MAM
Peers salute the Lodestar
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Industry is quite unanimous in its opinion that Lodestar Media is a deep rooted agency that ensures the best value for their clients and is equipped with good media thinking. And it is to Shashi’s credit that they all sang paeans for the operation that he, Dias and Menon have built. Hear out some of the comments: “Lodestar is well integrated with its creative agency. They are good strategists and media thinkers. The core team has good people and are well trained in all aspects of the media. They are an agency which consciously focuses on planning.” – Group M CEO Ashutosh Srivastava, “Lodestar has an extremely strong bonding with their clients. The agency has some of the best minds in media with Shashi, Nandini and Arpita. Their strengths lie in planning and how they use consumer insights to make a difference to their clients.” – Madison Media Group CEO Punita Arumugam.  “I see Lodestar as a rock solid organisation, both on business and people. Their biggest plus point is their well-balanced performance, which comes through consistantly at the Emvies – where they shine through across a range of categories. From the outside, one gets the feeling that there is a large team effort at play within. Lodestar has built its credentials on the strength of its people and work, with a very understated PR approach.” – Mediacom South Asia president Jasmin Sohrabjee “Shashi is a good leader and runs a good planning agency. They have got some good local tools, and also have a good portfolio of clients which allows them to innovate. It’s a big achievement that they have managed to be in the same league as Mindshare.” – Media Direction CEO Sandip Tarkas. “Lodestar has been our media agency for the past five years, and the support that they have given us is commendable. The shift of the Henkel account was based on a global alignment and nothing to do with the performance of Lodestar. Considering we were based out of Chennai, Lodestar ensured good communication from Mumbai to its regional office.” – Henkel India president and managing director Satish Kumar “Lodestar is a very responsive agency and we get very good deals through them.” – Mahindra & Mahindra executive vice president marketing and sales Rajesh Jejurikar. A weakness if any some in industry point out to, off the record, is the perception that Lodestar is lacking in buying skills. Lodestar vice-president Nandini Dias dismisses this saying: “We believe in having a strategic focus even while buying. We don’t beat down media – we believe in the strategic intent of the brand.”
Adds Menon: “When we were handling Tata Motors, prior to the Tata AOR consolidating we had done a landmark TOI deal. There has never been a deal like that ever struck again. Lodestar does not give you the lowest rate, but it gives you the best buys.” |
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.
