MAM
Dabur sticks with Starcom, retains Rs 500 crore media mandate in bold move
MUMBAI: In the high-stakes world of media accounts, loyalty is a rare commodity—but not for Dabur India. According to sources, the FMCG powerhouse has doubled down on its long-standing partnership with Starcom India, keeping the agency on board for its Rs 500 crore media mandate while merging its digital responsibilities under one roof. If this isn’t a power move, what is?
Dabur first appointed Starcom as its media agency back in 2015, taking control away from multiple agencies. Since then, the two have built a formidable partnership, and this latest decision signals unwavering trust in Starcom’s capabilities. Industry sources peg the retained account’s value between Rs 450 crore and Rs 500 crore, making it one of the biggest wins in recent advertising history.
Starcom isn’t the only player to have handled Dabur’s digital business. Dentsu X was entrusted with its digital mandate in April 2022, while Digidarts was recently roped in to fine-tune aspects of the company’s online strategy. But with this consolidation, Dabur appears to be streamlining its media operations under a single agency, ensuring tighter control and a sharper strategic focus.
Dabur, a titan in hair care, oral care, healthcare, skincare, home care, and food & beverages, has kept a close eye on its advertising expenses. Its Q3 FY2025 ad spend stood at Rs 226 crore, down 7.9 per cent from the Rs 244 crore spent in the same quarter last year. This marks the second consecutive quarter of muted ad expenditure, following Rs 225 crore spent during the previous festive season in Q2 2025.
Despite a more conservative ad budget, Dabur’s financials remained strong. The company’s net income for Q3 FY2025 saw a 2 per cent rise, reaching Rs 516 crore from Rs 506 crore in the previous year. Meanwhile, operating revenue climbed 3 per cent, hitting Rs 3,355 crore, up from Rs 3,255 crore in the same quarter last year.
With Starcom at the helm, Dabur’s advertising playbook is getting a strategic revamp.
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.
