MAM
Hogarth India appoints new VP to drive regional growth
Mumbai: Hogarth India, part of WPP and a global leader in creative production, announces key leadership appointments with Madhurika Banerjee and Ishita Hora joining the senior leadership team. These strategic hires aim to bolster Hogarth’s creative and production capabilities across India, reflecting the company’s commitment to regional growth.
Madhurika Banerjee steps in as vice president, North, bringing over 15 years of experience in building high-performing teams and delivering award-winning campaigns across sectors including FMCG, consumer durables, auto, BFSI, real estate, and media & entertainment. Previously, as Schbang, brand solutions, vice president, she played a pivotal role in establishing the Delhi operations and worked with high-profile clients like Tata Beverages and JnJ Pharma. “I’m excited to take up this role to explore new avenues and create transformative experiences for our brands. Hogarth is on a strong growth trajectory, and I look forward to creating strong brands and transforming their content experience journey,” said Banerjee.
Ishita Hora joins Hogarth as vice president, West, bringing with her 13 years of expertise in integrated marketing, account management, and consumer research. Her ability to build strong client relationships has been instrumental in driving business growth for leading brands such as Coca-Cola, Caratlane, and Haier. Before joining Hogarth, Ishita was at Ogilvy, as client servicing director, where she led key client engagements and strategic initiatives. “Hogarth is a place where creativity, innovation, and production come together seamlessly, and I’m excited to dive in and make the most of it. I’m looking forward to working with an incredibly talented and driven team that pushes boundaries like second nature. Looking forward to this next phase of growth and all the exciting things ahead,” she said.
Hogarth India, CEO, Karthik Nagarajan commented on the appointments, saying, “Our commitment to clients is to deliver the best content experience for their audiences in a medium-agnostic way. The world of content and production today is more dynamic than any other part of the marketing engine, and so client leaders also need to be change managers. Madhurika and Ishita are exceptional, dynamic leaders who can lead change at our as well as our clients’ end.”
With Madhurika based in Gurgaon and Ishita in Mumbai, Hogarth India continues to focus on leadership excellence, striving for superior content experiences and client satisfaction.
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.
