MAM
AGENCY09 celebrates its 10-year anniversary
Mumbai Headquartered in Mumbai, an independent integrated marketing agency, AGENCY09, celebrated its 10-year anniversary on 9th September 2023. With a steadfast commitment to growth, the agency aims to strategically expand its international presence, further solidifying its global footprint.
Founded by Tushar Khakhar, supported by Bipeen Nadgauda, and later joined by Gautam Anand, the agency is now a strong team of 85 with its new central office at Turner Road, Bandra.
Over the years, AGENCY09 has transformed from being a digital advertising agency to an integrated marketing agency. In 2016, they expanded the tech team delivering projects globally, namely ERPs, multi-website CMSes, modern UI/UX, and e-commerce. They have dedicated departments for Brand, Design, and Production.
AGENCY09 consults brands and organisations to grow and foray into a borderless economy. They scale businesses with ideas for Technology, Content, Design, and Data. The agency is currently working with notable brands like Tata Motors, Aditya Birla Capital, Reliance General Insurance, Bits Pilani, Ryan Group of Institutions, Lokmat Media, Godrej L’Affaire, Jupiter Hospital, Mahindra Solarize, iGCB (Intellect Design), Parag Milk Foods, Senvion, Chinese Wok, Würth Car-Haus, Groupsoft and BARC, to name a few.
Known for being a people-first organisation, AGENCY09 deeply believes in bringing positive change through creative communication and technology.
Speaking on the occasion, Khakhar said, “It’s been a momentous #FirstDecadeOf09, building a close-knit core team and the right infrastructure for growth. We are thankful to the industry for giving us the space to grow and contribute.”
In the quest to build a highly creative ecosystem, the founders have launched a design-led merchandise store called A09 Store, a travel company called Insta Holidays as an outlet for exploring. They also built a classroom to nurture creative talent named academyzeronine, and are building a new category with Octarine Organics, a well-being mushroom company.
The agency celebrated this milestone with employees and their families in a meet-up.
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.
