MAM
Manyavar partners with Admitad India to mark its maiden foray into affiliate marketing
MUMBAI: In a move which underlines the importance of affiliate marketing in online commerce, Admitad India, the India arm of leading global affiliate network Admitad, has announced its exclusive partnership with Manyavar, a men’s ethnic wear brand. As part of the association, Admitad India will manage all affiliate duties and programs for the brand in the country. The tie-up is aimed at complementing Manyavar’s overall online marketing strategy through affiliate marketing and strengthening its pan-India online brand presence and consumer base.
The association with Admitad India marks the first time that Manyavar has forayed into the affiliate marketing segment. Apart from illustrating how offline brands in India are now amplifying their business growth by leveraging e-commerce as a lucrative sales channel. It also highlights the vital role that affiliate marketing is assuming in driving the digital marketing strategy for brands.
Recent industry reports peg India as the fastest-growing e-commerce market in the world. With the number of online users in the country expected to reach 700 million by the end of this decade, the Indian e-commerce segment is estimated to be worth $1.2 trillion by 2021. Established offline retail brands such as Manyavar – which currently operates more than 500 stores across 202 cities in India alone – have been looking to tap into the massive business opportunity that this represents. Top affiliate networks such as Admitad India have been helping brands reach out to this growing online audience through new-age publishers, across a host of platforms and formats.
Speaking on the association, Ms Neha Kulwal, CEO – Admitad India, said, “With the Indian e-commerce market currently estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 50%, offline brands in the country have an extremely lucrative growth opportunity in the online space. Leveraging affiliate marketing to complement their overall digital strategy can help brands capitalise on this shift by effectively targeting the country’s rapidly-growing online audience.”
Admitad India enables advertisers to target prospective consumers through relevant content in a contextual, captive environment by creating their own affiliate programs without heavy upfront investments. It leverages proprietary technology to enable improved tracking codes, cross-device and cross-browser tracking, third-party tracking, ad performance analysis, product feed integration, and curbing fraudulent traffic. Combined with real-time performance analysis of various publisher associations, this allows brands to reduce the risk to their marketing spends while maximising RoIs.
“Our association with Manyavar, which is one of the leading ethnic fashion brands in India, is indicative of the faith that top brands place in the power of affiliate marketing. Through our personalised, tech-driven affiliate marketing solutions, we aim to help drive the maximum RoI for Manyavar’s affiliate marketing campaigns,” Ms Kulwal added.
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.
