MAM
Animation Studio Cosmos-Maya ropes in Megha Tata as chief executive officer
Mumbai: Animation company Cosmos-Maya India has announced the appointment of Megha Tata as its chief executive officer, who will oversee the company’s operations and lead the animation studio into its next phase of growth. Her appointment comes on the heels of the company’s recent announcement of a $50 million investment plan to facilitate growth and expansion in Europe and North America.
Megha Tata comes with over three decades of experience in the management of television networks in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to Cosmos-Maya, Tata was a managing director at Discovery Communications India. She has held leadership positions at other eminent broadcasters such as BTVI, HBO, Turner International India, and Star India. At Cosmos-Maya, Tata aims to leverage her wealth of knowledge and decades of expertise to drive the organisation’s next phase of growth and solidify the studio’s position as the foremost animation studio in Asia.
Commenting on her appointment, Megha Tata said, “I am thrilled to start my new journey with Cosmos-Maya. I have always looked for challenging yet exciting opportunities in my career, and animation is one such sector that poses immense growth potential. Cosmos-Maya has been at the forefront of the industry in India and Asia, and I look forward to working closely with the senior leadership team to create a vigorous growth path for the company.”
Cosmos-Maya founder and managing director Ketan Mehta said, “I am thrilled and excited to welcome Megha to the Cosmos-Maya family. I look forward to working with her to build on top of Cosmos-Maya’s legacy and take our company to new heights.”
NewQuest Capital Partners—a GP solutions specialist and an investor in Cosmos-Maya managing director Sachin Khandelwal also commented on the appointment, “Having created several highly acclaimed animation shows as one of the leading kids-focussed animation companies in India and Asia, Cosmos-Maya is well positioned to further cement its dominance and unlock new growth opportunities with Megha’s deep experience with broadcasters and in the overall media and entertainment industry.”
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.
