MAM
Aegis makes four acquisitions in 2 months
MUMBAI: UK-based Aegis Group, which would be part of Dentsu Group after approvals, made four acquisitions in the past two months, three of which are in Europe and one in Japan.
Aegis took over performance and search agency Netsociety which has operations in the Netherlands and Belgium. It also took over mobile agency IQ mobile in Austria, performance marketing and search agency Hablar in Japan and experiential marketing agency Irokeesi in Finland.
Established in 2007, Netsociety has offices in Amsterdam and Brussels and is a specialist performance marketing agency whose focus is on search marketing and digital performance. It has a diverse client base including Thomas Cook, ING, ABN AMRO and KLM.
The combination of Netsociety and iProspect will form a leading performance marketing agency in the Netherlands. Netsociety’s expertise and client base strengthens Aegis Media’s market position and is expected to generate the benefits of greater scale in the Netherlands and Belgium.
IQ mobile was started in 2006 and has since then established itself as a pioneer in the region and led the way in the development of apps, mobile media portals, mobile ad-server and tracking tools as well as messaging solutions. IQ mobile now provides mobile services, technologies and creative solutions in the D-A-CH region as well as Eastern Europe.
Hablar is headquartered in the capital city of Tokyo. It is a specialist performance marketing agency with focus on search marketing and digital performance media. Established in 2003, it has forged a long partnership with Aegis Media in Japan.
Aegis Media Japan comprises in search and performance marketing iProspect, media communications specialist Carat, media ROI and communications planning consultancy Vizeum and digital communications agency Isobar. Hablar will be merged into iProspect Japan’s existing operations, strengthening its capabilities and providing additional service for its clients.
Irokeesi initiates and develops experiential concepts to support its clients’ marketing and public relations campaigns. The agency services its clients in the areas of in-store promotion, event and festival management, street team activation, sampling and business-to-business promotion. Since its establishment in 2006, it has built up a strong client including Kelloggs, Mercedes Benz, Lego, Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, Nestle and Arla Foods, some of whom are already clients of Aegis Media in Finland.
Irokeesi will significantly strengthen Posterscope Finland’s operations, bolstering Aegis Media’s product portfolio in that market by providing clients with a new service offering in the exciting and fast-growing area of experiential marketing.
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.
