MAM
ZenithOptimedia hires Hari Krishnan as MD
MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia Group has roped in Hari Krishnan as ZenithOptimedia India managing director.
Based out of Gurgaon, he will be taking charge of the agency’s pan-India operations. ZenithOptimedia India Group CEO Anupriya Acharya said, “Hari’s appointment is in line with our strategy of seeking diverse talent in order to accelerate our transformation agenda. The market and marketers are fast evolving to keep up with the convergence in the marketplace and the changing, more complex, consumer journeys. We have excellent specialist capabilities across media, research, data and analytics, content, experiential, performance marketing and the like. Hari’s rich experience in brands and integrating different verticals will add immense value to our clients and the Group that comprises ZenithOptimedia, Performics, Resultrix, Newcast and Ninah.”
Krishnan moves in from Cheil Worldwide SW Asia where he was chief operating officer. He has spent over 22 years in advertising agencies including Bates, Ogilvy, Grey and JWT and has worked across product categories on brands such as Samsung, PepsiCo, Vodafone and Nokia. He led WPP’s first co-located, integrated set-up for Ford in India, the Blue Hive by bringing together separate teams from JWT, Mindshare and Wunderman Digital. Subsequently he joined Cheil as COO where he was part of the massive growth and integration journey – from 135 people to 480 strong team; capability expansion from ATL to Digital, Activation, Visual Merchandising and Retail. He also worked closely with Lodestar UM to set up a joint Cheil- Lodestar operation.
Krishnan said, “This is indeed an exciting opportunity. The consumer journey is ever-evolving and brands are being challenged on an hourly basis. ZenithOptimedia believes that these new trends and advances in technology will provide innovative communication opportunities for clients. Not many agencies take bold steps like this and I am glad to work among people who are embracing new thinking, new perspectives and new ideas.”
ZenithOptimedia Group’s client list in India includes Nestle, OLX, Micromax, LVMH Group, Honda, Uninor, Jabong, Yatra, Toshiba, Viber and Fabfurnish. Performics and Resultrix also deliver digital strategies for MaxBupa, ICICI Bank, Airtel, Standard Chartered Bank, Star India, Birla Sun Life Insurance, Tata AIG Life Insurance, Musafir and Games 24X7.
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.
