Digital
Astus group enters India, announces Sparsh Ganguli as India head
Mumbai: Astus Group, a global media trading company, is delighted to announce the official launch of its independent office in India. It will be spearheaded by Sparsh Ganguli, who joins as India Head. Ganguly has over 25 years’ experience working for agencies and media houses including Star, Sony, BAG Films, and has been instrumental in creating the partnerships required for launch. His expertise in the Indian advertising ecosystem and launching media trading companies in India will help Astus in creating the value for clients and media owners.
Originally founded in London in 2003, alongside the Indian office Astus has presence in 20 countries with over 300 clients and trades over US$400m annually. Astus works with advertisers to enhance their media budget using their products or services. Astus work across FMCG, Airlines, Automotive, Telecoms, Tourism, Food & Beverage, Hotels, Events/ Hospitality, Electronic Goods, Entertainment, Education and Charities. This is done in full collaboration with Clients’ agencies to ensure they get the media they want and the value Astus creates is implemented alongside the client’s communication strategy to enhance the overall value delivered back against the brief.
The Media Agency remains in control of the media planning and buying process at all times ensuring the quality is never compromised.
Astus also works with hundreds of Media Owners across all media channels, working in association with them to offset their hard cash costs and bring them business which complements their existing channels. Astus does this by enabling Media Owners to trade their soft currency or media space for goods and services they need. This means we can generate media with additional value which we pass on to our clients in the form of incremental product sales
Astus believes that by following this above process, it brings more value, and transparency, to not just their clients but also to media owners and all other stakeholders involved.
Speaking on the development, Astus’ Joint Chairmen and founding members Frances Dickens (who was recently awarded the OBE on the King’s Birthday Honours List for Services to Media Trading) and Paul Jackson, said, “We are fully committed to India as a market where we can help deliver incremental value for advertiser, agencies and media owners alike, ensuring that all parties get what they want as part of the process. We look forward to deepening our existing relationships and growing many more new ones over the coming years.”
Ganguli added, “Astus solves a real problem for clients who had to previously compromise on media to offset redundant or slow-moving products. In my experience working with clients and media houses in India, Astus business model can create synergies to enhance the efficiency of each media plan and add value to both parties.”
Sparsh’s appointment comes with immediate effect and will directly report to the founding members. He will be based in Mumbai.
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.
