MAM
Probus Insurance joins hands with Disney+ Hotstar for Pro Kabaddi League 2023
Mumbai: After an overwhelming response during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, Probus Insurance, one of the Insurtech brands, yet again joined hands with Disney+ Hotstar for Pro Kabaddi League 2023. Like their previous association, Probus will again be the exclusive partner for the action replay bug for Pro Kabbadi League Season 10, featuring their brand ambassador, Bollywood celebrity Hrithik Roshan.
Pro Kabaddi League is the most popular kabaddi league in the world. In a testament to its widespread popularity, the PKL league achieved a staggering viewership of 435 million during its last season resonating with a diverse audience from avid sports enthusiasts to casual viewers, making it one of the most-watched sporting events in the country after the IPL.
Probus Managing director Rakesh Goyal said in the announcement, “We are thrilled to embark on this new journey with exclusive rights for the Action Replay Bug for Pro Kabaddi League this season. Probus has a strong local footprint of 800+ cities, serving 15000 pin codes, where most of our penetration is rural. With this tie-up, we aim to reach out to the rural belt, where Pro Kabaddi League is also making the sport an aspiration for the people in Tier 2 3 cities, touching diverse segments of the population. This is exactly where our brand ethos binds us together, boosting the purpose of this association.”
Disney+ Hotstar Head – Ads Dhruv Dhawan said, “At Disney+ Hotstar, it is our constant endeavour to enable our advertisers to meet their business goals by leveraging our tentpole events. We are delighted to associate with Probus across our marquee sports properties, such as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and now the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10. We hope to continue to build on this association in the future as well.”
Probus’s online platform presents an array of insurance products, including motor, life, health, and SME. Having surpassed 1000 crore premium in the last year, the company has achieved a significant milestone. Aligned with IRDAI’s goals, Probus aims to expand into rural markets by deploying Bima Vahak, a specialised distribution channel, in every gram panchayat nationwide.
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.
