Mumbai: The Venice TV & Branded Content Festival 2026 has announced that entries are open until June 30, 2026, inviting participation from media and content companies across television, OTT, branded content, advertising, and digital entertainment.
Held annually following the Venice Film Festival, the event has established itself as a global platform recognising excellence across television programming, branded storytelling, and content innovation.
The festival is calling on media companies, TV channels, OTT platforms, web series creators, ad film producers, programme production houses, content studios, and digital and branded content companies to submit entries across its wide-ranging categories.
Indian companies have maintained a notable presence at the festival in recent years. Viacom has secured Gold awards over the last four years for Nickelodeon and Bigg Boss, while Zee, Sony, and Fremantle have also received recognition at previous editions.
This year’s festival features 19 award categories, including Branded Content, Craft in Film Production, Film Craft in Cinematography, Animation, Direction, and New Talent.
Across TV and OTT segments, the awards span categories including Documentary, News, Reality TV, Comedy, Sport, Light Entertainment, Programme Promotion, Performing Arts, Children and Youth, Technical Excellence, Soap and TV Novella, Animation, Cinematography, Direction, and Cross-Platform Programming.
The festival’s jury continues to bring together senior leaders from global media organisations. The 2026 jury includes Alan Holland, Head of Documentary, BBC Studios; Sergio Nakasone, Warner Bros. Discovery; Nina Aning, CTV News Canada; Cristina Freiherr, Sky Germany; Arild Erikstad, President IMZ; Michal Pacina, Prima TV; Tomoko Morita, Japan Broadcasting; Barbara Aparo, Fashion TV; Karim Bartoletti, EPA; Hila Pachter, Ananey / Paramount; and Pedro Lopes, SP Portugal.
The festival is supported by EGTA (Brussels), ACT, and the City of Venice, reinforcing its position as a global showcase for excellence across television and branded entertainment.
The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2026. Additional details and submission guidelines are available on the festival website.
