MAM
EM2: Brand connect and the entertainment business
MUMBAI: The Film and Television Producers Guild of India’s entertainment, media and marketing forum EM2 was held in Mumbai today. The seminar was targeted toward marketers, film and television producers, media and marketing companies.
The inaugural session was presided over by Film and Television Producers Guild of India president Amit Khanna, Film & Television Producers Guild of India vice president Yash Chopra and Film & Television Producers Guild of India vice president and Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India CEO Kunal Dasgupta. The keynote address was given by Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea.
Hungama.com CEO and managing director Neeraj Roy, who also conceptualises EM2 said, “Entertainment marketing will be an integral part of every marketers budget in the coming months and years ahead. India at the cusp of a retail and entertainment revolution with consumerism booming and an association with movies and entertainment will go a long way in breaking the clutter for brands.”
Khanna added, “At a time when the entertainment and media industry in India is catching global attention it is important to create forums like EM2. The Guild which represents the who’s who of the film and TV production, hopes to get a meaningful dialogue going between creators, media, advertisers and other professionals to leverage each others’ strengths leading to a win-win for all.”
The first session of the conference titled Film and Television Programme Marketing was chaired by Walt Disney Company India MD Rajat Jain.
Among the speakers were Star India COO Sameer Nair, who spoke on the marketing of KBC2, which was re-launched on 5 August. Nair traced KBC2’s success story and dwelt on the various factors that contributed in building a show that created the phenomenon of “appointment viewing” on television in India when it was launched in 2000.
Producer of the Aamir Khan starrer Mangal Pandey – The Rising, Bobby Bedi spoke on the amount of pressure on the cast and crew of the film, which was a big film with big expectations.
The second session was titled – Live Events and Promotions – Taking the route of Experiential Marketing. The consumer is no longer in front of the television screens alone. They are in shopping malls, in cinema halls and they want to experience entertainment live. From large format live events to consumer promotions and road shows, entertainment companies have still a long way to go. This session dwelled on the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead as this segment of entertainment evolved.
The speakers were McCann Erickson president Santosh Desai who spoke on the power of experiential marketing. Wizcraft director Sabbas Joseph spoke on the potential for live Indian entertainment globally and threw light on the kind of entertainment that worked internationally.
SET India head marketing Nina Jaipuria, on the other hand, spoke on the marketing of Indian Idol.
Indiantelevision.com founder Anil Wanvari pondered over the question as to whether some television stars attract more euphoria than even Bollywood stars in some markets. He also threw light on the power of television.
The third session was titled Digital and Mobile Entertainment – The New Media has finally arrived. the Digital and Mobile Entertainment – The New Media has finally arrived. India has over 50 million people who are digitally connected. By 2010 this number is expected to grow to 300 million. Mobile Entertainment, broadband and interactive TV are the future of digital entertainment.
The speakers of this session were Reliance Infocomm president – content and applications Mahesh Prasad, Hungama Mobile managing director Neeraj Roy, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd deputy director general marketing Anil Jain and exchange4media.com managing director Anurag Batra.
The fourth session was on – The Big Entertainment Opportunity – Going beyond the obvious and was chaired by Zee Television president Pradeep Guha. The speakers for this session were producer director Mahesh Bhatt, Percept Holdings MD Shailendra Singh, NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak, General Motors India vice president marketing Amit Dutta and Coca-Cola India general manager marketing D Mukherjee.
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.
