MAM
Dentsu India 2.0 bolsters its Digital, Experiential & PR offerings with Isobar India Group
Mumbai: Dentsu India has bolstered its Digital, Experiential and PR capabilities under the Isobar India group, comprising the creative agencies Isobar India and WATConsult, and the PR agency, Perfect Relations. Heeru Dingra, previously chief executive officer (CEO), WATConsult, will lead the group as its CEO, reporting into dentsu Creative India CEO Amit Wadhwa.
“The group structure will see the three agencies align with Isobar’s global proposition: crafting distinctive brands and innovative experiences for a connected future,” it announced on Tuesday.
According to the agency, the decision is part of the network’s global plan to transform into the “world’s most integrated group by 2024”. it also accelerates the market’s growth journey into dentsu India 2.0. The group will further support the delivery of Isobar’s capabilities and services from India, and the structure will promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing across the India team, embodying the Isobar spirit of “Invent, Make, Change”, it added.
dentsu Group Inc, global CEO, creative and executive officer, Jean Lin said, “Strategically, India is one of our largest and most important markets for Isobar. Heeru joined us through the acquisition of WATConsult and has gone from strength to strength, cultivating a culture of creativity and innovation. Heeru will strengthen Isobar’s growth story, bringing together the best specialists from different creative disciplines to create the next wave of transformative experiences for our clients and in turn, accelerate our brands into the dentsu India 2.0 vision. I am certain that with Heeru at its helm, the Isobar India group will continue to grow and deliver excellence for our clients.”
Wadhwa said, the decision is also in alignment with our global ambition of transforming into the most integrated network by 2024. “We aim to deliver the best of our offerings to clients with pathbreaking ideas and solution-led strategies, making our headway into excellence,” he added.
On her new role, Dingra said “The Isobar India group houses some of the best agency teams in the country and I feel humbled to lead this brilliant bunch. As I take this new leap, my aim is to offer world-class integrated services and top-notch expertise that bring value to our current and future clients. People and creativity are at the core of our business, and I assure our clients will only be served with the industry’s best.”
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.
