MAM
Young Indian indies can bloom under consolidation wave
MUMBAI: Young Indian advertising agencies will not be affected by the consolidation of the big daddies and they will still find room for growth, industry experts feel.
The two recent mega acquisitions of creative hotspot BBH Worldwide by Publicis Groupe and Indian agency Mudra by US advertising giant Omnicom will, for instance, make the top agencies fight more fiercely for the larger clients as they aim at gaining market share in India. The consolidation will not stop the new crop of Indian entrepreneurs from winning comparatively smaller clients or getting project work to handle big brands.
Traditionally, small independent shops have lived by working on projects till they attain critical mass. Says DraftFCB Ulka ED and CEO Mumbai Ambi M G Parameswaran, “The situation has not changed now. India has seen a sharp increase of indie shops during the last five years. This has injected more action in the ad scene. The BBH sale will have no impact on this trend in India. Let their tribe increase. And let them not be driven by the next buyout but by professional excellence and long term brand success.”
The scope for growing retainer clients, in fact, stays unhindered. The smaller agencies can have more time and full-focused energy to care for the specific creative campaigns of a big brand that works with a larger agency for its integrated approach.
According to Leo Burnett national creative director KV Sridhar, there will be many instances where bigger brands will prefer to work with a local agency for a specific creative. “The independent Indian agencies have the advantage of not getting married to any one brand. They can, thus, explore different brands and clients. They may have the disadvantage of not having the backing of a strong parent but they do not have the pressure of showing scale and have no rigid processing structure,” he says.
Euro RSCG vice president Sheel Saket shares a similar view. “The creative independent agencies were formed because some creative professionals wanted to get out of the process bound environment and focus on great creative ideas that work for brands. Also, they want to do more of brand campaigns and are happy to work on assignment basis as long as they have the freedom to be creative and not be bothered by work that is mundane, compulsory or run of the mill,” he says.
Taproot India co-founder Santosh Padhi believes the creative business runs on people and parental strength can‘t smother the growth of the independent agencies. “It is people with ideas who can move brands, there is nothing called a ‘group‘. A network holds nothing but people. Clients don‘t go to bigger agencies because they have 500 people working there; they will go to them if they think that there are five people who can make a difference to their brands,” he says.
The younger Indian agencies are not prepared yet to handle the entire creative account of high-spending brands. They will need to gather more financial muscle and human resources before they can take the giant step. “These agencies do not have the bandwidth to carry out the creative duties for big brands,” avers Saket.
Scarecrow Communications, which had a magic run last week by bagging four accounts, has followed the strategy of getting the consolidated creative duties of a group. It has got Religare‘s account barring its mutual fund biz which is being still handled by Ogilvy.
The young Indian agencies will still have the running option of selling out at a time and value they think is appropriate. Percept/H chief executive officer Prabhakar Mundkur compares the process with that of parents “getting the bride ready for marriage”.
Like any other marriage, both the partners have to find mutual value. And that is what independent agencies will have to create. Says Mundkur, “I worked in JWT when it was bought over in the late ‘80s and it was, perhaps, one of the first significant acquisitions in the agency business. If you create value, finding the right buyer is that much easier.”
Taproot is open to the idea of diluting stake and has started weighing options. Says Padhi, “We are happy with our work and growth. But associating with a bigger group will help increase the momentum of growth. If collectively we can grow, we are ready to join hands with the bigger agencies.”
Creativeland Asia is not ready yet to align with a bigger agency. “We are very young and we have a long way to go before we think of getting consolidated to any bigger group. Every young agency has its own working model. The market is large enough for everyone to grow,” says the agency‘s national creative director Raj Kurup.
MAM
Lessons from global media markets on building enduring content franchises
Rose Audio Visuals COO and CFO Mitesh Patel.
MUMBAI: The global media landscape has undergone a fundamental shift. Success today is no longer defined by a single hit show. It is defined by the ability to build intellectual property (IP) that travels, evolves, and compounds over time.
At Rose Audio Visuals, this shift is central to how we think about content pitching and creation. We are no longer in the business of just making shows. We are in the business of building IP ecosystems.
From Hits to Franchises
Globally, the most successful content is designed to extend beyond its first outing. It travels across: Seasons, Platforms (TV → OTT → Digital), Formats (series → spin-offs) Shows like Stranger Things and Money Heist are not just successful series they are multi-layered franchises with global recall, fan engagement, and long-term monetisation. The key learning is simple: If content cannot scale beyond one season or one platform, it remains a project not a franchise.
Local Stories, Global Impact
One of the most powerful global trends is the rise of culturally rooted storytelling. Platforms today reward local authenticity combined with universal emotion. Stories that are deeply regional are no longer limited by geography they are amplified by it. Consider the global impact of Squid Game or India’s own Sacred Games. The takeaway is clear: The more authentic the story, the greater its potential to travel if the emotion resonates universally.
Monetisation Begins After the First Window
A critical global learning is that the true value of content is not realised at launch, it is realised over time.
Strong franchises unlock multiple revenue streams: Licensing, International remakes, Brand integrations, Digital extensions , Events and immersive experiences
Global players like The Walt Disney Company have mastered this approach, turning content into long-term ecosystems that extend far beyond the screen.
The first window is just the beginning. The real value lies in what follows.
At Rose Audio Visuals, we increasingly evaluate projects not just on commissioning value, but on their long-term franchise potential.
The Rise of Creator-Led Franchises
An important global shift is the emergence of creator-led IP ecosystems.
Creators today are not just content producers they are building full-scale franchises across platforms, formats, and businesses.
A powerful example is MrBeast. What started as YouTube videos has evolved into: Multiple content formats, Global audience scale , Brand extensions and businesses, High-impact experiential content This is a fundamentally different model digital-first, audience-owned, and infinitely scalable.
This model is still in its early stages in Indian but it represents a massive opportunity.
The next wave of Indian content franchises may not come from traditional studios alone but from creators who think like media companies.
Balancing Data with Creative Instinct
Streaming platforms today are deeply data-driven. Data helps Identify emerging genres, Predict audience behaviour , Inform commissioning decisions However, global experience shows that data alone does not create hits. Data informs scale, but storytelling creates impact.
Talent is the Foundation of Franchises
Enduring franchises are rarely accidental they are built through long-term creative partnerships. Globally, there is a clear focus on nurturing Actors, Writter, Show runner and director. Franchises are not built on scripts alone they are built on creators. This is an area where we continue to invest deeply building long-term relationships with talent rather than project-based collaborations.
Multi-Platform Thinking from Day One
Content consumption today is inherently multi-platform. A successful show must be designed not just for its primary platform, but for: Short-form extensions, Social media amplification, Digital-first engagement. Every show today needs a second life beyond its original format.
India: A Market at an Inflection Point
India today stands at a unique moment in its content journey.
We are seeing significant opportunity in Regional markets (Telugu, Tamil, Marathi and others) Emerging formats such as micro-dramas, Scalable, franchise-driven fiction IP
India does not lack stories. What we have historically lacked is structured franchise thinking something that is now beginning to evolve.
The Way Forward
The biggest lesson from global markets is this: The future belongs to companies that do not chase hits, but systematically build franchises. Because while hits may deliver immediate success, franchises create long-term value, recall, and compounding growth.
At Rose Audio Visuals, this belief shapes how we develop, greenlight, and scale content across platforms.
For content companies today, the question is no longer “Will this show work?” It is: “Can this become a franchise?”
A Personal Note
Having worked across content, business, and strategy, one thing has become increasingly clear to me, the most valuable companies in our industry will not be those that create the most content, but those that create content that endures.
Building a franchise requires patience, conviction, and a long-term lens something that the industry is only now beginning to fully embrace.As we continue this journey at Rose Audio Visuals, our focus remains simple: to move from volume-driven creation to value-driven storytelling. Because in the end, stories may start conversations but franchises build legacies.
