MAM
Naukri.com bags Consumer Connect ‘Campaign of the Year’ award
MUMBAI: Job site Naukri.com, has won the “Campaign of the Year” award for the Hari Sadu television commercial at the Advertising Club Kolkata, Consumer Connect Awards.
FCB Ulka New Delhi, the creative agency which worked on the commercial, also conferred the honours of a National Trophy in the “Consumers Services Category,” informs an official release.
Naukri.com COO Hitesh Oberoi said, “The Hari Sadu commercial is very close to our hearts and has been widely appreciated by its viewers in terms of its humour, story line and originality. The winning of the ‘Consumer Connect Award’ for Naukri.com and FCB Ulka is recognition of the toil and labour in creating a fictitious character, which has come alive. More importantly we are delighted that our consumers have recognized the very spirit of the advertisement which reflects the understanding of the brand Naukri.com and their connect to the brand.”
FCB Ulka’s Aakash Sharma added, “It always feels great to win awards but this time around it is doubly so. We’ve won two. It’s rewarding and exciting to see our work recognized as the real consumers play a major part in these awards.”
Every entry goes through the two-panel study to generate a Consumer Connect Score. Each entry is taken through two separate consumer panels. First a “Market Assessment” is conducted to determine the current perception of the brand. Then a “Stimulus Assessment” is conducted with a matched panel to measure the impact the entry had on consumer’s perceptions of the brand, adds the release.
Short listed entrants then present a live presentation of the case study in front of a panel of judges and an audience of their peers who will determine the winner. They take into consideration the following:
— The Consumer Connect Score: Key measurements on how the advertising entered changed perceptions of the brand. This is presented by Advertising Club Calcutta.
— Assessment of the advertising task: Analysis of the market situation and the role communication must play.
— Understanding of the consumer: Insights that led to the advertising solution.
— Creative solutions: The creative and media strategy used to obtain the desired response.
The Consumer Connect Awards, were instituted by the Advertising Club Kolkata, in the year 2003 to mark its 50th year. They seek to honour communication that connects best with their respective consumers.
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.
