MAM
MullenLowe Lintas forays into content & entertainment business under Lintas C:EX brand
Mumbai: MullenLowe Lintas Group has unveiled a specialised content business unit under the Lintas C:EX (Lintas Creative Executions) brand. The unit called Lintas C:EX Entertainment will create content & IP that entertains and engages, said the statement.
To lead the entertainment business unit at Lintas C:EX, seasoned media and entertainment (M&E) specialist Yogesh Manwani has been appointed as president. Manwani comes with a rich and diversified experience of over two decades across different facets of the M&E business having worked in organisations such as Star, Zee5, and most recently, Applause Entertainment as head revenue and marketing. He was involved in multiple premium drama series like “Scam 1992,” “Criminal Justice,” “Hostages,” “Undekhi,” “Avrodh,” “Mind The Malhotras,” “Bhaukaal,” “Chakravyuh,” and “Call My Agent” to name a few.
Manwani’s appointment is with immediate effect and will operate from the Mumbai HQ of MullenLowe Lintas Group. In his role as president at Lintas C:EX Entertainment, Manwani will work with Naveen Gaur, who is responsible for the new and specialised lines of business at MullenLowe Lintas Group.
In his previous roles, Manwani has managed responsibilities across various content genres – Hindi News, regional news, regional entertainment, Hindi entertainment and English entertainment – across mediums such as TV and digital. A UCLA Anderson alumnus, he has handled varied challenges like business launches and turnarounds, brand strategy, customer acquisition & retention, market development and affiliate marketing.
Speaking about the formation of the new business building block and the leadership announcement, MullenLowe Lintas Group – group CEO Virat Tandon said, “We are seeing a huge surge of digital content, platforms, creators as well as viewers and this space is only going to grow in the coming years. Lintas is uniquely poised at the intersection of powerful ideas that shape pop culture, master creative storytelling, extraordinary video production ability and ambitious brands and clients. Lintas C:EX Entertainment is the logical next step for us to unlock the huge potential that lies ahead of us.”
“In the past, we have had a few tactical brushes with this space. The memorable ones were when Alyque was involved with producing the pilot for “Karamchand” and then later when we conceptualised the show ‘Smart Shrimati’ for brand Wheel. This time, Lintas C:EX Entertainment is a deliberate and a strategic foray into original and branded content space. There couldn’t be a better person than Yogesh Manwani to lead this venture. He comes with a deep experience in the original content business. He is a big believer in our vision for Lintas C:EX Entertainment and I am sure he will make it a success,” he added.
The Lintas C:EX Entertainment unit has ambitions to develop, create, produce and distribute distinct forms of curated and original content cutting across genres, languages and formats, said the agency in a statement.
Not only will the unit create original content for various streaming platforms, it will also work with brand partners to create and distribute ‘content for & by brands.’ The unit will also help brands identify and participate in relevant content led marketing opportunities, it added.
“We are breaking the shackles of the ad agency descriptor that we had imposed on ourselves,” stated MullenLowe Lintas Group – group CCO and chairman Amer Jaleel. “There has been such an abundance of talent that has sprung from Lintas and gone on into the world of entertainment, I have no clue why we did not give it the shot it deserved up until now! With Yogesh at the helm of this completely separate and independent initiative, we are opportunising the era of original content and content for brands, that’s landed smack in our lives! Yogesh will spearhead, shape and structure Lintas C:EX Entertainment into possibly an equal or bigger rival to our brand and marcomm business.
“He has both the relationships and the experience in building channels, platforms, intellectual properties which will now propel the Lintas group into a full-blown media and entertainment powerhouse,” Jaleel added.
Reacting to his appointment, Yogesh Manwani said, “Backed by strong, fearless and visionary leadership, the group is on a critical self-transformational journey. Entering the Content business is an integral and important part of this journey and with the acceleration of the creator economy it could not have been better timed. The long term vision that Group’s leadership has for this independent and specialised business under the Lintas C:EX brand is what excites me to lead this mandate. I look forward to bringing my experience and learnings to the table that could help in building this content company as the magic glue that binds content creators with brand owners & platform partners.”
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.
