MAM
Tamil Nadu ad market can’t revive until movie releases happen
NEW DELHI: Holding the highest share of regional ad volumes at 16 per cent in Covid times, as highlighted in the TAM AdEx data released recently, the Tamil Nadu ad market wasn’t immune to the bloodbath on ad revenues that the overall industry witnessed due to the lockdown.
As shared by The Media Ant co-founder Samir Choudhary, the market witnessed at least a 50 percent drop in overall revenues in the March-June ‘20 period.
Fourth Dimension Media Solutions CEO Shankar B elaborates, “In Tamil Nadu, almost 30-35 per cent of the ad revenues are driven by cinema and retail, both of which were zero during the Covid2019-period. Even if we talk just about cinema, Tamil Nadu is amongst the top movie-producing states in the country, giving a tough competition to Bollywood. We release around 15 films a month and each banner spends approximately Rs 3-3.5 crore for seven days’ promotional slots, which most other categories would spend in a month. With that being nil, you can imagine the impact the market has witnessed.”
For television alone, like most other markets, the viewership and ad volumes both were up during the Covid2019 period. As highlighted by the tenth edition of BARC+Nielsen weekly reports, Tamil channels were recording 15 per cent hike in viewership as compared to pre-Covid2019 periods in week 26, starting 27 June. News consumption was at 177 per cent high.
While the ad volumes dipped by 41 per cent overall during the past three months, the trend started moving upwards month-on-month as the situation improved, TAM AdEx data reveals. During Covid2019, ad volumes across all Tamil language genre surged by 29 per cent in June 2020 over April 2020 and by 27 per cent in May 2020 over April 2020.
However, this did not result in revenues as channels were functioning at drastically lower operating rates, which were dropped by 50-60 per cent to keep the advertiser sentiment positive, shares Choudhary.
Shankar B notes that while some of his clients took the conscious call to not cut ad rates, certain channels took the decision to announce rampant discounts. Some were even functioning at 1:2 bonus, which means offering two slots at the rate of one to keep the inventories filled. “Despite the ad volumes being high on certain channels, they recorded 35-40 per cent drop in ad revenues.”
However, the situation gradually started improving. Choudhary feels that the market will see its revival around Diwali, with advertiser sentiment improving. But Shankar B feels that it is impossible to pin a date on industry revival. “Things are getting better but the channels are still running at discount prices. We can’t say when will the revenues be like pre-Covid2019 times. But one thing is sure, Tamil Nadu market won’t be able to get back on its feet until cinema and retail sectors start functioning like earlier as they account for almost one-third of the revenues there.”
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.
