MAM
Project Worldwide taps Rasheed Sait and Neha Lobo for top roles
MUMBAI: Project Worldwide is getting serious about India’s marketing boom. In a move designed to fire up its growth engines across South Asia, the company has appointed Rasheed Sait as chief growth officer, India/South Asia, and brought in Neha Lobo as managing director of GPJ India, its flagship experiential agency.
The double announcement signals a renewed focus on scale, strategy and storytelling in one of the world’s most dynamic consumer markets.
A name synonymous with George P. Johnson (GPJ) India, Sait now steps into a broader role across Project Worldwide’s South Asia operations. As chief growth officer, he will oversee new business development, M&A, and the expansion of a Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, while continuing to advise GPJ India and sit on its board.
“Rasheed’s ability to build high performance teams, his entrepreneurial spirit, combined with a unique ability to straddle strategy with creativity, has been instrumental in GPJ India establishing itself as a trusted advisor to a number of our global and local clients. His deep knowledge of the India/South Asia market makes him the ideal candidate to bring our vision to life,” said Project Worldwide CEO Chris Meyer.
Replacing Sait at the helm of GPJ India is seasoned marketing pro Neha Lobo, whose 25-year career spans leadership roles at IBM, including APAC stints in digital marketing and sales development. Known for building high-performing teams and client-centric growth models, Lobo is now tasked with scaling GPJ India’s offering and cementing its spot at the top of the experiential food chain.
“We are thrilled to welcome Neha Lobo to the GPJ India family,” said George P. Johnson CEO Fiona Burder. “Her transformational leadership, deep industry knowledge, and passion for creating engaging experiences make her the ideal person to lead GPJ India into its next phase of growth. We are confident that under her guidance, GPJ India will continue to push the boundaries of experiential marketing and deliver exceptional value to our clients.”
Together, Sait and Lobo form a high-powered duo primed to steer Project Worldwide’s next wave in India. As the market heats up, the agency is betting big on local know-how and global ambition—with zero plans to play it safe.
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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.
