MAM
Max’s message for the cricket lover ahead of the World Cup: Come, Play
MUMBAI: With less than a month to go for the biggest sporting event of the year the Cricket World Cup to start in the West Indies Max is putting the final touches to its marketing campaign.
Over the past few weeks it has been airing a series of countdown spots. Now its main spot breaks on 25 February 2007. Max VP marketing T. Gangadhar says that in total around 3000 spots will air not just on Sony’s channels but on other players as well.
“The theme of the campaign is Come, Play. Play is about the game and also about the fun, carnival atmosphere that one associates with the West Indies. The people in the ad will be wearing the jerseys of different countries. The aim is to celebrate the sport which for the West Indies is bigger than an individual player or a country. The West Indian ethos is that the game is supreme. We have captured that spirit.”
He adds that the campaign was conceived keeping in mind the fact that the West Indians enjoy the sport in a laidback manner. The scene of course is different in India where people have a more serious demeanour. Gangadhar adds that the West Indians will also be supporting other teams besides the home team which is why jerseys of different countries are shown.
Max is also doing a signature campaign. The channel is travelling to 130 towns and cities asking fans to send messages of support to the team. The best entries will be put together to form a miniature artwork. This will be presented to the Indian team in the West Indies. The ICC partners LG, Pepsi, Hero Honda and Hutch will also have a presence in this campaign. Max will also release a limited edition calendar to celebrate the event.
Max has also kicked off an outdoor campaign. It is using billboards. It is also using the countdown aspect in some places. The print campaign kicks off on the day of the first match 13 March 2007. Gangadhar is also happy about the fact that Super stage now has eight teams instead of just six. This means more matches and also the level of interest among Indians for non India matches should be more as it could have a bearing on whether India makes the semi final stage or not assuming that India is not able to win all the matches.
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.
