MAM
Criteo appoints Taranjeet Singh as MD for Southeast Asia, India
MUMBAI: Criteo, the global technology company powering the world’s marketers with trusted and impactful advertising, has appointed Taranjeet Singh, as managing director, Southeast Asia (SEA) and India, to lead this critical market for the company. Singh will steer Criteo’s business strategy for the region, driving continued growth and building on the company’s current portfolio of customers which include Love, Bonito, Shopback, K&K Fashion, Tugo.vn, Tata CLIQ, and NYKAA.
Starting in New Delhi, Singh will oversee Criteo’s operations in SEA and India. He will work closely with the company’s regional leadership to strengthen Criteo’s current advertiser and partner relationships and spearhead new business development.
“Taranjeet brings a rich experience of more than 17 years of leadership experience within the media and technology industry in Asia Pacific,” said Kenneth Pao, executive managing director for Asia Pacific, Criteo. “This pandemic has transformed many businesses. It has caused brands big and small to quickly pivot their marketing strategies to adapt to this new normal and social distancing economy. We are fortunate to be able to add Taranjeet to our leadership bench as we help our customers and partners provide as much value to their customers as possible during this time. We are also excited to have him on board to help propel the company’s vision to power marketers globally with trusted and impactful advertising.”
“Online commerce is now the lifeblood for consumers. Online retail sales in SEA are experiencing a higher uplift in 2020 compared to last year, with peak sales growth of 141 per cent seen the week of 23 March. According to a consumer survey conducted by Criteo, the India report shows that half of consumers say they’ll purchase more online because of COVID-19 especially the millennials. The need for the internet is more pronounced than ever during this period. As brands adapt their marketing strategies to meet the current online demand, they need to continue to be customer-centric and focus on providing solutions for consumer concerns and pain points,” added Singh. “I look forward to working with some of the best talents in the industry to leverage Criteo’s scale and expertise to help our customers and partners be trusted brands to their consumers.”
Singh joins Criteo after nearly two years at ZEE5 India, an online video-on-demand platform. He was Chief Revenue Officer and Business Head, where he helped establish the revenue and business operations in the company. Prior to ZEE5, Singh’s leadership roles included serving as India Country Director for Twitter and Sales Director for BBC News, where he was responsible for commercial operations.
Criteo ended the first quarter 2020 with over 20,000 commerce and brand customers, adding close to 1,000 new clients (net) compared to Q1 2019, while maintaining close to 90 per cent client retention rate. Criteo’s header-bidding technology now connects to over 4,600 publishers across the Web and App and reaches about 40 per cent of all its publishers via Criteo Direct Bidder.
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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.
