MAM
Transcend Goa 2026: India’s first-ever transmedia conclave set to debut in Goa
Goa is set to host a landmark moment for India’s creative industries with the launch of Transcend Goa 2026, a premier transmedia conclave. Organised by the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) and Goa Future proof, with the support of the government of Goa, the pilot summit will take place on 15 and 16 January 2026 at the historic Marquinez Palace in Panjim.
Envisioned as a future-facing platform by Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant, Transcend Goa 2026 aims to bring together the brightest creative minds from cinema, publishing, gaming, and artificial intelligence to explore how stories can evolve beyond a single medium.
The conclave aimed at converging stakeholders across the board, will spotlight conversations on taking cinema beyond the screen, developing Indian-origin transmedia intellectual properties (IPs), and presenting case studies on how Indian content can successfully transform across formats, from the written word to immersive, multi-platform experiences.
At its core, Transcend Goa 2026 is designed to champion homegrown content and spark dialogue on taking Indian stories to global audiences, fostering collaboration across industries that shape contemporary storytelling. With each subsequent edition evolving into making it more grand and forward focused, Transcend Goa has been crafted to put Goa on the global creative economy map.
The two-day conclave will feature keynote sessions, panels, and case studies led by an influential lineup of speakers, including Creativeland Asia Group chairman Sajan Raj Kurup, Emmay Entertainment partner and producer Monisha Advani, Zebu Animation founder and creative director Veerendra Patil, Green Gold Animation founder Rajiv Chilaka, acclaimed filmmakers Raja Krishna Menon, Reema Maya and Q along with industry veterans Afsar Zaidi and Caleb Franklin, among other prominent speakers.
The conclave will also feature special presentations including those by Mugafi founder Vipul Agrawal, AR Rahman’s mega Meta project co-founder Vignesh Raja and Raj Comics founders Sanjay and Vasu Gupta, among others.
Speaking about the vision behind the conclave, Transcend Goa 2026 organiser Harish Rao, said “Indian stories have always had the power to travel across cultures. With Transcend Goa, we want to create a platform where creators, technologists, and industry leaders can come together to re-imagine how our stories are told, experienced, and scaled globally, across cinema, books, games, and emerging technologies.”
Registrations for Transcend Goa 2026 are now open. For more information and to register, visit www.transcendgoa.com.
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.
