MAM
M&E thought leaders, HR heads to kick off first Media HR Summit
MUMBAI: The first edition of Indiantelevision.com’s Media HR Summit kicks off today with a stellar line up of thought leaders from India’s media and entertainment industry.
With ‘Building human capital in a disruptive world’ as its theme, the day-long conference is an endeavour to delve deep into the challenges the M&E industry faces today and understand how corporate and HR leaders are steering their companies into the future as they seek to attract, develop and retain talent.
The summit, organised in partnership with Zee, will comprise panel discussions, fireside chats and presentations.
“The Indian Media & Entertainment Industry is at an inflection point where convergence, consolidation and technological innovations are reshaping all parts of the M&E value chain. The oft-repeated cliché “what got us here, won’t get us there,” has never been more relevant. Talent capability & availability both are amongst the biggest challenges we need to address to successfully navigate the emerging landscape. It is imperative that we build and retain a workforce that is ready for a generational shift in skills. We are proud to partner with Indiantelevision.com’s 1st Media HR Summit that aims to address these challenges and help HR leaders across sectors to share thoughts and perspectives on building a dynamic workplace in a digitally transformative world,” Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd chief people officer Animesh Kumar said.
Some of the key themes that will be discussed at the Media HR summit will include culture and chemistry, emerging trends in HR, employee engagement models, building equity in the workplace, empowering a network of leaders, future-focused people strategies and changing nature of employment.
The summit will see speaker representation across the M&E spectrum – broadcasters, media agencies, and production houses – as well as veteran HR leaders.
Discovery’s Megha Tata, MullenLowe Lintas Group’s Heather Saville Gupta, Mondelez’s Priyadarshini Gupta, Publicis’ Nikhil Natekar, Dentsu Aegis Network’s Sunil Seth, Shemaroo Entertainment’s Jai Maroo among others will offer their insights into the changing HR dynamics during the conference.
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.
