MAM
OMD appoints Pankaj Nayak, Rochelle Chhaya into key leadership team for APAC
MUMBAI: OMD has announced the appointment of two new members into its Asia Pacific team. While Rochelle Chhaya has been appointed as chief operating officer (COO), Pankaj Nayak will be joining as the chief marketing officer (CMO), effective immediately. The decision has been taken to harness the network’s growing momentum and drive further growth across the region.
Formerly the chief digital officer for Omnicom Media Group APAC, Chhaya brings unrivalled visibility on the client-agency-partner ecosystem. Her comprehensive knowledge and experience will allow her to tackle the operational challenges and opportunities that arise when developing an agency model for the future.
As COO, she will be responsible towards mapping out what the future client-centric, digitally powered and data-led agency model looks like for OMD.
Nayak brings over 20 years of industry knowledge and experience to this role, having previously served in a client leadership capacity with the network and most recently, as Omnicom Media Group APAC’s business development director.
As CMO, Nayak will be tasked with continuously enhancing the network’s approach in engaging both new clients and existing ones. This will involve developing a strategy for the seamless manifestation of the network’s new brand promise of Better Decisions, Faster throughout the client relationship, ensuring a consistent telling of the OMD story across clients and markets.
Commenting on the appointments, OMD APAC CEO Stephen Li said, “As we return to the top of the charts and scale even greater heights, both globally and in APAC, it is imperative that we have the right leadership in place to ensure our agencies and clients continue to maximise their potential.”
“Given her impressive track-record in delivering market-leading digital solutions, Rochelle has earned the trust and respect of our clients and partners over the years. She has also become a well-respected voice in the industry. There is no one with as strong a 360 overview of our business as her, which will be extremely valuable in developing OMD’s agency model for the future,” Li continues.
“Throughout his tenure with both the network and the Group, Pankaj has come to know the organisation inside and out, developed significant relationships internally and externally, and has touched on the development and growth of every single market in the region. He is perfectly suited for the CMO role and I have every confidence that OMD will continue to elevate its new business momentum under his leadership.”
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.
