MAM
India gets pride of place at 43rd IAA World Congress
MUMBAI: The IAA Chapter Excellence Award is awarded to the IAA chapter judged to have made the best overall contribution to achieving the aims and objectives of the IAA over the previous two years. This year, four chapters competed – India, Austria, Lebanon and Serbia.
According to Heather Leembruggen, Chairman of IAA Awards 2014 Committee, “IAA India Chapter had stiff competition from three other countries, but the variety of events across India and the quality of each event, put IAA India Chapter on top to win this coveted recognition.”
The presentation of the 2014 IAA Chapter Excellence Award was made during the well attended 43rd IAA World Congress in Beijing on 10th May 2014.
On behalf of IAA, Mr Faris Abouhamad, Chairman & Worldwide President expressed his happiness and extended congratulations to the India Chapter and invited the Chapter President, Mr Srinivasan Swamy, to receive the award. Mr Abouhamad praised the work the India Chapter had done in the past two years and said he was indeed pleased with the Chapter for making an outstanding contribution to the core values and mission of IAA – in particular, the providing of a forum for international industry debate, advocacy and professional development opportunities and an exceptionally healthy growth in memberships. “The inventiveness shown by the India Chapter is commendable and will, I am sure, resonate to all other chapters so that we can hear about similar initiatives by IAA chapters in other countries” he said.
While accepting the award, amidst a thunderous applause, Mr Swamy said that it was the cumulative result of the good work by all the Managing Committee members at IAA India. He also thanked the IAA members in India for their continuous support and involvement in IAA initiatives.
Some background to IAA Chapter Excellence Award
The Chapter Excellence Award (formerly called the Golden Tulip Award) is presented to the IAA Chapter judged to have made the best overall contribution to achieving the aims and objectives of the IAA over the previous two years. The award was established in 1957 by the IAA Holland Chapter. It was originally presented to the European company recognized for the best international advertising campaign. Then, at an IAA Pan-European meeting in Amsterdam on 22 February 1973, it was decided it would in future be for IAA Chapters in the European Area. From 1980 it was extended to embrace all Chapters worldwide.
Former Recipients of IAA Chapter Excellence Award are :
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IAA India Chapter is also proud that Pardeep Guha its Past President and Area Director, IAA Asia Pacific was honored at the World Congress. He was the recipient of the Samir Faris Award this year, making him the 12 beneficiary since its inception in 1990. IAA established the “Samir Fares Award” in recognition of IAA President Elect Samir Fares who had an untimely demise. It is awarded to professionals in recognition of their outstanding service in furthering the objectives of IAA.
The past Samir Fares Award Winners are:
1990 Claude Chauvet 2002 Peter Combaz
1992 Archie E. Pitcher 2004 David Hanger
1994 Heather Leembruggen 2006 Michael Lee
1996 Gohei Kogure 2008 Jean Claude Boulos
1998 Loula Zaklama 2010 Hervé de Clerc
2000 Senyon Kim
Commenting on the Award, Pradeep Guha said “I never expected this and I am humbled. I am thankful to the IAA Executive Committee and the Global Board for this honor. I do hope I can contribute more to further the cause of this respected body”.
Another important recognition went India’s way when Faris Abouhamad announced that Pheroza Bilimoria be given the Honorary Life Membership of IAA for all her contribution to the global body. Pheroza was till recently the Honorary Secretary of IAA Global and has been actively involved in IAA India Chapter since its inception. Ms Billimoria could not attend the Congress in Beijing. She was therefore given the certificate of IAA Honorary Life Membership at the IAA Young Turks Forum event in Mumbai on 13th May by IAA India President Srinivasan Swamy. Said Ms Bilimoria “I am so deeply touched, honored and, most of all, humbled, by this gracious recognition. I used to often sit in the audience at IAA World Congresses to admire and applaud those of my seniors who were the deserving recipients of this honour; so it came to me as such an amazing delight to find that I have now joined their ranks!”
It was an Indian Summer at the 43rd IAA World Congress. In addition to the top three awards mentioned, the India born Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Worldwide was the recipient of the most prestigious IAA Award for her contribution to global marketing and advertising.
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.
