MAM
Marketing sentiment is quite positive for festive season & IPL: Shashi Sinha
NEW DELHI: While the road to economic recovery is long and troubled, there is a positive sentiment amongst the marketers to cash on the upcoming festive season, IPG Mediabrands CEO–India Shashi Sinha shared during an exclusive virtual fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. Over an hour-and-a-half-long session, the duo discussed a number of industry trends, advertiser and consumer sentiment, and the way ahead for the industry.
Sinha noted, “India is a very sentiment-driven market. And while it is going to be a difficult recovery and the consumer demand might or might not be there, a lot of brands are wanting to invest at this point in time; maybe not at a large value scale, but definitely far higher than they would in the months of July-August. I'm not seeing the uptick in demand but the marketing sentiment is that let us cash in on this system.”
He insisted that the advertisers want to capture the festive season and the initial signs are already visible in the dealings. “To give an example, auto sales are there. And then there is a client of ours called Indigo Paints, which is telling us that their sales are up. I am asking them how is it possible as according to me to call people home to paint, would be the last thing on someone’s mind now. But they tell me it is for outside paints. So, yes the market has already started moving.”
But considering the Onam and Ganpati were both muted, how is the market sentiment moving, Wanvari asked.
Sinha elaborated that both the festivals were very localised events and he won’t take it as an indicator of the overall market sentiment. He added that IPL is looking very positive, much above the initial expectations the market had.
Sinha pointed out that the upcoming new programmings on TV channels, including big-budget properties, like KBC and Bigg Boss, will also attract a lot of advertiser attention. “I am not sure if they all will earn because they are coming at almost the same time, but the marketing sentiment is quite positive right now.
But all of this might not translate into consumer sentiment pulling up. “I see advertisers pumping money in September-October. And if the sentiment turns out to be false and they fail to move the consumers, the impact will be seen in the first quarter of the next year, which for Indian companies will start this year. So, the companies will evaluate whatever money they are investing in IPL and Diwali and if it doesn’t yield results, they might pull back.”
Overall, the earnings of the media companies and agencies will not be similar to what they recorded last year, but will be a great improvement from the past few months, he shared.
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.
