MAM
Nickelodeon beefs up Asia Pacific team, appoints Wai Leng as marketing director
MUMBAI: Nickelodeon Asia Pacific has appointed Chan Wai Leng as director of marketing and communications. Responsible for the strategic development of the marketing and communications function, Wai Leng is tasked to chart the growth and direction of Nickelodeon as the leading entertainment brand dedicated exclusively for kids aged two to 14 years old.
Wai Leng is based in Singapore and will report to Nickelodeon Asia Pacific vice president marketing and communications who is slated to join later this year.
Also promoted is Myra Mo?ozca, who will now be director of marketing and retail business development for Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products in Asia-Pacific.
Reporting to vice president consumer products Indra Suharjono, Mo?ozca will be responsible for developing new opportunities for Nickelodeon merchandising and creating strategic alliances with licensing partners.
“These appointments are significant steps in further boosting the Nickelodeon team as we continue our rapid growth in the Asia Pacific region. Their years of expertise and valuable experience in the field are tremendous assets, which will contribute greatly to Nickelodeon’s development. This is also in keeping with MTV Network Asia’s move to accelerate the expansion and reinforce Nickelodeon’s stronghold in Asia,” said Nickelodeon Asia Pacific senior vice president and general manager Catherine Nebauer.
Wai Leng will lead and supervise the team and will also be responsible for ensuring that the communications and media relations efforts reflect the objectives and positioning of Nickelodeon. Wai Leng will also take full advantage of opportunities to further propel Nickelodeon into the industry market and assist in producing innovative and dynamic marketing campaigns and strategies.
Wai Leng was formerly at Time magazine where she played a key role in promoting their brand identity through various major events, sponsorships and trade and consumer marketing initiatives. Prior to working at Time, she held the post of senior marketing communications executive at International SOS (formerly known as AEA International Pte. Ltd.).
Prior to her new appointment, Mo?ozca was Nickelodeon Asia-Pacific regional manager of marketing and communications and responsible for event management and marketing activities in Asia-Pacific, with key focus in championing the Nickelodeon brand and its properties in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines and Singapore.
Prior to that, she was the marketing and communications manager of Nickelodeon in the Philippines and was responsible for many brand-building and pro-social initiatives like Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards, Let Just Play, and The Big Help.
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.
