MAM
Yahoo launches anti-spam advertising campaign
LONDON: Internet service provider Yahoo! launched an advertising campaign to support the worldwide anti-spam initiative it is spearheading along with Microsoft and AOL. As part of Dump The Junk Day, Yahoo! has set up an e-mail address – dumpthejunkaward@yahoo.co.uk – to encourage people to name and shame people who perpetuate spam.
It has also developed a series of tips for Internet users and businesses on avoiding the pitfalls of spam, at www.yahoo.co.uk/emailmasterclass
Quoting Ferris Research, Yahoo said that unsolicited e-mail, which costs European companies around ?1.5bn a year, will exceed legitimate e-mail this summer unless action is taken now.
The “Dump The Junk Day” initiative, which is designed to educate the UK’s residents about spam via their rubbish, using branded dustbin lorries, binmen, bins and bags, was welcomed by e-commerce minister Stephen Timms.
“The privacy and electronic communications directive aims to crack down on unwanted e-mails and give control back to the consumer,” Timms was quoted as saying in a Computer Weekly report. “But regulation is only part of the solution. Technology has an important role to play and it is essential that we educate users on how to stop their inbox clogging up with unwanted e-mails. I applaud initiatives such as Yahoo’s ‘Dump the Junk Day’ that aim to do just that.”
‘Dump The Junk Day’ follows the release of a Yahoo European survey, which revealed that:
* 94 per cent of Brits surveyed find junk mail hugely annoying, but most do not know the best ways to tackle it.
* 56 per cent of Britons are unwittingly perpetuating the cycle of spam by replying to junk mail. Spammers often trap the public and confirm e-mail addresses are real by offering fake clauses to opt-out of a mailing list.
* More than 25 per cent of people had been fooled into opening junk mail believing it to be genuine communication
* Only 2 per cent of British Internet surfers have made a purchase in response to junk mail. However, if a junkmailer sells herbal Viagra for ?30, pays ?1,000 for a list of 100,000 e-mail addresses and gets a 2 per cent response rate, s/he will earn ?60,000.
Yahoo Mail, UK, head in the UK, John Webb was quoted as saying: “Our research shows that many British Internet surfers do not have the knowledge to tackle junk mail effectively with over half of Britons actually helping to perpetuate the junk mail cycle. This lack of know-how and the feeling of junk mail fatigue in the UK has inspired us to help educate the public and businesses. We don’t want to be in a situation where the number of junk mails sent overtakes solicited e-mails.”
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.
