MAM
Google’s quick move to boost brand sales with Commerce Media Suite
MUMBAI: When it comes to India’s shopping habits, “add to cart” is now often followed by “arrives in 10 minutes” and Google is making sure brands don’t miss the ride. The tech giant has launched its Commerce Media Suite, an AI-powered solution designed to help brands and merchants tap into the surging quick commerce and e-commerce markets. The suite works through Google Ads, letting advertisers reach high-intent shoppers across Search, Shopping, Youtube, Display, Discover, and Gmail, directing them straight to product listings on marketplaces like Blinkit, Swiggy, Zepto, and Myntra.
The timing is no accident with the festive season around the corner, competition for eyeballs (and wallets) is fierce. “Today, consumers demand immediacy and convenience, clearly demonstrated by the rise of quick commerce,” said Google India director for omni-channel businesses Bhaskar Ramesh. “Commerce Media Suite opens fresh pathways for discovery across Google and Youtube, driving stronger results for brands during peak demand seasons.”
Early adopters are already seeing gains worth bragging about. ITC Aashirvaad Select clocked a 4x return on ad spend on Blinkit, while Renee Cosmetics reported an 11.5 per cent bump in sales and a 48 per cent drop in cost per order.
For Blinkit, the solution is a match made in delivery heaven. “Google’s Commerce Media Suite offers brands a significant opportunity to cut through the noise and connect with the modern consumer,” said Blinkit director of ad monetisation and pricing Anish Acharya calling it a “game-changer” ahead of the festive rush.
Beyond just reach, brands get Google AI-driven performance, first-party marketplace data, product-level measurement, and self-service transparency effectively marrying campaign spend to actual sales impact.
Or as Renee Cosmetics head of eCommerce Jitendra Rawal put it: “It’s allowed us to efficiently connect with customers looking for our products and significantly drive incremental sales.”
With India’s quick commerce sector in overdrive, Google’s latest play might just help brands click with customers in more ways than one.
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.
