MAM
Pokerstars India collaborates with COLORS as associate sponsors for Bigg Boss 2019
MUMBAI: PokerStars India is collaborating with the most popular reality show in India, Bigg Boss on COLORS channel, as an associate sponsor for the season. Bigg Boss fans will have the chance to learn how the theory and skills of poker can be applied to everyday life through a series of poker-related challenges delivered to contestants.
Talking about the association, Ankur Dewani, CEO, Sachiko Gaming, said, “We’re really excited to collaborate with Bigg Boss and see so many opportunities to educate people about the many skills in poker that can be applied to everyday life, and vice-versa. On Bigg Boss, the contestants are expected to navigate their journey through the show by making calculated decisions, displaying mental endurance, patience, being calm, keeping a poker face and so much more until you either get eliminated or progress to becoming a winner, this is the same process a good poker player follows when playing a Poker Tournament, which also goes through eliminations until we have a few winners.“
“We recently launched our second TV campaign #MadeForPoker demonstrating skills that people take for granted, such as patience, or the ability to make quick, rational decisions, are useful when playing poker – and that all of us are to some extent, Made For Poker, even if we don’t realise it. We’re excited to bring poker to new audiences over the coming weeks and months.”
Mahesh Shetty, Head, Network Sales, Viacom18, said, “We are delighted to have onboard Pokerstars India as an associate sponsor. Bigg Boss is one of our most renowned properties and with this association we aim to create interesting conversations around the skill game category.”
Additionally, PokerStars India will also be hosting 'Big Boss Poker Challenges' on their website PokerStars.in where viewers will be invited to compete in a Free Play tournament. The players will experience first-hand what it is like to get Bigg Boss to challenge you on tasks every week just like in the show. At the same time, players will get to play several free poker tournaments with the chance to win cool gadgets, merchandise and visit the Bigg Boss house to meet the host Salman Khan.
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.
