MAM
Mobil becomes performance sponsor for Indian Racing Festival 2024 edition
Mumbai: The Indian Racing Festival (IRF) has onboarded Mobil, a name in the world of motor oils, as the performance sponsor for the 2024 season. This collaboration will see high-performance engine oils of Mobil elevating the fast-growing motorsport sector by powering the high-speed cars of the IRF with their advanced lubricants, delivering unmatched performance and reliability as the six teams in the Indian Racing League (IRL) and eight teams in the Formula four Indian Championship (F4IC) will be competing against each other.
Powered by Mobil 1 5w – 40, a full synthetic engine oil helps deliver excellent all-around performance to Formula 4 cars. Its triple action power has a track record of providing exceptional cleaning power and wear protection both on and off the track
“Mobil’s exceptional expertise and unwavering dedication to innovation seamlessly align with IRF’s mission to deliver extraordinary racing experiences. By integrating Mobil’s superior lubricants and motor oils, we will ensure that our cars perform at their peak, delivering an exhilarating spectacle for our fans while upholding the highest safety standards throughout the Indian Racing Festival season,” said IRF chairman and managing director of Racing Promotions Private Limited (RPPL), promoters Akhilesh Reddy.
Mobil, a flagship brand under ExxonMobil, has a rich history that celebrates its golden 50-year completion in 2024. Over the last 5 decades, Mobil 1 remains the world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand. It has pushed forward the boundaries of automotive lubricant technology, evolving and improving to keep engines running like new, mile after mile, since 1974.
“We are excited to partner with the Indian Racing Festival, a platform that aligns perfectly with our dedication to innovation and performance. With ExxonMobil’s cutting-edge technology and IRF’s unwavering commitment to the Indian motorsports ecosystem, we are confident that this collaboration will elevate performance on the tracks this season and provide drivers and fans with an outstanding experience. We look forward to fueling the excitement and contributing to the success of this premier event,” said ExxonMobil Lubricants PVT LTD CEO Vipin Rana.
Promoted by RPPL, the Indian Racing Festival aims to captivate India’s growing motorsports fanbase with two premier championships: the franchise-based Indian Racing League (IRL) and the Formula 4 Indian Championship (F4IC). Featuring top drivers including men and women from India and around the world, IRL 2024 begins on August 24, followed by India’s first-ever night street circuit race at the Chennai Formula Racing Circuit a week later.
Tickets for Rounds 1 and 2, the latter being the highly-anticipated night street race, are now available on Paytm Insider and it will also be broadcast on Star Sports.
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.
