Digital
AI can never match human ingenuity in advertisement: I&B ministry’s Vikram Sahay at MarCon 2023
Mumbai: “Remember that advertisement is all about making a product or a service unique. Even the best of the software like ChatGPT will never offer that uniqueness. So, do not feel discouraged by them as they often compromise the quality of the advertisements,” said Ministry of Information and Broadcasting joint secretary & Government of India Vikram Sahay, while delivering his keynote address at the 19th edition of the Marketing Conclave (MarCon), organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on 22 November 2023 in Mumbai.
This year MarCon explored, through 30 sessions, across four tracks, the theme of “Tomorrow’s Canvas: Tech and the Art of Marketing”. The conference was co-powered by Whistle Feed.
Addressing the conference’s theme topic, Sahay delved into the dynamic intersection of technology and marketing, shedding light on innovative strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of digital advertising.
In his keynote Sahay also dwelt on advertising regulatory practices and underlined the importance of ethical marketing. “Today, we have certain regulatory practices and guidelines that protect us from misleading ads, especially in education and healthcare. We must stay away from such unethical practices,” he said.
MarCon 2023 brought together on one platform more than 65 industry captains and subject stalwarts to explore the theme subject 360 degrees. Over 350+ agencies, 500+ leading brands and 1500 delegates took part in the conference.
Speaking on unified measurement for digital platforms, Jio Ads CEO Gulshan Verma explained, “Fundamentally, measurement is the backbone of business, translating into vital components such as your business metrics, engagement metrics, and sales figures. What further adds to this process is the perception of your brand. Introducing unified measurement transforms the landscape, where context makes all the difference. Online and physical touch points make it challenging to analyse or even apply unified measurement. Unification will happen if we are able to link business numbers and other tangibles to arrive at some sort of numeric unification or one scale of measurement for digital platforms.”
Talking on changing tech allowing new age marketers to connect with ‘BHARAT’, Federal Bank CMO MVS Murthy said, “AI does not have an emotional quotient hence it cannot be sensitive towards human emotions. Only humans can understand the subtle sensitivities of any matter. While targeting Bharat, it’s important we understand and acknowledge these nuances and think regional and vernacular first, it’s a human emotion, we think in our mother tongue and then speak in English or any other language.”
Among other prominent speakers at the conclave were Group M South Asia president Tushar Vyas; Games 24 x 7 VP Gaurav Verma; Meta ads business director & head Arun Srinivas; Sony Pictures Network Ltd senior VP and Ad revenue head Ranjana Mangla, Physics Wallah marketing head Sanket Narkar and Tata Digital CMO Shoumyan Biswas.
Results of the second edition of the prestigious Digital Native Brands Awards (DNBA) were announced at a gala ceremony at MarCon. This year there were over 150 entries for DNBA, which were distributed in 19 categories. The Awards celebrate and honour businesses and brands that have harnessed the power of digital technology, epitomize the spirit of digital entrepreneurship, and leverage technology as a core driver of their success. The Best DNB Woman Entrepreneur of The Year Award went to Ghazal Alagh, Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd (Mamaearth) and the Best Digital Native Brand Entrepreneur Award was bagged by Manish Chowdhary, WOW Skin Science.
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.
