MAM
Broadcasters want Trai to reinitiate dialogue on ad regulation
NEW DELHI: Worried about the implications of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India‘s (Trai) ad regulation policy on their business models, television industry‘s apex body Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has urged the government to engage in discussion with the stakeholders of the broadcast industry and roll back the regulation for the time being.
The IBF suggested that like content the government should encourage self-regulation that is in line with global standards rather than pushing the regulation down the throats of broadcasters who are already reeling due to ad slowdown.
“IBF calls for withdrawal of the notification and re-initiation of a participatory dialogue that helps make self-regulation of advertising minuteage in line with global standards a reality,” the IBF said in a statement.
It added, “The IBF has been working with Trai over the last several months to arrive at a way forward on the quantum of advertising duration. Its fundamental stance has always been to self-regulate, aligned with globally practiced standards.”
The IBF said that the industry is in agreement with the objective of the regulation that is better viewing experience for consumers without being frequently disrupted by advertisements, but the regulation must take into account the economic sustenance of the broadcast business.
“The staging of doing this has to be in line with economic sustenance of the broadcasting business and is best aligned to the full value of digitisation becoming a reality.”
The broadcast industry is still dependent on ad revenue as the primary source of income and the trickle down benefits of the much-hyped cable digitisation has not yet been realised even as carriage fees continue to be a burden.
“The trickle back effect from the first stage of digitisation is yet to begin. Carriage fees introduced in 2008 remain a burden, especially for the more than 500 smaller channel operators. Cable TV tariffs remain frozen at 2005 rates. HD TV and pay channel revenues are just about beginning to happen and will take time to start providing economic value.
Unless these issues are dealt with by the government it would be unfair on part of the government to bring ad regulation as the business model of broadcasters would go haywire.
“These factors need concomitant addressing. Regulation on just advertising minuteage will have a severe impact on the survival of the broadcasting industry from amputation of a critical arm of the fourth estate,” the IBF averred.
It opined that the broadcasting industry is yet to fully recover from the shocks of 2008 recession that had slowed down ad growth.
“Like several industries that continue to reel from the after effects of the global economic recession, India‘s television broadcasting industry has been suffering too. The industry is largely dependent on advertising revenues for its economic sustenance,” the IBF contended.
The Trai had on 22 March notified the Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisement in Television Channels) that caps the ad duration at 12 minutes per hour. The authority had even amended the main regulation that was issued on 14 May last year.
The amended version of the regulation was watered down by doing away with clauses but that has still not helped in pacifying the broadcasters who have united to pressure the Trai to halt the implementation of the ad regulation.
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.
