MAM
Milestone Dentsu to handle Numero Uno duties
MUMBAI: Milestone Dentsu, the creative arm of Milestone Brandcom, the OOH agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network, has bagged the creative mandate for the leading fashion brand, Numero Uno. The agency won the account following a multi-agency pitch.
Commenting on the decision Numero Uno Clothing CMD Narinder Singh Dhingra said, “We want the brand to be interesting and relevant with the changing times. The brand must evolve over time and in this quest, we need the right partner who not only understands the consumers but also knows how to disrupt their purchase decision process through path-breaking communication. We have found that partner in Milestone Dentsu. We loved their young energy and enthusiasm to work on the brand. We are quite excited about the brilliant approach and compelling storytelling that they bring on board.”
Numero Uno head of marketing Asha Esther Jaikishan said, “At Numero Uno we have been wanting to strengthen our brand in the category that’s cluttered. Our focus now is to build our brand positioning with interesting story-telling along with creative ideas to entice our TG. Milestone Dentsu came across as an agile agency, unlike the traditional creative agencies that we have met in the past. They are aggressive, young and restless, exactly what we need to take our brand to the next level. Their approach, tonality, and flexibility compliment our TG and hence, we have great confidence in the team. We are really excited to work with them.”
Milestone Dentsu country head Ujjwal Anand added, "From the moment we got the brief to the first kickass idea that we cracked, the team was charged up like never before. The category itself is so interesting and challenging that it gives you countless opportunities to do some real outstanding work. And this excitement reached another level when we met Narinder Singh Dhingra, who is the youngest and most agile client that we have met in recent times, we believe. His energy is simply contagious. Working on Numero Uno is going to be a treat for my creative team.”
Milestone Dentsu national creative director Mayank Khattar said, “This win is very special for us. The energy, the response, the promptness, the on the spot transparent discussion; it’s just been awesome. When you work with brands like Numero Uno who have absolute clarity and transparency along with immense energy, you know you have hit a goldmine and your creative team will have all the freedom to explore unchartered territories and conduct experiments that might redefine the way the category communicates. It’s going to be a great partnership, I reckon.”
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.
