MAM
Havas revenues dip for the first half of 2005
MUMBAI: Global advertising and communications services group Havas has announced that revenues for the first half of 2005 fell to 700 million Euros, compared to 748 million Euros a year ago.
The net impact of scope of consolidation changes in the first half was a negative 50 million Euros due primarily to the disposal programme completed in 2004. The impact of exchange rate variations was a negative 14 million Euros mainly due to the dollar and the pound sterling.
Organic growth for the first half of the year was 2.2 per cent. Since the beginning of the year, the Group has experienced an improvement in business that generated organic growth of three per cent in the second quarter compared to 1.4 per cent growth in the first quarter. This improvement in organic growth was driven largely by good performance from the traditional advertising businesses and media expertise.
The UK showed an improvement at a four per cent organic growth in the second quarter compared to minus 3.3 per cent in the first quarter. Europe (excluding France and the UK) enjoyed organic growth of 14.1 per cent in the second quarter, giving an overall figure of 8.5 per cent growth for the first half. This performance was driven by the momentum of countries such as Spain, which benefited from an impressive performance by MPG, but also in Eastern European countries and Belgium, all of which experienced very high rates of organic growth, some in excess of 20 per cent.
Business in the Asia Pacific region was down by 5.9 per cent organic growth over the half year mainly as a result of the loss of Intel, a particularly important account in this region. The US was essentially stable over the half year with organic growth of 0.4 per cent. Not surprisingly, after first quarter organic growth at 1.8 per cent, the second quarter was slightly negative at minus – 0.9 per cent as the full impact of the losses of Intel and the Volkswagen media account in the US were felt.
New business for the second quarter was nearly 500 million Euros. In June 2005, Havas was ranked second in new business by Lehman Brothers. Key accounts won in the second quarter of 2005 included Diesel (France), RadioShack (US), Sony Electronics (US), News Corp (UK), Citroen (Russia), Turkiye Is bankasi (Turkey), Superdrug Stores (UK), CareFirst (USA) and Sogecable
(Spain). In the marketing services section it won the account of the 2007 Rugby World Cup (France)
At the 52nd International Advertising Festival in Cannes, earlier this year the Havas Group won awards in a number of categories. Euro RSCG Worldwide shared top slot as the most awarded network in the Cyber category, Euro RSCG 4D Sao Paolo was ranked as the third best interactive agency and Euro RSCG Fuel was awarded four Lions including one in the Titanium category for best integrated communication campaign.
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.
