MAM
Women lead just 13 per cent of key creative roles in Indian cinema: O Womaniya! 2025 study
Telugu content shows sharpest rise in female representation
MUMBAI: Prime Video has released the latest edition of O Womaniya!, its annual study tracking female representation in Indian entertainment, showing uneven progress across content, creative roles, marketing and corporate leadership.
The 2025 report analysed 122 films and series released in 2024 across streaming and theatrical platforms in nine Indian languages. Researched by Ormax Media and produced by Film Companion Studios, the study remains one of the most comprehensive audits of gender representation in the industry.
According to the findings, only 32 per cent of titles passed the O Womaniya! content test, which measures whether women have agency and drive their own stories. Streaming films showed a marked improvement, with 47 per cent clearing the test, up 16 percentage points from the previous year, while theatrical releases continued to lag.
Telugu-language titles, historically among the weakest performers in female representation, recorded the sharpest improvement, rising 21 percentage points to 31 per cent. The report also found that while women-commissioned projects performed better, gains among male-commissioned titles underlined the importance of male allies in closing the equity gap.
Behind the camera, progress stalled. Women held just 13 per cent of head-of-department roles across key creative functions, down from 15 per cent last year. Representation fell most sharply in editing and cinematography, while only 8 per cent of titles featured a female director.
Marketing remained skewed. Women accounted for just 29 per cent of trailer dialogue time, though streaming titles continued to allocate higher visibility than theatrical releases.
At the corporate level, female representation in director and CXO roles across leading media and entertainment firms rose to 18 per cent, up from 12 per cent last year: a modest but notable gain.
Prime Video India director and head of production and post, international originals Stuti Ramachandra, said balanced representation was essential for storytelling that resonates at scale. Ormax Media founder and CEO Shailesh Kapoor said the report aimed to move the industry from intent to measurable impact.
Five years since its launch, O Womaniya! continues to frame the debate on gender equity in Indian entertainment, highlighting progress in pockets while underscoring how far the industry still has to go.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
