MAM
Mickey & Donald flaunt their Hindi in Toon Disney’s new campaign
MUMBAI: Mickey and Donald are learning Hindi and how. Their exam begins from 1 September, which is when Toon Disney will be made available in the Hindi feed apart from the English, Tamil and Telugu feeds that it is currently available in.
Walt Disney Television International (India) has rolled out an extensive 360 degree marketing campaign announcing the same.
From outdoor, internet, radio to trade magazines; no medium has been left untapped. The campaign has been rolled out in 25 metros and mini metros across the country, which include – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Ludhiana, to name a few.
“The Hindi speaking market in India is the biggest and cannot be ignored. We have rolled out a marketing campaign, which is simple and clutter breaking by using the iconic characters of Disney – Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The campaign drives homes the message in a unique and entertaining way,” says Walt Disney Television International (India) marketing director Tushar Shah.
The campaign has been conceived by Contract Advertising, Disney’s creative agency.
Mickey Mouse inflates have also been put up at Phoenix Mills in Mumbai. Apart from this, the company will also be distributing personalised Mickey mugs to the media fraternity with “M Se Mickey” written on one side in Hindi and with the person’s name written on the other side, for eg: “P Se Pooja.”
This activity will be undertaken on 1 – 2 September, wherein various professionals from the media, ad sales, distribution, advertising agencies, advertisers and cable industry will receive their personalised mugs.
Three radio spots have been created with the adorable Donald Duck trying his best to learn the new language. The radio spots have Donald reciting the Hindi alphabets and also encouraging Daisy Duck to do so. In his unique quacky voice, he seems at pains to learn the alien language but manages just fine in the end.
Speaking on the thought behind the campaign, Contract Advertising account director Ayesha Ghosh says, “The brief given to us was simple and Disney encouraged us to go creative on this one so that the campaign doesn’t become just another blind spot. The idea was to attract attention and roll out a communication that works for the brand.”
“All the outdoor ads have the popular characters learning Hindi, whereas the three radio spots have Donald in the lead role since his is the most identifiable voice among all the Disney characters,” Ghosh adds.
The channels is also planning to roll out TVCs, which will be variations of the radio spots.
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.
