The broader question for entertainment companies is whether money itself can become the architecture of a reality format, rather than merely a subject being discussed or a prize waiting at the end.
Moneycontrol News
October 04, 2026 / 09:03 IST
Representative image (Canva)
For years, money was something Indians were told to learn about, not necessarily something they would watch for entertainment. That is changing. Startup valuations, stock-market scandals, investing strategies and financial decisions are increasingly finding their way into mainstream entertainment — through reality shows, streaming dramas, creator content and competition formats.
The shift comes as India’s investment universe expands. India had 192.4 million demat accounts in FY25, reflecting the rapid expansion of retail participation in capital markets, according to an NSE-hosted filing.
At the same time, people are increasingly discovering financial products through digital platforms. SEBI’s Investor Survey 2025 found social media accounted for 56% of awareness of securities-market products, compared with 40% for television.
For OTT platforms, that creates a new content opportunity: turning financial subjects into entertainment.
When valuations became entertainment
Shark Tank India is perhaps the clearest example. Entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to investors, but the appeal goes beyond the businesses themselves. Valuations, equity negotiations, disagreements and investment decisions create the drama.
A financial metric becomes a storyline. A funding offer becomes a cliffhanger.
Other formats have approached money differently. Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story turned a financial-market scandal into character-driven streaming drama, while shows such as The Traitors use prize money and financial stakes as part of their reality-TV mechanics.
In these formats, however, money serves a particular purpose — as investment capital, a prize, a financial subject or a narrative device. It is part of the entertainment rather than the core around which the entire format operates.
From money as an element to money as the core
That distinction is the space being explored by India’s Future Investors (IFI), a money-entertainment reality format created by Mahek Tomer.
IFI is built around money, time, risk, pressure and human behaviour. Its premise is that money is not simply a prize, investment or subject within the programme — money is the core of the format itself, with decisions, time, re
“In most entertainment formats, money appears somewhere in the show — as a prize, an investment or part of the story. In India’s Future Investors, money is the core. The competition, the pressure, the decisions and the human behaviour all revolve around it. That is the foundation on which we created the money-entertainment category,” says Mahek Tomer, creator and founder of India’s Future Investors.
At the centre of IFI is another familiar idea: “time is money.” The format attempts to make that principle something contestants experience rather than simply a phrase they hear.
Contestants operate with an IFI Net Worth, while time, reconomic consequences. The detailed calculations and challenge mechanics remain confidential, but the format is designed so that decisions involving money, time, risk, reurney
“We wanted to build a world where the basic realities of money become visible,” Tomer says. “Time has value. Reequence. When your own position is affected, you begin to see discipline, patience, fear, confidence, risk appetite and character differently. IFI is not searching for the best stock picker; it is testing how people make decisions when money and time matter. Money is the game. You are the test.”
The broader question for entertainment companies is whether money itself can become the architecture of a reality format, rather than merely a subject being discussed or a prize waiting at the end.
OTT has the distribution scale to test that proposition.
PwC’s India Entertainment & Media Outlook 2026-2030 projects India’s OTT video market will grow from $2.2 billion in 2025 to $3.6 billion by 2030, a 10.2% CAGR.
The wider media and entertainment industry is also becoming increasingly digital. India’s M&E sector grew 9% to Rs 2.78 trillion in 2025, while digital media crossed Rs 1 trillion in revenue for the first time, according to the FICCI-EY report.
Meanwhile, financial creators have already made money conversations part of everyday digital consumption. That gives entertainment companies an audience familiar with financial language, but also creates a distinction between making finance engaging and turning entertainment into investment advice.
IFI does not involve live or simulated securities trading and is not designed to provide stock recommendations or investment advice. Instead, the format tests financial awareness, judgment, decision-making, time and re
The strongest contestant across the IFI journey — the person who performs across these dimensions under pressure — will ultimately earn the title of India’s Future Investor and become the next Money Rockstar.
India’s Future Investors is supported by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, with JioHotstar as its OTT Streaming Partner.
For platforms and producers, financial entertainment can extend beyond the episode. A successful format can generate short-form clips, podcasts, social content, live experiences, brand partnerships and potentially licensing opportunities.
That matters as digital media becomes a larger part of India’s entertainment economy. FICCI-EY expects India’s M&E sector to reach Rs 3.3 trillion by 2028, with new media projected to account for more than half of industry revenues.
The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to make another business show. It is to take subjects that already command attention — investing, entrepreneurship, risk, wealth and money — and build entertainment around the decisions people make.
Shark Tank India made valuations watchable. Financial dramas made market scandals binge-worthy. Reality formats have used money as a prize or stake. India’s Future Investors is making a different bet: that money itself — its value, scarcity, opportunity cost and the human behaviour it triggers — can become the core architecture of a reality competition.
Its creators call that category “money-entertainment.” The bigger business question is whether IFI can turn that proposition into a new mainstream reality-TV category.
Moneycontrol News
first published: Oct 4, 2026 09:03 am
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