MAM
Media Expo in September-end in Delhi; to focus on ad solutions
NEW DELHI: The thirty ninth edition of the Media Expo to be held this year will concentrate on indoor and outdoor advertising and signage solutions. Media Expo will be held in New Delhi with a full range of advertising, signage, printing, and Point of Purchase (PoP) solutions from 29 September to 1 October at Pragati Maidan. The meet is being organized by Messe Frankfurt, one of the world’s leading trade fair organisers, generating around €648 million in sales and employing 2,244 people.
The trade fair for modern marketers, brand managers and business professionals will be an important source and facilitator of traditional and modern marketing strategies.
With confirmations from leading brands like Mimaki India, Apsom Infotex, TCS, Rex Tone, ITMS, Fujifilm India, JN Arora, RD LED, Megastar, Neenjas Technologies, Technova, AXYZ Automation, Navratan Speciality, Kartar Corporation, Konica Minolta, SRF, Admart, Infinity Digital Solution, Plasto India, and Arihant Uniglobe, more than 75 percent of the show space of 12,445 square meters is already booked. Companies from China, Japan, Korea, India, and the UK will be on the show floor presenting the very latest in indoor and outdoor advertising and signage solutions and expertise.
Global media management investment conglomerate GroupM’s latest report says that India is the fastest-growing ad market among all the major markets of the world. The country is on its way to achieving the highest growth rate in ad spends in six years at 15.5 percent in 2016.
According to a press release, the Indian signage industry specifically is going through a transformation phase from traditional signboards to digital and several technological advancements surging at a CAGR of around 10 percent from 2013 to 2016.
The market for digital signage systems is projected to reach $ 524 million (Rs 3,510 crores) by 2019. Growth in online services, new printing technologies and laser engraved sign boards are emerging as the predominant trends in the signage board industry.
Brands like Sign Sutra, Cosign India, Associated Plastic, Neenjas Technologies, Promocare, and Monosign will be showcasing these sector advancements at the fair.
Printing industry continues its healthy growth with industry leaders taking innovative leaps with technology. Some of the biggest brands in printing industry will be displaying their high-end technologies at the show. Among the highlights is the first look and live demo of HP’s two new DesignJet post-script printers at the fair. Besides ease of operation and vivid results, the printers are also said to cut costs with its 6-ink printing system and can be web-operated by just sending an email message to the printer. Visitors can also see printing advancements and variations associated with inks and consumables, print heads, and printing machinery by notable brands like Colorjet, Monotech, Daksh Enterprises, Briotmatics, Negi and Axis Enterprises among others.
Featuring more than 100 brands excelling in indoor and outdoor advertising, signage, printing, point of purchase, in-store branding and marketing solutions, Media Expo will cater to the varied needs of new age media, advertising and marketing professionals ensuring ad spends are inclined towards modern, creative and more targeted solutions.
More information about the fair is available on www.themediaexpo.com
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.
