MAM
SPTI expands mobile entertainment team
MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has expanded its mobile entertainment team to better serve its existing and new clients.
SPTI is adding executives to oversee its mobile teams in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, and providing additional support from SPTI’s headquarters in Culver City, California.
SPTI senior VP, mobile entertainment, Jason Wells says, “Sony Pictures is firmly committed to growing its mobile entertainment business, and is dedicating significant resources to ensure its future growth. With the global team in place, SPTI’s mobile entertainment group will provide not only content from blockbuster movies such as Casino Royale, but also be a single source for SPE’s integrated mobile offerings ranging from TV series on mobile to interactive games.”
In the Asia-Pacific region, SPTI’s mobile entertainment team has appointed Rosemary Tan as director, mobile entertainment, Asia-Pacific, reporting to Wells. Based at SPTI’s Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, Tan joins SPTI from Universal Music Asia in Hong Kong where she was regional new media director and head of new media business development since 2003.
Rose Tsang is SPTI manager, mobile entertainment, Asia-Pacific. Tsang was previously senior new media manager at Universal Music Asia in Hong Kong where she worked with Tan. Tsang will be responsible for implementing and managing mobile strategies, as well as content delivery workflow management.
Andy Bishop, based in Los Angeles, has been promoted to VP, sales and business development, mobile entertainment. Reporting to Wells, he will be directly responsible for sales and distribution in Canada, Latin America and Brazil, and will work with all of SPTI’s regional offices around the world, overseeing business development and sales strategy with mobile operators and other strategic wireless partners worldwide.
He was previously SPTI’s director, business development and sales planning, mobile entertainment. Prior to joining Sony, he was manager, business development at Disney.
SPTI’s mobile entertainment team has also expanded in Latin America with the appointment of Stephen Brough as director, mobile entertainment, Latin America, reporting to Bishop. Based at SPTI’s Latin American headquarters in Miami, Brough heads the mobile entertainment team for the region. Brough and his team are responsible for business development and the sale of mobile TV/video, games and personalization products to mobile operators and customers throughout the region.
Brough previously held a number of executive positions at VSNL International (formerly Teleglobe) in Miami since 2003, most recently as mobile content sales specialist. Prior to that, he served in various executive posts at Sirius Telecom in Santa Barbara, CA, Vonova Communications in Austin, and at Ernst & Young Consulting in Buenos Aires and Lima. He began his career as a business consultant at Andersen Consulting working in Dallas, Kansas City, and New York.
SPTI’s mobile entertainment team is charged with extending Sony’s theatrical and TV assets, as well as its range of custom-made mobile content, into mobile distribution outside the US. With mobile product such as the James Bond franchise, the Ratchet and Clank Going Mobile game adaptation from the popular Sony PlayStation franchise, and Spider-Man 3 mobile content, SPTI is the international distribution and marketing arm for SPE’s portfolio of mobile content, including mobile games, such as Wheel of Fortune, tones, images, video and text programmes.
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.
