MAM
Eight sponsors on board for Star’s Nach Baliye
MUMBAI: Star Plus has roped in eight sponsors for its celebrity dance reality show ‘Nach Baliye‘ which is all set to launch on 29 December at 9 pm.
The fifth season of the show will be presented by Vaseline while the powered by sponsor on board is LR Active Oil.
The channel has signed six associate sponsors so far which are – Nivea, Vasan Eyecare, Flying Machine, Bingo, Ferrero and Fair & Lovely for Men.
Star India president ad sales Kevin Vaz told Indiantelevision.com that the channel will sign on a total of nine associate sponsors for
the show.
“20-30 per cent of our inventories will be consumed by spot buys while all other will be utilised by the sponsors,” Vaz added.
Star Plus has launched a nationwide campaign to promote the show which is returning after three years. However, Delhi, UP, Gujarat and Maharashtra (including Mumbai) will get special focus in marketing activities. There will be disruptions across all mediums including radio, outdoor, TV and digital, claims Star Plus VP marketing Nikhil Madhok.
The channel is promoting the show aggressively across the Star Network and about 25 other channels outside its network. It is going gung-ho on the digital medium to promote Nach Baliye-5.
According to Star Plus VP marketing Nikhil Madhok, this time one lucky couple will get a chance to actually participate on the show and compete with the celebrity ‘jodis‘. The only way to participate is digitally – to upload a short dancing clip of the couple onto Star Plus‘ site. “We will then invite our fans to vote for their favorite Jodi by ‘liking‘ their clip. Based on a combination of likes received and points awarded by our judges, one lucky couple will get to participate in Nach Baliye. It‘s a great way of driving viewer engagement with the show using digital,” Madhok explained.
It will also launch a ‘Nach Baliye‘ mobile game through which people can chose their favorite jodis and earn 
points basis how the jodis perform on the show. People who accumulate the maximum points through the series will be given prizes. “We also have a really fun facebook app where you can get a friend of yours to dance with a Baliye of choice,” Madhok said.
Meanwhile, all the jodis and judges of Nach Baliye will be present constantly on twitter and Facebook interacting with their fans, besides chatting live frequently.
As a part of below-the-line activities, there will be mini Nach Baliye events on the ground, where people can participate and the channel will shoot their videos and upload them onto its site for a chance to participate on the show. “The idea is to not only engage with the audience but also facilitate their chance to participate on the show. This activity will happen across 10 cities in the country,” Madhok added.
Also Read:
Star Plus readies return of Nach Baliye after 3 years
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.
