MAM
Rahul Mathew quits McCann
MUMBAI: Rahul Mathew, the executive creative director at McCann Erickson has put in his papers.
Speaking about his association with the company, Mathew says, “McCann is more than just another agency for me. My two stints here account for eight years of my advertising career. It has also helped me shape a lot of my craft. It has not been an easy move to make. It became even more difficult because of the fact that I will also have to leave behind a great art partner in Akshay Kapnadak.”
Mathew has been in the advertising industry for about 15 years. He has been a part of many award winning campaigns that have received acclaim at both domestic and international levels. At McCann, he along with his team has won three Cannes Lions, four One Show pencils, over a dozen Adfest metals and many metals and honours at International award shows.
“But the pride of place on the very crowded mantelpiece belongs to the Grand Prix that the Mumbai office won at the recently concluded Spikes. Even at Goafest 2013, McCann Mumbai was one of the most awarded offices, accounting for a lion’s share of McCann’s metals including a Grand Prix. We also tasted similar success at effectiveness awards, both nationally and internationally,” he says proudly.
Talking about his work at the agency, he adds, “We’ve had great fun creating work on brands like Parachute, ACC, Pears, Western Union and many others. And have managed to fill the creative pool with some rare talent. And thus, there is reassurance that I’m leaving after making a positive impact at the place. And that I leave it in a good place.”
Prior to joining McCann, Mathew was with Rediffusion, Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy (Healthcare), Leo Burnett, JWT, Enterprise Nexus. He has been ranked among the top five creative professionals in India in 2009 by Campaign Brief Asia and was ranked the 8th most awarded copywriter in Asia (as per Haymarket Publications and Campaign Asia) in 2012.
Rahul finds the building and reinventing process a lot more exciting and challenging. And thus, he will look for an opportunity that allows him to do that all over again.
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.
