MAM
Rajdeepak Das & Sompat Trisadikun join One Club International board
Mumbai: The One Club for Creativity has appointed Publicis Groupe South Asia CCO and Leo Burnett South Asia chairman, Rajdeepak Das, to a three-year term on its International board of directors. Grey Thailand CCO, Sompat Trisadikun, also joins the board this month.
Board members are responsible for providing input and feedback on the club’s ongoing global programming, supporting The One Show and ADC Annual Awards in their region, elevating the annual global creative rankings, connecting the club with advertising and design universities and schools, and recommending outstanding candidates to serve as awards judges.
“The One Club’s International Board of Directors is a platform with immense responsibility where great minds come together to chart the future narrative for the industry,” said Das. “As part of the board, I am looking forward to the opportunity to nurture the next generation of talent to make creativity more impactful.”
Das firmly believes that the true potential of creativity and technology is finding human-centric solutions for the biggest brands. He has cultivated a distinctive reputation over the years for driving impactful innovations for some of the country’s iconic brands.
Das’ unprecedented work on brands like P&G Whisper (Missing Chapter) has facilitated change in the age-old Indian education system and enabled the world’s largest school program for girls. His work on PepsiCo Lays (Smart Farms) has revolutionized farming with the help of AI to increase food security for the country.
Das believes creativity is the currency for developing nations and his work has demonstrated that. He and his team are currently working with some of the country’s largest brands to deliver high-impact solutions for gender ergonomics for farming, water sustainability, girl child education, healthcare, female hygiene and more.
His humankind approach to creativity has led Leo Burnett India to win multiple Grand Prix’s and awards at prestigious shows including The One Show, Cannes Lions, D&AD and Spikes Asia.
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.
