MAM
Indian Insurance sector ad spend around Rs 1.8b in 2002
MUMBAI: It is finally out – the insurance sector spent around Rs 1.8 billion on advertising in the previous year.
The Indian ad fraternity is slightly disappointed as everyone had considered the sector to be the next sunrise industry which would expand the declining ad pie. Optimists made grossly inflated claims about the ad spend of private insurance companies. But, conservatism has been the name of the game for all the existing and new players who launched their services – LIC, ICICI Prudential Life, Birla Sun Life, Bajaj Allianz, ING Vysya, SBI Life, HDFC Standard Life, Tata AIG amongst others.
Media analyst and former Carat Media Services India CEO Meenakshi Madhvani says: “Insurance, which was heralded as the ‘sun rise’ sector didn’t really live upto expectations. People were talking of spends in the region of Rs 5 billion. Even at that time, I predicted that it would be in the region of Rs 2 billion and current statistics indicate that the figure is slightly less than the Rs 2 billion mark.”
Star India senior VP – ad sales Monica Tata claims that the Insurance sector is yet to bloom fully. She says that the ad spends of insurance companies have been curtailed due to the fact that all the private insurers have been very rigid in terms of adhering to the Irda (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) guidelines in terms of creatives and foreign exchange norms. In the case of several satellite channels, another issue is related to the fact that payments have to be made in dollars.
However, the fact of the matter is that the biggest domestic player LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) upped its ad spend to tackle competition and succeeded in forging way ahead. “LIC has advertised in satellite channels as well as terrestrial channels. LIC has to reach out to non-resident India policy holders as well as its other corporate customers who are based abroad. However, the key is to work within the parameters clearly defined by the Irda,” says Media Direction senior vice president PRP Nair who has played a significant role developing communication and choosing the right media vehicles for LIC.
Abhishek Bhatia of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (which has sold 300,000 policies and crossed the Rs 5 billion premium mark) says: “ICICI Prudential has advertised on several channels from the Star TV bouquet, Zee Network and Sony. We have spent about Rs 50 million on TV advertising last year. There are no Irda restrictions on insurance companies advertising on satellite channels. The ads must be approved by our compliance function; and be in line with Irda regulations.”
A Birla Sun Life Insurance spokesperson also says that Irda norms have affected spends to a certain extent. “Compliance is the key. Despite this, we have focused on establishing the umbrella brand through the medium of TV, print and below-the-line activities,” adds the spokesperson.
What is interesting is the fact that insurance companies have realised that TV can give them tremendous mileage. “With the geographical expansion, TV became a viable medium and the corporate campaign for ICICI Pru Life was run on TV, because the medium lends itself well to an emotional type of films that strike a chord with the audience. Product advertising, which needs to impart information, was largely done through print and outdoor channels, as these are appropriate for rational type of messages,” says ICICI Pru Life’s Bhatia.
The advertising idea which was encapsulated in symbols of protection from the initial print campaign, culminated in the corporate film where sindhoor was used as an endearing and lasting symbol of protection,” adds Bhatia.
An earlier press release from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance states that the campaign contributed extensively to raising brand awareness of the company and was short-listed as one of the 12 most effective campaigns for the year 2001 in the EFFIE awards. According to an ORG MARG study, the ICICI Prudential brand name and advertising had the highest recall amongst all private players, and was only marginally behind LIC.
“When ICICI Prudential Life Insurance first began operations, the task was to present the visiting card of the company to the public at large and build credibility and stature and to give the consumer the confidence that ‘here was a company that could be trusted to invest funds with’. This required a corporate campaign, which started with advertising to establish the brand, build awareness and give the brand a larger than life image. Lowe (Lintas) has been the creative advertising agency for ICICI Prudential Life since the beginning and we have stuck to the strategy,” says a Lowe spokesperson.
It looks as if the ad spend will definitely rise but not phenomenally. Most of the new players have finished the introduction phase; and are now making a bid to eat into the share of LIC as well as expand the market with new products. Experts say that the spend will increase when pension products, group insurance products and health insurance products are launched. Also, the non-life players haven’t really made a big hue and cry as yet.
Madhvani says: “LIC reacted brilliantly and put its act together quickly. The market actually expanded and the increased “noise” created by the private players benefited LIC. One must remember that ad spends decrease in the case of a market expansion scenario and increase when one has to grab the share of other competitors.”
Interesting battle seems to be on the cards but it is difficult to say whether the ad industry benefit in terms of increased spends. Lets wait and watch.
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.
