MAM
CBS prepares a hyped ‘Raymond’ finale
MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS is rolling out an aggressive multi-platform marketing and publicity campaign to support the finale of its sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. In India the show airs on Star World.
The show signs off on CBS with its 210th episode on 16 May.
The multi-layered effort includes a vote on CBS.com for viewers’ all-time favourite episodes; on-air tributes by celebrities; promotion on Viacom’s radio and cable properties; extensive co-marketing with CBS’s 200-plus affiliated stations; and special Raymond-themed content on the special CBS Eye on America.
The final episode will be preceded by a one-hour special featuring behind-the-scenes footage, highlights from the show’s nine seasons and interviews with the cast. On 13 February during the Grammy Awards on CBS, viewers were alerted to vote on CBS.com for their all-time favorite episodes. The five receiving the most votes will then be broadcast on CBS in consecutive weeks, beginning 28 February with the fifth most popular and culminating with the all-time fan favourite on 28 March.
Meanwhile a media report states that the show’s final episode has been sold to advertisers for $1.3 million per 30-second spot. At $2 million per 30 seconds, NBC’s 7 May 2004 telecast of the Friends finale still holds the record for the unit rate of a regularly scheduled prime-time series, followed by the $1.6 million per 30 seconds NBC averaged for the final Seinfeld telecast in 1998.
On 28 April, CBS and series producers HBO and Worldwide Pants will host a major red carpet finale party to kick off the final three episodes of the series. Cast members from the show as well as celebrities who have been fans of Raymond over the years will be in attendance.
CBS’ 200-plus affiliated local stations will provide a package of spots focussing on great moments in the shows history and other show highlights to the stations to customize locally. In addition, CBS has produced a tie-in guide resembling a Barone family photo album, which is full of ways that stations can promote the finale locally.
The guide includes loads of Raymond trivia questions for local contests (including a list of guest stars from actor Kevin James to basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). There are also multiple concepts for other types of contests such as Everybody Loves A Mother And Daughter-In-Law Cook-Off — in the tradition of Marie and Debra — between mothers and daughters-in-law with a local restaurant chef acting as judge.
Besides on-air, CBS will take its Raymond promotions to the air. Moments on American Airlines in-flight programne CBS Eye on American. CBS Eye on American is seen by millions of travelers each month and has aired full episodes of Ratmond since 1998.
Also till May, cast members from the series will appear on several of the leading daytime and late night talk shows, including Late Show with David Letterman, Live with Regis & Kelly, The View and Ellen, On 16 May the cast will appear together in New York City for one last time in a media blitz that will start on the CBS “Early Show” and culminate on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when the cast of the show and CBS chairman Leslie Moonves ring the closing bell.
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.
