MAM
Sky TV, TNS & NDS team up to launch audience measurement service
MUMBAI: Sky Television, New Zealand’s pay television company, in conjunction with TNS, the global market information specialist, and NDS, provider of technology solutions for digital pay TV, have developed and launched an audience measurement research service.
According to an official announcement, this measurement system is based on the establishment of a new viewing panel, recruited and managed by TNS, which will initially comprise 6,500 households equipped with digital satellite television. The digital set-top boxes (STB) in these households have been deployed with the NDS Audience Measurement System (AMS) software to collect and analyse viewing data.
A key element of NDS’ end-to-end digital broadcasting platform on which Sky Television relies to protect and enhance its pay-TV business, the AMS is capable of securely tracking and reporting many types of digital TV viewing activity.
The data collected from the STB are processed and delivered by TNS to provide insights into how subscribers consume digital satellite television. The system will initially focus on providing robust viewing data for all satellite channels. The service will additionally be able to measure and provide an understanding of enhanced television viewing activity such as electronic program guide (EPG) usage and interactive advertising viewership, adds the release.
Sky Television chief executive officer John Fellet said, “Sky Television broadcasts more than 80 channels, and we continually strive to improve the service to our subscribers. By working with NDS and TNS on the Audience Measurement System, we will be able to further understand our subscribers’ viewing habits and therefore provide more of what they want. Furthermore, we will be able to provide our programming partners and advertisers with an understanding of how our subscribers use our service which will aid their strategic planning.”
TNS will be responsible for design, recruitment and maintenance of the viewing panel, and processing of viewing data. Analysis of viewing data will be carried out via a bespoke version of InfoSys, TNS’ television audience analysis system.
TNS director of TV Audience Measurement Tony Taylor said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Sky in this service. It represents a key milestone in our audience measurement strategy which is leading the way in new digital measurement services and our involvement in the region. TNS is confident that the data will offer real value to Sky in understanding digital TV subscribers as well as providing greater insight on both the programming and advertising sales fronts.”
NDS Australia and New Zealand GM Peter Iles said, “NDS Audience Measurement System resides in the subscribers’ set-top boxes and enables Sky Television to directly capture viewing data from domestic set-top boxes, without truck rolls and without the cost of additional hardware in the home. Previously, it was not possible to capture viewing behaviour in such depth, but NDS AMS is a downloadable software extension which enables existing settop boxes to provide detailed tracking in selected households.”
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.
