MAM
Amit Ray is Percept Media director – strategy
MUMBAI: Percept has officially announced that former Vibrant Advertising director Amit Ray has joined Percept Media as director, strategy.
In response to recent reports of Tapan Pal’s departure from aMap to join Percept Media as CEO, Percept Holdings vice-chairman and managing director Harindra Singh spoke of the recent news saying, “This is our first official release on Percept Media, and we have not written to anybody about this till date. So, what you must have seen or read must be speculation.”
Ray had been with Vibrant Advertising (Reliance Industries’ media AOR) for a year and has, in the past, worked with advertising agencies such as Lowe, Tara Sinha Associates (now McCann-Erickson) and Clarion (now Bates Enterprise). In 2001, he steered the formation of Mudra’s media arm, Optimum Media Solutions (OMS), and later moved to Vibrant Advertising.
He is also the vice-chairman of MRUC’s technical committee and plays a key role in IRS, India’s key readership study. He also helped the industry by guiding ORG-MARG in improving their Peoplemetre software, informs an official release.
Speaking about his new role Ray said, “I am delighted to be a part of the Percept family. The media opportunities that are existing are immense, and Percept’s vision for the Media business is truly commendable. Together, we will be able to provide committed, professional value services to our clients at optimum rates.”
Singh added, “The year 2007 is going to be a critical year for our media business, but it will mature next year. Percept Media’s immediate strategic focus is to consolidate and grow the media services business in the short term as we see an opportunity to be amongst the top 5 by our self and amongst the top-2 in partnership with a suitable strategic partner.
“Our key focus will be to provide clearly audited transactions for the clients to increase transparency and bringing a fair and level playing field in the media business. We will continue to have conventional media and will build on the various other opportunities that are able to spot and leverage in the media domain.”
Percept Holdings launched Percept Media, on the back of the ‘all cash’ deal to buy back all of Aegis Group plc shareholdings in PDM India and Posterscope India – the consolidated annual billings of which is in excess of US$ 150 million. Percept has acquired “Allied Media” for traditional media services.
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.
