MAM
Rohitash Srivastava named Planning Head, Ogilvy North
MUMBAI: Ogilvy Gurugram has appointed Rohitash Srivastava as the head of its planning unit. Rohitash was previously the National head of Planning at Orchard Advertising, based in Bangalore.
An alumnus of SRCC and MICA, Rohitash has explored the domain of strategy from various perspectives. As a communication planner in agencies like DDB, McCann and Leo Burnett; as a strategy consultant when he co-founded Water Consulting (now Interbrand India); and as an experience strategist when he led the function for SapientNitro in India.
Rohitash believes in solutions that are powered by creativity and his portfolio also reflects this belief and diversity of experience – with work for brands like Amazon, Saffola, Thums Up, Limca; digital acts for British Airways, Nestle, Grants Whisky or even digital transformation programs for clients like the Taj Group of Hotels. His work has been awarded multiple times at the Effies (including the Grand Effie), APAC Effies, WARC and features in the Facebook India case study playbook.
Kapil Arora, President, Ogilvy North: Getting a multi-faceted planning lead like Rohitash on board, is in line with the One-Ogilvy approach to building brands, with strategic planning stringing together our channel-agnostic thinking and solutions. I’m looking forward to working with Rohitash in our Gurugram office, as he brings in an infectious energy, an envious track record and our shared passion for the creative product, as a means to deliver on client business objectives.
Prem Narayan, Ogilvy India Planning lead: Clients today are looking for seamless end to end marketing solutions. An ideal strategic planner needs to have core brand building skills to craft big culture shaping brand ideas and have a sharp understanding of new media, data and technology to create great brand experiences. In Rohitash, we have some one who straddles both brilliantly. What I found refreshing in him is his ability to 'simplify', in a marketing world that is getting rather complicated. Above all, he is a happy person who we feel will build a happy culture. That is very important for us at Ogilvy.
On his part, Rohitash sees his move to Ogilvy as an opportunity to further unleash the potential of its impressive portfolio of clients. He says, Even before I started a conversation with Ogilvy, I was aware that they have a huge leverage with clients, a great culture and and some of the best talent in the country. What I wasn't prepared for, was to meet a bunch of people who were unanimously obsessed about just one thing – their product. I am excited to be part of this team and my ambition for Ogilvy North is to build a cutting edge strategy team that further sharpens the work and leads to client solutions that help build business.
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.
