MAM
Talkwalker & Khoros release social media trends 2023 report
Mumbai: The leading consumer intelligence and deep listening company, Talkwalker, and a digital-first customer engagement software and services company, Khoros, have released their annual social media trends report titled “From insights to action: how to disrupt a disruptive consumer.” The report highlights the social media trends that matter most for brands, marketers, and PR professionals to watch in the coming year. The report follows the announcement of the companies’ strategic partnership to seamlessly deliver deep listening and social media management through a unified experience.
According to the report, the customer experience will become even more social in the future. It highlights that 75 per cent of consumers say the pandemic has driven long-term changes in their behaviours and preferences, including a bigger focus on urgency. Brands must prioritise customer experience by providing support, information, or solutions as fast as possible. In 2023, expect more brands to leverage social media as dedicated support channels, enabling a fast, efficient response no matter which platform consumers use to get in touch.
The report expects that social commerce will rise and fall. It reveals that large increases in post-pandemic digital growth and rising costs of living are driving increased demand for affordability. Soon, consumers will be more willing to explore new shopping channels such as social. However, some countries are more ready to adopt social commerce than others. In India, from FY 20–25, social commerce is expected to grow at a 55–60 per cent CAGR, taking the current market size from $1.5-2 billion to $16–20 billion.
The report leveraged Talkwalker’s social listening and AI-enabled analytics capabilities to uncover the 10 most impactful social media trends to expect in 2023 and demonstrates how consumers are driving these trends.
The insights behind each trend are further supported with industry-specific social engagement actions marketers can take from Khoros’s Strategic Services team. This report also features contributions from industry experts such as Smita Murarka from Duroflex, Samit Malkani from Google, and Aurnob Godinho from Bombay Shaving Company.
Further, the report also predicts that brands will place an emphasis on communities rather than personas. It stated that 66 per cent of branded communities say that their community has led to increased loyalty. Brands will focus on gaining deeper knowledge of their consumer ecosystems to understand who is driving and sharing brand-focused conversations. Influencers, employee advocates, and consumers will be engaged within brand communities to generate authentic connections and consumer-led content.
“We all know the digital ecosphere has disrupted how marketers engage with consumers,” said Talkwalker chief marketing officer David Low.
He added, “In this new environment, marketers must focus on forging symbiotic relationships through a better understanding of online conversations and taking quicker action. It’s this new understanding that will help brands create meaningful experiences and become closer to their consumers.”
Khoros chief marketing officer Dillon Nugent stated, “As marketers, we know the value of data and the importance of listening to our customers. But we need to be more action-oriented and use those insights more effectively. Consumers’ comfort level with doing things online—shopping, researching, socialising—is not slowing down as the world opens up. They also care more about their communities—global, local, IRL, and online. Marketers need to tap into these trends and behaviours more deeply to personalise customers’ experiences and create more impactful strategies that empower your brand to stay connected to customers and grow your presence in the market.”
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.
