MAM
Pride Month: Chimp&z Inc celebrates with workplace coming-out stories
Mumbai: Ad agency Chimp&z Inc celebrated the LGBTQIA+ members of the advertising community by bringing them together for its digital Pride parade, #PrideOfAdvertising, all through the month of June. Conceptualised and executed by the integrated digital agency, the campaign was initiated to understand, support, and celebrate the culture of inclusivity and acceptance at workplaces. The agency collaborated with other agency professionals, brand managers, and freelancers who are out, proud & successful.
The #PrideOfAdvertising brings out the perspective of people who identify as queer from various facets of advertising and media through a candid yet meaningful ‘Q&A’ series on the agency’s social media pages. The responses beautifully captured their coming-out emotions, reaction to homo/transphobic comments, and some heartening tips for others to come out.
https://www.instagram.com/chimpandzinc/guide/pride-of-advertising/17950009009463873/
“Coming out is a challenge for the LGBTQIA+ community, not just personally but professionally and psychologically as well,” Chimp&z Inc CEO & co-founder Angad Singh Manchanda said. “The urban LGBTQIA+ activism has created space for individuals to defy societal norms and perceptions and choose to live as per their will. With awareness of LGBTQIA+ rights rising, the list of Pride-themed campaigns taking over the internet in June keeps getting longer and more meaningful. We wanted to do more than just tell stories. We brought out the perspective of each individual and their experience in the industry after coming out professionally. This digital campaign sets out a virtual pride parade that honors LGBTQIA+ members of the advertising community. I trust it will evolve and adapt to the changing society in the coming years.”
The campaign featured agency-smiths: Chimp&z Inc group account manager Sumitro Sircar, AdGlobal 360 associate creative director Dev Mitra Roy, Schbang’s design lead Krina Satra, Gozoop account planner Romario Fernandes, WATConsult’s lead copywriter Mansi Shanbag, and Sugar Rush Media House’s talent & creative head Tanya Nagrani.
The agency also partnered with media and brand mavens: The Red Pen marketing manager Archit Ambekar, Humans of Queer founder Yash Sharma, Beunic’s co-founder Ashish Chopra, Amaltas Apparel & Accessories brand manager Anish Prasad, and make-up trainer Saikat Chakraborty. The agency also collaborated with creative freelancers: social media manager & content creator Priyesha Nair, celebrity makeup & hair artist Abhijit Chanda, queer artist Suvajit Mandal, content strategist & e-commerce content marketing expert Sunny Pandey, and social media influencer Gaurav Pandey.
The agency summed up the campaign by featuring the national award-winning filmmaker, Onir, also known for being one of the earliest advocates for LGBTQIA+ rights 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.
