A year ago, at this stage of Cannes Lions, India had already amassed 76 shortlists. This year, that number stands at just 18. The contrast is hard to ignore.
Several categories that contributed significantly to India's strong 2025 performance have struggled to make an impact in the early rounds of Cannes Lions 2026. Outdoor, which delivered 13 shortlists and six Lions last year, has not registered a single shortlist. PR, which generated seven shortlists and four Lions in 2025, is absent from the tally. Entertainment for Music and Sport, produced three shortlists each last year, have drawn blanks. Media has dropped from nine shortlists to two, while Design and Direct have both recorded fewer appearances than they managed a year ago. Brand Experience & Activation, which had steadily climbed from four shortlists in 2023 to eight in 2025, has also slowed sharply, securing just one shortlist so far this year.
However, not everyone sees the numbers as cause for alarm. "Before we read too much into the shortlist count, it's worth looking at the broader context. Cannes Lions 2025 was followed by intense scrutiny around the authenticity of entries, and this year the festival has introduced far stricter checks and verification processes. Against that backdrop, comparing this year's numbers directly with last year's may not tell the full story," says Abhijat Bharadwaj, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative Isobar.
Bharadwaj points to the fallout from last year's controversies around fabricated case studies, inflated impact claims and AI-generated content. According to him, Cannes has responded by tightening its entry and verification processes, introducing measures such as mandatory AI disclosures, stronger client sign-offs and greater scrutiny of supporting evidence.
As a result, campaigns that might once have relied on a compelling case film and well-packaged presentation are now being subjected to a far more rigorous evaluation process. In his view, the lower shortlist count could be as much a reflection of a narrower path to recognition as it is of the work itself.
But of course, Cannes is far from over. More categories will be announced and final medal tallies often tell a different story from shortlist counts alone. But the early results do indicate that some of the disciplines that powered India's recent Cannes success are finding it harder to break through this year, setting up an interesting test of how the country's creative strengths are evolving.
To understand that in detail, it is worth revisiting the categories that built India's Cannes reputation in the first place.
For much of the last decade, India's reputation at Cannes was never built on dominating the festival across every category. Instead, it was built through periods of excellence in specific disciplines. Certain categories became Indian strongholds. Certain campaigns became milestones.
One such moment arrived in 2015 when Cannes Lions introduced the Glass Lion. It was a brand-new category created to recognise work that challenged gender stereotypes and inequality. In its very first year, India didn't merely win a Lion. BBDO India's Whisper campaign, 'Touch The Pickle', won the inaugural Glass Lion Grand Prix, making India the first country to set the benchmark for the category. The same year, the agency also secured a Glass Lion for Ariel's 'Share The Load', establishing India as a market capable of creating culturally rooted work that resonated globally.
The following years reinforced that momentum.
In 2016, Medulla Communications became the first Indian agency to be named Healthcare Agency of the Year at Cannes after winning seven Lions for campaigns including 'Last Words'. The achievement was historic because it demonstrated that Indian agencies could excel in highly specialised disciplines. The following year, McCann's 'Immunity Charm' added another landmark moment by winning the Grand Prix for Good, further strengthening India's reputation in health-related categories.
Looking back, these victories reveal a pattern. India's Cannes journey has often been shaped by categories it learned to own. Glass became one. Healthcare became another. More recently, Outdoor, Media and PR emerged as the categories carrying India's hopes.
The data from the past three years reflects that evolution clearly. India secured 77 shortlists and 25 Lions in 2023. The tally stood at 59 shortlists and 18 Lions in 2024 before surging to 85 shortlists and 32 Lions in 2025, one of the country's strongest recent performances at Cannes. Beneath those headline figures were categories that had become increasingly reliable contributors. Outdoor's rise from a single shortlist in 2023 to 13 in 2025 was particularly remarkable. Brand Experience & Activation also showed steady growth, climbing from four shortlists in 2023 to eight in 2025. Media and PR evolved into consistent sources of recognition, while Entertainment, Design and Direct strengthened India's presence across newer creative disciplines.
Which is precisely why their relative absence in 2026 stands out.
Rakesh Hinduja, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Wondrlab Network, believes the shortlist tally also needs to be viewed in the context of overall Cannes entries being down by nearly 25% this year. He points out that categories such as Media are increasingly rewarding work that seamlessly combines creativity, technology and data to deliver measurable business and societal outcomes. The current moment, he says, is less a setback than an opportunity for the industry to evolve and adapt to changing global benchmarks.
But, if one category encapsulates India's Cannes slowdown largely this year, it is Outdoor. Last year, the category delivered 13 shortlists and six Lions. This year, it has secured no shortlists. "The drop from 13 Outdoor shortlists last year to zero this year is a serious wake-up call for Indian advertising," says Satyabrata Das, Media Evangelist and Chief Agency Officer, Laqshya Media Group.
Das believes the category is undergoing a significant transformation globally. AI-led creativity, technology-enabled storytelling and culturally intelligent ideas are redefining what breakthrough Outdoor work looks like. According to him, India may have lost ground because the same level of creative focus and obsession has not been directed towards Outdoor in recent years.
For Das, the issue is not a lack of opportunity. Outdoor remains one of the few mediums that sits at the intersection of scale, public experience, technology and culture. India still has the brands, the audiences and the storytelling instincts required to compete globally. "India has not lost the medium; it has temporarily lost the creative obsession required to win it globally," he says.
The slowdown is not confined to Outdoor. Brand Experience & Activation, a category that had steadily gained momentum for India over the past three years, has also seen a sharp decline. After climbing from four shortlists in 2023 to six in 2024 and eight in 2025, India has managed just one shortlist in the category this year. Its gradual rise over the past three years suggested India was finding its footing in the discipline, making this year's drop all the more striking. A similar trend is visible in Creative Data, where the tally has fallen from four shortlists in 2025 to one in 2026.
But, PR perhaps best illustrates how dramatically fortunes can change in a single year. Last year, India secured seven PR shortlists and a Grand Prix. This year, the category has drawn a blank.
"Going from a Grand Prix and seven shortlists last year to absolute zero this year is a tough pill to swallow," says Vikram Kharvi, CEO, Bloomingdale PR. Kharvi believes the issue is less about a lack of strong work and more about structural challenges within the industry. According to him, India's PR presence at Cannes remains heavily dependent on large advertising networks, “Standalone Indian PR firms rarely have the financial luxury to experiment with Cannes’ steep entry fees, so we let ad agencies dictate what "PR" looks like on the global stage.” He also points to a packaging problem, arguing that while Indian campaigns are often culturally rich and effective on the ground, they are not always translated into the kind of concise, globally relevant case studies that resonate with international juries.
On the other hand, Maddie Amrutkar, CEO & Founder, Glad U Came, sees the issue differently. "The absence of Indian PR shortlists this year isn’t a reflection of a lack of talent; it’s a signal that we’re still prioritising campaign execution over culturally transformative ideas." He argues that Cannes PR juries increasingly reward work that sits at the intersection of earned media, cultural relevance, social impact and business outcomes. While Indian campaigns continue to generate visibility and strong storytelling, he believes the next leap will come from ideas that create conversations and influence culture rather than simply amplify existing ones.
Whether this is a temporary slowdown, the result of tougher global competition, changing jury preferences, or simply a reflection of the work entered this year remains open to debate. What is clear is that categories which looked like strengths just twelve months ago are no longer delivering the same momentum.
Not every category has followed the same trajectory, however. Interestingly, Healthcare appears to be telling a different story. Nearly a decade after Medulla's historic Healthcare Agency of the Year win, Health & Wellness remains one of India's stronger categories, already surpassing last year's shortlist tally. In a year where several recent strengths have faltered, one of India's oldest Cannes success stories appears to be holding firm.
There is still time for the narrative to change. Cannes Lions 2026 is not over, and several categories that have historically contributed significantly to India's final tally are yet to reveal their shortlists. Between June 23 and June 24, categories such as Creative Business Transformation, Creative Commerce, Luxury, Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy, Sustainable Development Goals and Film will announce their shortlists.
Until then, the current tally offers only a partial picture of a festival that runs from June 16 to June 20 in Cannes, France. What defines the most recent chapter of India's Cannes journey? Perhaps the answer will emerge before the festival concludes. Or perhaps Cannes Lions 2026 will be remembered as the year that revealed the need for India's next creative stronghold.
