MAM
MTV’s Youth Marketing Forum treads on trend territory
MUMBAI: Those looking for the next big trend at Thursday’s Youth Marketing Forum need have looked no further than MTV Networks president Bill Roedy’s comment.
“The next generation in India is going to change the world,” was the astute observation of the architect of MTV’s internationally successful localisation model. Speakers ranging from trend spotting icon Irma Zandl to ex Reebok marketing guru Muktesh Pant to creative ad genius Peter Arnell had converged at the President Hotel, Mumbai, to focus on, identify and unravel that elusive concept that drives most programming, advertising and marketing worldwide – trendspotting.
In its sixth edition this year, the forum attracted a fair share of the ad, marketing and creative fraternity in the country, all eager to imbibe the experiences, observations and insights from trackers of trends like Arnell, Zandl and Pant to trendsetters themselves – filmmakers Nagesh Kukunoor and Farhan Akhtar to fashion designer Wendell Rodricks and British Asian singer Rishi Rich.
Zandl, credited with the tag of having unofficially founded the trend spotting industry, dwelt on the methodologies her research firm employs for spotting, tracking and understanding trends in the US, as well as the difference between what’s a ‘trend’ and what’s merely ‘trendy’ – a passing fad.
Arnell, the force that drives the creative energies for brands like DKNY, Banana Republic, Chrysler and Ray Ban, regaled attendees with his witty, often wry observations and experiences with working brands like Samsung and DKNY. Arnell and Pant, who together created the trendsetting campaign for Reebok two years ago, delineated the way in which the print and video campaigns were created and the media employed to create a 360 degree consumer experience.
Pant, who has now initiated Project Y, a ‘revolutionary new brand that offers integrated facilities to offer yoga, ayurved and meditation’, also spoke on how he intends to convert the age old concept into a trend in the coming year.While Wendell Rodricks spoke about his shift from western design to being influenced by indigenous art, Rishi Rich spoke about the forces that have shaped British Asian music over the decades.
One of the driving forces behind taking Bhangra and Asian sounds to a mainstream audience in the UK, Rich spoke of the trend of the Asian community sticking together in pockets in the UK, which gave rise to a distinctive style of music, influenced by Hindi music, which has ultimately received recognition by well known labels in the industry.
It was Roedy however, who rightly pointed out that trendsetting is essentially inspired by risk taking and that to set a trend, one essentially has to fight the inertia to play it safe.
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.
