MAM
10th AdFest announces agenda, lines up 14 sessions
MUMBAI: With the 10th AdFest just around the corner, the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival president Jimmy Lam has announced the agenda for this year consisting of 14 speaker sessions. The festival will kick off on 14 March and culminate on 17 March at Peach, Royal Cliff Beach resort, Pattaya in Thailand.
“This is the laregst AdFest ever and I am delighted that we have been able to provide such a rich content for our delegates. This year’s speakers and topics are simply too good to be missed,” says Lam
Confirmed creative speakers at the event include David Droga speaking on how ‘The future isn’t what it used to be’, John Hunt will talk about how ‘If it ain’t got that swing, it don’t mean a thing’ and Benjamin Palmer giving advice on ‘Learning by doing’. Peter Souter valiantly tackles the unpredictable with ‘The future of advertising.’
This year, the AdFest has invited speakers to throw some light on consumer insights. David McCaughan runs McCann-Erickson’s Pulse survey. His topic is ‘Don’t call them consumers’. Daniela Krautsack’s from Mediacom Vienna will throw light on the influence of ambient media in ‘Cows in Jackets’.
The panel discussions that are popular at AdFest have been brought back and include Paul Kemp-Robertson from Contagious leading a panel discussion on “Brand Utility” with creative leaders from the Asia Pacific region. Lewis Blackwell advises delegates to ‘Look, don’t read”, and will lead a panel discussion with some of AdFest judges.
Japan Advertising Federation will share with delegates ‘The Practical Guide to Planet Japan’. Three speakers from Dentsu, Hakuhodo and ADK will be joined by moderator Chris Kyme, informs an official rekease.
Japan Association of Commercial Film will present its all time favourite ‘Remarkable Five’, introducing five young TVC directors from Japan, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore and Bangladesh. Each budding director will present his or her short film based on the “Turning Ten” theme of AdFest 2007.
AdFest has invited festivals from other regions to showcase the best work. Among these, Daniel Marcet will present FIAP – the Latin American advertising festival with its winning ads. Jure Apih will present the award winners from Golden Drum – the new Europe advertising festival. Michael Conrad will talk about the mission of the first ever, InterContinental Advertising Cup to be held in Spain in November 2007.
Last but not least, Donald Gunn will release the Gunn Report for the year 2006 and reveal the tally of most awarded ads, the most awarded agencies, clients and countries.
Last but not least, Donald Gunn will release the Gunn Report for the year 2006 and reveal the tally of most awarded ads, the most awarded agencies, clients and countries.
Among the Indian representatives at the AdFest this year, Ogilvy & Mather India, Mumbai executive chairman and national creative director Piyush Pandey has been invited to preside over the Press Lotus category chairperson, he has also been roped in as a speaker on 16 March.
Leo Burnett India, Mumbai executive creative director Nitish Tiwari has been invited to join the judges panel for the Outdoor Lotus category, while McCann Erickson, Mumbai creative director Raghu Bhat will be on the panel of judges for the TV Lotus category.
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.
