MAM
Dentsu Aegis & Facebook rope in ShopClues as title sponsor for new social platform
MUMBAI: Online marketplace Shopclues.com has hopped on board as the title sponsor of the new festive social platform called India Celebrates, designed by Dentsu Aegis Network, which is collaborating the networking opportunities on Facebook.
The idea is to create a unique destination for people where they can share their festive moments and celebrate the festive season with a large network of people, brands and celebrities.
“The event is an excellent platform to bring together the synergies of India’s top brands for a truly exceptional Diwali celebration. While Dentsu brings more partners on board to drive engagement to the platform, Shopclues will give out exclusive offers and the most unmatched propositions for consumers from its vast product portfolio. As the title sponsors, will further enhance our brand salience through the massive reach and engagement of Facebook,” said ShopClues AVP – marketing Nitin Agarwal.
India Celebrates is a content destination that will feature the togetherness of high quality entertainment quotient and an interactive, convenient platform for people to employ in the best shopping experience with customised packages.
“Dentsu Aegis Network in India is very happy to join hands with Facebook in this unique digital initiative. As the leading digital group in India, with over 750 digital specialists in our group companies like Isobar, iProspect, Dentsu WebChutney, and WATConsult, we feel it is our duty to encourage such digital initiatives, which will be the way of the future,” added Dentsu Aegis Network South-Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin.
The Facebook page of India Celebrate will feature updates on deals, new brands on board, the first of them being ShopClues. It will also feature celebrity engagements for every season, starting with Dusserra and followed by Diwali.
On India Celebrates, users not only have the option to share their content but also win exciting prizes for the same. A number of online games, which deliver an opportunity to win gifts for festivals and a range of discount options from various brands, have been designed for users.
“Facebook is the new Diwali Greeting card. Indians are increasingly sharing their festival moments in full colour through visual content, and there are three times more videos and 1.5 times more photos uploaded via mobile during Diwali than the rest of the year. The India Celebrates initiative by Dentsu Aegis Network will leverage our unparalleled targeting capabilities to potentially reach over 130 million people in India connecting on Facebook every month,” said Facebook India managing director Kirthiga Reddy.
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.
