The Ankler-MIPCOM CANNES Future of Entertainment Award to Honor Dhar Mann

Et voilà. The entertainment business is being remade in real time — by creators, entrepreneurs and companies that often look a whole lot different from the Hollywood studios and institutions that defined the last century.

That’s the idea behind The Ankler’s new Future of Entertainment initiative, launching this month in partnership with MIPCOM CANNES, the world’s largest and most influential market and gateway to the international media and entertainment content business.

As part of the collab, The Ankler and MIPCOM CANNES will introduce the first-ever Future of Entertainment Award, honoring an individual whose vision, innovation and impact are helping define the next generation of entertainment across storytelling, technology, business and audience. The award will kick off The Ankler’s Future of Entertainment 25 franchise list.

Ankler CEO Janice Min will present the inaugural award on Sunday, Oct. 11 to creator, entrepreneur, filmmaker and Dhar Mann Studios founder Dhar Mann, whose success represents one of the most vivid examples of how the entertainment business is changing. Mann has built a massive studio and global audience largely outside Hollywood’s traditional system, using creator-led storytelling and direct-to-audience digital distribution to reach more than 170 million global followers. His company averages more than 320 million views weekly and produces five half-hour scripted dramas every week, alongside unscripted programming, from a 125,000-square-foot, three-stage studio in Burbank.

The NFL’s Chief Kindness Officer for the 2026 Super Bowl, Mann is also the first-ever chief creator officer of Advertising Week New York this year, leading an initiative aimed at generating $100 million in new creator-brand business. Mann has been ranked the No. 2 creator in the world by Forbes and was named to TIME’s inaugural TIME100 Creators list.

Then, on Oct. 12, The Ankler will publish our inaugural Future of Entertainment 25, an independently selected annual list of the leaders rewriting the rules of the entertainment business across film, television, the creator economy, music, technology and global media.

“The Ankler has always been obsessed with where the business is going next — and the place the industry turns to for insight on those shifts,” says Min. “Our partnership with MIPCOM CANNES lets us take that work a step further. The Future of Entertainment is our way of recognizing the people, starting with Dhar Mann, who are building enormous global entertainment businesses largely outside Hollywood’s traditional system.” 

Adds Lucy Smith, director of MIPCOM CANNES: “At a time of unprecedented transformation across the entertainment landscape, it is more important than ever to recognize the individuals who are driving innovation and creating new pathways for growth. This collaboration with The Ankler reinforces MIPCOM’s commitment to celebrating industry leadership and bringing together the visionaries who will shape the future of entertainment.”