WAVES Bazaar: A Groundbreaking Debut in Global Creative Collaboration
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, May 3, 2025: The inaugural edition of WAVES Bazaar, held from May 1st to 3rd, 2025, in Mumbai, concluded with resounding success, establishing itself as a premier platform for international business collaboration in the creative industries. Organised under the umbrella of the World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES), the marketplace recorded business transactions exceeding ₹800 crore across the Film, Music, Radio, VFX, and Animation sectors. With deal-making still underway, the total valuation is projected to surpass ₹1000 crore in a few days.
Key Highlights
A key highlight of the Bazaar was the Buyer-Seller Market which witnessed over 3,000 B2B meetings, generating revenue upwards of ₹500 crore, with additional deals expected to close in the coming days. Curated screenings of films at the 80-seat venue drew enthusiastic responses and appreciation for the selected films. The Bazaar also helped emerging creators pitch their IPs to a global network of buyers and collaborators, generating significant interest and fostering new partnerships.
In a major achievement in international collaborations between India and New Zealand, Film India Screen Collective and Screen Canterbury NZ, led by Petrina D’Rozario, announced a collaborative proposal, inspired by WAVES, to launch the first-ever Indian Film Festival in New Zealand, aimed at deepening tourism, cultural exchange and co-production ties between the two countries.
Paving the wave for an India-Russia collaboration, Only Much Louder (OML) CEO Tushar Kumar and Gazprom Media CEO Alexander Zharov have begun early talks on a potential Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on cross-cultural festivals and co-produce comedy and music shows in Russia and India.
Major Deal Announcements
The announcement of the Prime Video & CJ ENM Multi-Year Collaboration was a key highlight of the Bazaar as the strategic partnership was unveiled to distribute premium Korean content globally. With its launch expected in June 2025 with Head Over Heels, the deal includes streaming in over 240 countries, featuring 28 subtitle languages and 11 dubbed versions. The initiative highlights Asia’s growing creative presence on global streaming platforms.
