges. MAGNONTBWA stands committed to offering best-in-class interactive media solutions to our clients.”
These hirings have been carried out for both MAGNONTBWA as well as MAGNON E-GRAPHICS, the agency’s international digital delivery arm.
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.
