03 November 2026

JioStar Presents The Collective Episode 5: D2C Brands’ Next Growth Lever

~Watch the episode here ~

Mumbai, November 3, 2026: Performance media has a hard preference ceiling: it captures demand that already exists. D2C in India has scaled distribution, but has it scaled desire? On Episode 5 of JioStar Presents The Collective, founders and marketers from successful D2C brands discussed whether brand building is the next growth lever, and what it takes to move from capturing demand to generating it.

The episode featured Akash Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO, Farmley; Saloni Anand, Co-Founder, Traya; Swagat Sarangi, Co-Founder, Smytten; Pradeep Krishnakumar, Co-Founder, Zouk; Konark Gaur, Chief Marketing Officer, Pilgrim; and Arun Iyer, Founder, Spring Marketing Capital, moderated by journalist – Delshad sIrani.

Leaders weighed on where D2C growth goes next, as performance marketing starts to hit its limits. The discussion explored how brands can move from being found to being preferred, and what role the large screen can play in that shift. With its lean-back, story-friendly setting, it came up as a powerful space to build the kind of preference that performance channels can’t deliver on their own.

The episode also looked at whether brand preference is built where attention runs deepest. Leaders examined how high-attention, co-viewed environments may be compressing the funnel, taking consumers from discovery to purchase in far less time than multiple channels and months once required, and what the family viewing experience adds to that.

The Collective is JioStar’s flagship thought leadership platform, bringing together some of the industry’s most influential voices across marketing, media, advertising, and entertainment. Through insight-led conversations, it aims to shape industry perspectives, challenge conventional thinking, and explore the evolving role of premium entertainment and large-screen environments in driving meaningful, long-term business impact. The Collective is also available on JioHotstar.

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About JioStar

Perched firmly at the nucleus of spellbinding content and innovative technology, JioStar is a leading global media & entertainment company that is reimagining the way audiences consume entertainment and sports. Its television network and streaming service together reach more than 800 million viewers every week, igniting the dreams and aspirations of hundreds of millions of people across geographies.