Event Coverage
Indian Digital BrandFest 2023: Are Virtual Reality & User Experiences Driving The Future Of Genz Customers
Mumbai: The 3rd edition of Indian Digital BrandFest 2023 kicked off and had brands, advertisers, and tech platforms discuss all these trends and more. The summit looked at the latest trends driving the change in consumer behaviour and how it has impacted the industry’s growth.
Whether it was a boom in influencer marketing or the popularity of short-video platforms, brands did not hesitate to jump onto the digital bandwagon to up their marketing game. So Indian television.com is taking this opportunity to bring a host of industry experts together under one roof to discuss all these new trends shaping the future.
The panellists for this session were Indian Gaming League CEO & co-founder Yash Pariani, Starbucks director – marketing, category- loyalty & digital Deepa Krishnan, Tyroo chief revenue officer Akshay Mathur, Amazon mini TV director & business head Aruna Darayanani. The session chair for this panel was Good Ants Media founder & CEO Parul Menghani.
Menghani kicked off the session by saying some key points to be highlighted around the gaming & VR industry. She then turned towards the panellists by asking about the current ecosystem around the industry and what changes they see
Beginning with Pariani, he said, “One of the biggest factors of why virtual reality hasn’t been adopted by a lot of the users is the price tag, the portability, logistics and of course the quality of the games that are currently on it.”
Krishnan replied by saying, “I think the two things that Starbucks has done globally, one is used virtual reality and Web 3.0 overall to create better experiences and you could go on to personalize it and also creating NFTS which consumers can then use as part of the loyalty program.”
Mathur shared something on attention span by which he said, “This is a generation which has extremely limited time spans or attention spans. Within 3 seconds you do your communication or you’re out of it.”
Darayanani had said something differently about the industry, “These are some early thinking days I would say, for the content industry to really look at it and I’m hopeful we’ll be able to crack that formula to move forward.”
Meghnani concluded the session and thanked the panellists for sharing their insights and making the conversations pretty lively.
Event Coverage
Anime India announces Amazon MX Player as co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata 2026
MUMBAI: Riding high on the success of its blockbuster Mumbai debut, Anime India is accelerating its nationwide expansion with the announcement of Amazon MX Player as the co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata. The partnership marks a significant step forward in the festival’s mission to deliver large-scale, accessible, and fan-first anime experiences across the country.
Scheduled for 14 and 15 February 2026 at the iconic Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan, Anime India Kolkata will launch the first regional chapter of what is set to be a year-long, multi-city tour. As the curtain-raiser for the 2026 circuit, the Kolkata edition aims to fuse the energy of global Japanese pop culture with India’s fast-growing community of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans.
A household name in digital entertainment, Amazon MX Player brings unmatched reach and cultural relevance to the Anime India platform. With its expanding focus on anime and youth-driven content, Amazon MX Player’s involvement as co-presenting partner reinforces Anime India’s vision of making anime culture more inclusive breaking barriers of language, geography, and accessibility to connect with fans nationwide.
Anime India Kolkata 2026 will showcase cosplay competitions, interactive zones led by the Indian Gunpla Community, India-39 Vocaloid Community, The Japan Curry, and Adda-o-Otaku by The Otaku Guild. Fans can join tournaments across fighting games, Pokémon VGC, and more. Acclaimed Japanese director Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) will attend as guest of honour, appearing in panels and live sessions. Positioned as an immersive celebration of fan culture and industry collaboration, the Kolkata edition marks the beginning of Anime India’s nationwide expansion.
Sharing their perspective on the partnership, Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani expressed, “Anime in India has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural movement, driven by an increasingly engaged and passionate fanbase. At Amazon MX Player, our focus is on expanding access by bringing anime to audiences across the country for free and in multiple local languages. Our association with Anime India reflects our commitment to supporting the growth of anime in India and deepening connections with fans, while continuing to build Amazon MX Player as a trusted destination for free, high-quality entertainment.”
“Anime India Kolkata is a celebration of how anime has grown beyond entertainment into a powerful cultural and creative force. By bringing fans, creators, and industry leaders onto one shared platform, the festival is helping define the future of pop culture in India,” said Anime India co-founder and director Neha Mehta.
The debut edition of Anime India 2025 in Mumbai attracted over 29,000 fans, quickly cementing its status as a landmark celebration of anime and Japanese pop culture. Riding on this overwhelming response, the Kolkata chapter is projected to draw more than 40,000 visitors across two days, positioning it as one of the biggest anime conventions ever held in eastern India.
Anime India is focused on bringing together fans from across the country to create a truly pan-India celebration of anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and Japanese culture. With plans to expand into four key metropolitan hubs in 2026—east (Kolkata), north (Delhi), west (Mumbai), and south (Hyderabad)—the festival seeks to deliver globally benchmarked experiences while supporting and uplifting creators, artists, and fan communities throughout India.
