MAM
Cannes Lions Day 2: India secures 20 more shortlists for six categories
Mumbai: After the grand opening success of the Indian contingent on day one of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2022 with a seven-metal haul, which includes two Grand Prix, three Silvers, two Bronzes and 20 shortlists across five categories, the Indian contingent has clocked in 20 more shortlists on the second day.
On Day-2 of Cannes Lions 2022, 20 more shortlists for six categories across Brand Experience & Activation (10), Creative Business Transformation (1), Creative Commerce (4), Mobile (4), Creative Effectiveness (1), and Creative Strategy were released.
Brand Experience & Activation
In the Brand Experience & Activation category, 10 shortlists were selected from 71 entries from India.
Ogilvy India has two shortlists for ‘Shahrukh Khan – My Ad,’ while Dentsu Creative India has three for Vice Media’s “The Unfiltered History Tour.”
VMLY&R’s commerce division received one shortlist for Unilever’s ‘Smart Fill’ campaign, while its advertising division received one finalist for Unipad’s ‘Adeli’ campaign.
Three shortlists have been compiled by FCB India and FCB Chicago for the Times of India campaign ‘The Nominate Me Selfie’.
Creative Business Transformation
In this category, VMLY&R Commerce’s campaign ‘Smart fill’ for Unilever is the only Indian entry on the shortlist.
From India, 8 entries were submitted in this category.
Creative Commerce
In the Creative Commerce category this year, India submitted 14 entries.
Three shortlists have been announced for VMLY&R Commerce’s ‘Smart Fill’ campaign for Unilever.
For the campaign ‘Shagun ka Lifafa’ created for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, McCann Worldgroup India has received its first shortlist.
Mobile Lions
‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ has secured three shortlists in Activation by Location, mobile-led creativity and social purpose subcategories under the mobile category. The campaign for Vice Media has already won a grand prix, one silver, and two bronze.
Further, out of 19 entries in the Mobile Lions category from India, #NothingCoin for Cadbury 5 Star created by Ogilvy Mumbai has been shortlisted.
Creative Effectiveness
Out of 20 Indian entries, DDB Mudra Mumbai’s “Stayfree Project Free Period” was the only one to make the shortlist in the Creative Effectiveness category.
Creative Strategy
In the Creative Strategy category, which had 29 submissions, there was no participation from India.
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.
