MAM
IDBF 2022: The MarTech stack roadmap for D2C brands
Mumbai: The first panel discussion for the second edition of the Indian Digital Brand Fest 2022, held on 12 October at ITC Maratha in Mumbai, provided an in-depth look at how D2C brands are utilising the MarTech space to attract and retain customers, assisting in not only the sale of brands but also in experience with regard to pre-purchase and post-purchase, and for several other purposes such as warehousing and operations, and even putting out inventory on the website. It also brought out the role of agencies in helping D2C brands achieve all this.
The discussion was on the topic of “The MarTech stack roadmap for D2C brands,” and was chaired by Wavemaker India’s head of audience sciences, Ronak Parikh.
Zouk founder & CEO Disha Singh emphasised that as compared to the earlier days when the brand was dependent heavily on their tier I and metro target audience as they were the only ones who had the opportunity to access the brand online, now the brand also has customers across the tier II and tier III cities who have become comfortable adapting to buying D2C brands online, which has helped scale their business further.
“Most D2C brands were focused on tier I cities because they had more opportunities to shop online. We used to focus more on tier one and metro cities, but thanks to Jio and the internet boom, tier II and tier II cities are also becoming potential markets, and now the split is equal across. This is about consumers’ lifestyle changes; being online and adopting the lifestyle process; and also being ready to experiment with the new brands. This has fueled the D2C base,” she said.
Singh also revealed, “What has worked for us is providing the consumer with the right product with the right experience. The era of only providing a good product has gone. The consumer not only expects a good product from you at the right price point, but also to experience it pre-purchase and post-purchase. So be it a D2C brand or any brand which wants to grow in today’s times in India, it needs to provide an overall experience to the consumer which begins from when the consumer gets to know about your brand to when the consumer has bought from you.”
Talking about the role of various MarTech tools that could be utilised, Havas Media group head of digital services India, Rohan Chincholi, brought out that when it comes to a D2C platform, it’s important to make the navigation and checkout process seamless. Hence, tools definitely play a vital role.
“When you go to a marketplace, you go there for multiple reasons, but when you come to a D2C brand, you are coming with a very clear purpose. It’s not only about sales, it’s also about providing educational or informative content, making navigation and checkout very seamless. It’s very difficult for D2C brands as they do not cater to large audiences or on a large scale, but the money invested is high,” he pointed out.
Essence vice president of media activation India, Rahul Marwaha, mentioned clearly that MarTech helps agencies and D2C brands to relook at an audience in a different way.
Speaking of bringing agencies on board, Candere head of marketing & branding Akshay Matkar said that the agencies are experts on the audience while an in-house team is required as product marketers—both need to work on collaboration as per use cases for optimal results.
“Our category, the jewellery category, was the last adopter of the digital space. During covid, it was not just the consumer behaviour but also the business behaviour of other brands coming online that led us to expand digitally. Tier I and metros were already there; tier II and tier III also started searching and transacting online, and the penetration is still there. Hence, we and our competitors are expanding and focusing more on tier II and tier III cities,” he added.
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.
