MAM
WPP partners with IICT to boost creative and digital talent in India
MUMBAI: When ad world muscle meets academic hustle, you get a creative spark like no other. In a move that blends Madison Avenue with Mumbai’s media dreams, WPP, the global giant in marketing services has signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), a Ministry of I&B-supported initiative that aims to revolutionise creative and digital skilling in India.
This partnership positions WPP as the first agency group to formalise such a comprehensive engagement with IICT, joining the league of global tech titans like Google, Meta, Microsoft, JioStar, Nvidia, and Adobe all of whom have pledged support to build India’s creator economy.
India, WPP’s fifth largest and fastest-growing market, now becomes the testing ground for a powerful alliance between academic rigour and industry firepower.
Under the collaboration, WPP will Co-develop IICT’s curriculum to reflect real-world creative, media, and tech skills, Provide mentorship for IICT’s startup incubator, Engage faculty on live projects and joint research, Support technology planning for the IICT campus, Assist with promotional and outreach strategies.
“This collaboration is a testament to WPP’s deep commitment to nurturing talent and driving innovation in India’s dynamic media and entertainment sector,” said WPP country manager for India CVL Srinivas. “By combining IICT’s academic rigour with WPP’s global industry leadership, we aim to equip the next generation of creative professionals with the skills and insights needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.”
The alliance comes close on the heels of IICT’s inauguration at the newly established IICT–NFDC campus in Mumbai, a high-profile event attended by Ashwini Vaishnaw, union minister for railways, information & broadcasting, and electronics & IT, and Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra.
IICT board member Ashish Kulkarni added, “With WPP, we are bringing together the best in creative, technology, and media. This partnership will help make IICT a world-class institution on par with IITs and IIMs, preparing market-ready talent for tomorrow’s India.”
With India inching closer to becoming a global creative powerhouse home to over 75 crore internet users and a booming content economy, the timing couldn’t be more apt. If the next big idea is born at the crossroads of commerce and creativity, WPP and IICT might just be laying the road.
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.
