MAM
The Trade Desk partners with Lifesight to help brands optimise digital campaigns
MUMBAI: Global advertising technology firm The Trade Desk has partnered with Lifesight, a customer intelligence company that specialises in location-based measurement. The association will enable the tech firm to provide insights to marketers in India regarding the impact of their online advertising campaigns on store visits and the ability to optimise campaigns.
Through the platform, marketers would also be able to effectively measure how their digital campaign is driving in-store visits to complement other online campaign metrics such as views or clicks, said the company. “By leveraging in-flight location data insights, marketers can optimise campaigns on the go and use those campaign insights to inform spend allocation and shape media strategies that drive better business outcomes,” said the tech firm.
“In the last 18 months, measurement has become a top priority as marketers are under pressure to prove ROI of every advertising dollar. As we step into the festive season and economic activity picks back up in India, brands can apply learnings from the pandemic to change the way they market to consumers that is more effective and efficient,” The Trade Desk India- general manager, Tejinder Gill said.
As more people go shopping for India’s festivities, brands are experiencing huge traction on digital channels and in their physical stores. This retail resurgence both on and offline have marketers re-assessing their measurement approach in an increasingly complex consumer journey.
The announcement comes at a time when Indian marketers are increasingly embracing the value of data-driven and cross-channel advertising campaigns. Through The Trade Desk, brands can measure and compare their campaigns’ performance with other channels on the open internet such as connected TV (CTV), over-the-top (OTT), audio streaming, web and mobile apps.
Lifesight CEO Tobin Thomas said, “This partnership marks the first time that Lifesight’s footfall measurement solution has directly integrated within a programmatic buying platform in India. This is a much-needed innovation that can help brands get the most out of their programmatic spend. Together with The Trade Desk, we are advancing the measurement capabilities for marketers in 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.
