MAM
Ad giants flirt with merger as industry braces for upheaval
PARIS: Havas is in serious talks about taking a stake in WPP, a deal that would create the world’s second-largest advertising network and send shockwaves through an industry already reeling from mega-mergers.
The French advertising group is exploring options including a minority stake or strategic partnership with its British rival, according to multiple industry sources. One senior executive described the discussions as “very serious”, centred on how to value a company whose share price has cratered 65 per cent since the start of 2025.
The talks come as Omnicom prepares to close its $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic group later this month, creating an industry behemoth with revenues exceeding $20 billion. That deal has lit a fire under the rest of the sector, with executives scrambling to find scale in a business battered by tech platforms, consulting firms, and clients demanding more for less.
For WPP, once valued at £24 billion in its 2017 heyday, the interest comes at a desperate moment. New chief executive Cindy Rose has called the company’s recent 8.4 per cent quarterly revenue decline “unacceptable” and enlisted McKinsey to conduct a strategic review. The company’s market capitalisation has shrivelled to just £3.1 billion, and eight hedge funds are shorting its stock.
Havas, by contrast, is riding high after spinning off from Vivendi in December 2024. The company posted record net revenue of $2.3 billion for the first nine months of 2025 and has been hunting for deals. Chief financial officer and chief operating officer François Laroze told investors in October that Havas “would consider” strategic partnerships, including with Japan’s Dentsu.
The French group has form. In September it launched a joint venture with Horizon Media to manage $20 billion in bookings. And history suggests the Bolloré family, which controls Havas, likes to play the long game. In the mid-2000s, Vincent Bolloré bought a stake in Aegis Group with merger ambitions, though that deal never materialised.
Private equity firms Apollo and KKR have also been sniffing around WPP’s carcass, though sources played down the likelihood of formal bids. Apollo looked at the business last year but told reporters it is “not in discussion or considering a bid”. KKR, which bought WPP’s FGS Global last year, declined to comment.
Rose and chairman Philip Jansen tried to steady investor nerves this week by purchasing 50,000 shares each, a combined £287,000 bet on their own company. Under UK corporate governance rules, such purchases cannot occur during formal merger talks, suggesting any Havas discussions remain preliminary.
Both companies declined to comment on what they called “speculation”. But if the deal goes through, it would mark another seismic shift in an industry where survival increasingly means getting bigger or getting out. WPP may be down, but it isn’t quite out and Havas appears ready to pounce.
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.
