MAM
New India Abroad Names Bhabani Das as Chief Business Officer
Bhabani Das to steer global ad sales and IP for 32 million Indians.
MUMBAI: For a platform built on crossing borders, New India Abroad has just made a move designed to cross balance sheets too. New India Abroad, the global media network focused on the 32 million strong Indian diaspora, has appointed Bhabani Prasad Das as its chief business officer, tasking him with accelerating revenue growth and sharpening its digital and branded content strategy across markets.
With nearly two decades of experience in media sales and brand strategy, Das steps into the role at a time when the platform is scaling its presence across North America, Europe and the Middle East. His mandate spans global ad sales across digital, Connected TV and branded content, along with leading strategic alliances and intellectual property development.
The leadership team at New India Abroad described the appointment as a strategic inflection point. They said Das’s experience in scaling media properties and navigating the digital ecosystem would be central to connecting global brands with what they describe as a diverse and affluent diaspora audience.
Das joins after serving as national head of digital branded content and IP at Republic Media Network, where he drove 120 per cent revenue growth. During his tenure, he introduced initiatives such as the R Digital Round Table and several national summits, positioning branded content and intellectual property as revenue engines rather than adjuncts.
His career also includes senior roles across Republic Media Network, ABP Digital and Times Internet Limited, giving him a cross section view of India’s evolving digital and broadcast ecosystem.
At New India Abroad, he will focus on monetising the platform’s multi format footprint, which includes a weekly digital newspaper, daily newsletters and a growing catalogue of video and podcast content in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati. The aim is to create a more structured commercial framework around a community that spans continents and industries.
Speaking on his appointment, Das said he saw the diaspora as a defining force rather than a peripheral audience. He noted that overseas Indians are no longer just contributors from afar but decision makers shaping economic and cultural narratives globally. His stated goal is to build what he called a world class business framework that reflects that influence and offers brands a trusted, high engagement bridge to this community.
As diaspora media matures from niche storytelling to structured commercial platforms, New India Abroad’s latest appointment signals a clear intent: tell the story, yes, but also own the business of telling it.
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.
