Digital
AI, aye captain – Rishad Tobaccowala fires up GoaFest with his human touch about artificial intelligence
GOA: Who knew a masterclass in artificial intelligence could feel this human?
At the 2025 edition of GoaFest, held at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon, marketing sage and Publicis Groupe senior advisor Rishad Tobaccowala kicked off the event with a keynote that was equal parts wake-up call and soul-stirring sermon. In a session titled Ignite, Tobaccowala didn’t just warn the ad world about AI, he challenged it to rekindle its human spark.
The thesis?
AI isn’t just the next big thing, it’s already bigger than we think. “AI in 2025 is still underhyped,” he declared, noting that many businesses still haven’t grasped how deeply it’s reshaping the fundamentals. And he came bearing receipts.
Forty years ago, a desktop computer cost 5,000 dollars and ran on 1.5 million transistors. Today, your smartphone is 10 times cheaper and runs on 1.5 billion transistors. “The cost of computing has dropped by a factor of 10 million,” he said, with the drop in information distribution costs also approaching zero. “And now, the cost of knowledge and experience is heading the same way.”
But here’s the kicker: that doesn’t make AI a differentiator, it makes it infrastructure.
“Saying you have AI is like saying you use electricity,” Tobaccowala quipped. “You won’t survive without it. But it’s not what will set you apart.”
What will? HI — Human Ingenuity, Intuition, Interaction, and Inspiration.
In a world where machines are smarter, faster, and cheaper, he argued, what remains irreplaceable is human originality. “When AI gives everyone the same data and tools, storytelling, creativity and trust become your only real edge,” he said, reaffirming marketers’ role as custodians of emotion and meaning.
Peppered with zingers, analogies, and a 220-second cheese brand startup powered by GPT-4, the session also made serious points about leadership in a rapidly shifting world. “If you’re planning to retire after 2026, think again,” he warned. “Most people won’t be replaced by AI, they’ll be replaced by other people using AI better.”
He also tore into the cult of corporate scale. “You’ll see billion-dollar companies with less than 100 employees,” said Tobaccowala, who himself pays $225 every month month to access top AI models from eight platforms, outperforming Fortune 500 firms stuck in bureaucratic inertia.
His call to action?
Rethink everything. “If you were starting your company today, would it look like it does now? No. Then why are you still running it that way?” From burning outdated mental models to embracing immigrant thinking (outsider mindset, underdog innovation), his message was clear: adapt or become obsolete.
He concluded with his signature “six Cs” for survival in the AI age: Cognition, Creativity, Curiosity, Communication, Collaboration, and Convincing, a new operating system for human relevance.
As for jobs? “Work will change more between 2019 and 2029 than it has in the past 50 years,” he said, forecasting a rise in gig-style, goal-focused work over traditional employment. “The future of work is about getting things done, not filling jobs.”
In a festival famous for its flair, Rishad Tobaccowala delivered a rare thing, a lecture that didn’t just ignite the mind, but lit a fire in the heart.
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.
