MAM
DAN appoints Gurbaksh Singh to lead DAN Innovation Lab in India
MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has announced the launch of DAN Innovation Lab in an attempt to foster, access and accelerate innovative learning and thus, offer advanced solutions to complex client problems.
The facility, designed and built as a collaborative Lab space, brings together key resources and superior local talents, hand-picked from across the DAN brands – Dentsu Webchutney, Isobar India and Posterscope India.
Created to incubate and nurture innovation, DAN Innovation Lab will work on open data, develop prototypes and intellectual property, build new products and services, engage technology to create differentiated consumer experiences, draw holistic client solutions from cross-functional expertise and in due course, collaborate to execute those solutions, seamlessly.
Led by Gurbaksh Singh, erstwhile chief creative technologist at Dentsu Webchutney, DAN Innovations Lab India will drive solutions for clients keeping creative and tech at its functional core. As chief innovation officer – DAN Innovation Lab, Gurbaksh will hereafter work with the teams at Dentsu Webchutney, Isobar India and Posterscope India on emerging technologies to drive tech-led innovations for all the three agencies. However, eventually Dan Innovation Lab will also support all DAN brands and service all DAN clients across India.
Dentsu Aegis Network India CEO Anand Bhadkamkar said, “I am extremely proud to announce the launch of DAN Innovation Lab. The facility will function as a central faculty between Dentsu Webchutney, Isobar and Posterscope to bring together the network’s expertise in strategy, technology, design and creativity from across the Group. Keeping creativity at its core, DAN Innovation Lab will focus on generating ideas and fresh business tactics to help drive greater efficiencies and deliver the best possible outcomes for our clients.”
Gurbaksh Singh added, “I am deeply honoured to take up this new role. This has opened a whole bunch of opportunities on a much larger playground. Working with multiple creative teams across agencies will only strengthen the creative output. I believe in embracing new makers and sparking curiosity that can lead to incubating a new culture of innovation in the group. Developing new solutions on this new front will be exciting and equally challenging.”
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.
