MxMIndia

Category: FICCI FRAMES 2012

  • Broadcast regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has invited comments on proposals to formulate a clear policy for advertisements on pay and Free to Air channels.

    TRAI invites views on ads policy for broadcasters

    By A Correspondent

     

    It was bound to happen, only its timing – soon after the not-very-exciting Budget and the uncertainties thrown up by digitization staring in its face – could’ve been unfriendlier. On Day 3 of FICCI-Frames, Big brother Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper titled “Issues Related to Advertisements in TV Channels”.

     

    First some background, in TRAI’s words: “The advertisement revenue has been a substantial portion of the overall television industry revenues. Perhaps, this has led to the tendency of pushing more and more advertisements in the television programmes in both pay and FTA channels. The increasing duration and distracting formats of advertisements has, however, adversely affected the consumers’ viewing experience. This has been reflected in numerous consumer complaints and opinions being expressed at various fora.”

     

    The TRAI is hence reviewing the existing regulations on duration of ads and how they should be presented given complaints that these are not being followed. Here goes:

     

    1. The limits for the duration of the advertisements shall be regulated on a clock hour basis i.e. the prescribed limits shall be enforced on clock hour basis.

    2. No FTA channel shall carry advertisements exceeding 12 minutes in a clock hour. For pay channels, this limit shall be 6 minutes.

    3. The 12 minutes of advertisements will not be in more than 4 sessions in one hour. In other words, there will be continuous airing of the TV show for at least 12 minutes each. Not more than three advertisement breaks shall be allowed during telecast of a movie with the minimum gap of 30 minutes between consecutive advertisement breaks.

    4. In case of sporting events being telecast live, the advertisements shall only be carried during the interruptions in the sporting action i.e. half time in football or hockey match, lunch/ drinks break in cricket matches, game/set change in case of lawn tennis and so on.

    5. There shall only be full screen advertisements. Part screen advertisements will not be permitted. Drop down advertisements will also not be permitted.

    6. In so far as News and Current Affairs channels are concerned, they are allowed to run not more than two scrolls at the bottom of the screen and occupying not more than 10 per cent of the screen space for carrying non-commercial scrolls, tickers etc.

    7. The audio level of the advertisements shall not be higher than the audio level of the programme.

     

    The text of the Consultation Paper is available on TRAI’s website (http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/trai/upload/ConsultationPapers/289/ cp_aproved_Authority.pdf). Written comments on the issues raised in the Paper are invited from the stakeholders by March 27, 2012, and counter-comments by April 2.

     

  • From 3 to 10 per cent: ad industry is hopeful of making digital an integral medium for ad spends.

    @FF12: Turning 3 into 10, a percentage issue for digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    While much of the adex growth in 2011 came from the obvious sectors of television and print, it was digital that stole the thunder by recording the biggest and fastest growth among all mediums. Little wonder then that the session on “Innovations in the advertising industry in the Digital world” chose to focus on why the much sought after medium was still ignored by advertisers who preferred to seek refuge elsewhere. The panellists comprised Rajan Anandan, VP and MD Google India, Olivier Fleurot, CEO, MSL (Part of Publicis group), Frederic Josue, Executive Director, Havas Media, Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, South Asia, Group M and Kapil Agarwal, Jt MD, UFO Moviez and Varun Gupta, Director, strategy transaction services, KPMG India. The session was moderated by Rajiv Makhni, Managing Editor, Technology, NDTV.

     

    Mr Anandan initiated the discussion, stating that India is still an emerging market where web advertising is concerned and it still constitutes about 3 per cent of the overall advertising spends in India which is estimated to be around Rs 33,000 crore. The biggest driver of growth in advertising on the web would be through the rise in the number of users of smartphones, which is estimated to touch 100 million users in 4-5 years time. Smartphones alone could boost the growth of web advertising to about 8-10 per cent, he said.

     

    Mr Josue of Havas was of the view that it would be content that will drive the growth of the medium in the years to come. Havas has been at the forefront in investing behind content production as that would be the driver of growth for this medium. But the medium will face its share of issues which include multi-tasking across various platforms as an attempt will be have to be made to offer content seamlessly across various mediums. Also, engagement and loyalty would be the other key attributes that would make or break business for users of digital across the world, he said.

     

    Mr Fleurot began by stating how the marketing and communications industry was witnessing a profound disruption due to the invasion of technology and social media. This, he said, has led to an increased level of competition in the marketplace. Signalling the essence that data will bear on the survival of players in the communications space, Mr Fleurot said that big data will be at the core of all marketing initiatives in the future. He highlighted on how the space will see the emergence of many new publishers like Youtube et al that will challenge the livelihood of the existing players in the space. The challenge, he said, was that clients today are not yet organised for the 21st century as they still prefer to work in silos. But in the case of online, the model of working in silos will disappear as all the other mediums work as a single unit on the internet. Going forward, the two key factors that will determine the growth of this medium, he said, include the speed with which marketers communicate with their users through the digital medium and the transparency with which they operate on the medium.

     

    Vikram Sakhuja was at his jingoistic best as he began by questioning what the term innovation in advertising actually stood for. “Innovation is a term that is broader than creativity. It is a new way of doing something better,” he said. He outlined the current scenario by stating that technology today is an overestimated medium in the short term but is underestimated for the long term. The problem according to him is that the medium has been underestimated for a long time now and that it was about time the medium leapfrogged ahead of the others – go from the current 3 to 15 percent in the shortest possible timeframe.

     

    Outlining the four fundamental powers of digital, Mr Sakhuja said that the first and foremost is its ability to move from being something random to attaining a consensus. The second was the power of interactivity which includes communicating in a 2-way mechanism and communicating in a social world; the third was the ability to move seamlessly across devices and lastly, the ability to enhance real-time consumption of content.

     

    The implications that this would have on marketing include facilitating superior targeting, marketing content that would be more UGC-led, more use of apps and videos that will alter the way clients reach out to users – 30 second ads will make way for UGC videos and banner ads; use of word of mouth will see a predominant rise, and new sales and distribution models will evolve in digital that would enable advertisers to reach out to consumers in a more linear fashion.

     

    Mr Gupta of KPMG pointed out though digital was seeing an increasing levels of penetration, there was a disconnect where ad spends on the medium are concerned. Just 3 per cent of monies going to the medium is still unreasonable given the numbers being thrown up by markets in the West and Europe, which exceed 25 per cent and above. A large amount of growth in digital will come through mobile, he said.

     

    Mr Anandan added here that one of the industries that will see a downfall would be print as already there is a lot of transition that is being witnessed in terms of clients moving away from print to digital. Real estate clients and job classifieds are prominent examples where most of the ads are now being run on the digital medium putting the scope of print in a tight spot.

     

  • Getting there is sometimes the hardest part, as women who have achieved success share at FICCI Frames 2012.

    @FF12: No disadvantage of being a woman

    By A Correspondent

     

    The media and entertainment industry which at one point in time was dominated by the men has today more number of women not only working at the lower and mid-level but, have even taken on leadership roles, giving a tough competition to their male counterparts. Whether it is the film and television industry or in the news media, women are not shying away from taking on responsibilities and accomplishing tasks that were once considered to be only a ‘man’s job’. Day three of FICCI Frames 2012 held a session on ‘Women in Media & Entertainment circa 2012: Leading from the front’.

     

    The panel members of this session were Vidya Balan, Actor; Anurradha Prasad, Managing Director, BAG Films; Jenni Tosi, CEO Film Victoria; Ekta Kapoor, Creative Director, Balaji Telefilms; Barkha Dutt, Group Managing Editor, NDTV; and Usha Uthup, Singer. The session was moderated by Rajeev Masand, Entertainment Editor, CNN IBN.

     

    This session discussed the journey of each of the above eminent women personalities and the challenges they faced during their journey. The moderator, Rajeev Masand simply put it this way, “Traditional media for long was dominated by men, but not any longer. It’s become outdated.”

     

    All the eminent women personalities claimed that despite all their challenges they had an incredible journey and the results have been fruitful.

     

    Ms Tosi observed that there would always be obstacles in a woman’s journey but, at the same she also admitted that at times a little bit of luck and timing also plays a part in ones success nevertheless, she must also be hard working and committed to succeed.

     

    According to Ms Dutt, the real heroes are actually the women who came before them i.e. those who made a mark and their presence felt in the male dominated industry. They were the ones that needed to be saluted, she said.

     

    One of the topics discussed at the session was whether ambition for men meant one thing and another for women, and how society reacts to ambitious women. Ms Ekta Kapoor agreed that ambition for men is a virtue, but for women it is seen as something negative. “I never took being a woman as a disadvantage and frankly, I never even thought about it. Today I am successful not in spite of being a woman but, because I am a woman,” she added. Ms Kapoor was also quick to emphasize  that 40 per cent of talent in television today consists of women.

     

    Ms Prasad said, “Today women have become so much mature, and so have their families. Today women have to juggle multiple roles. Had I thought that since I am a woman, and hence I cannot take on a task then I would not have been successful. If you are happy with what you are doing and at peace with yourself you will be successful in life.”

     

    Ms Uthup was of the view that what has really changed is the audience. “The field of Arts has been a level playing field for women. In the field of Arts you really don’t have gender bias. It’s been a fantastic journey for me and I believe if we want change to take place the people need to notice first and they must be awakened. Men and women must work together, but then there are things that women can do and men can’t and there are things men can and women can’t do.”

     

    Ms Balan said, “The Indian actress today has been humanized. No longer is she seen as a hero’s heroine; the actress is getting to play a part in the story. I have never seen my gender as a disadvantage, all I knew was I had to be strong to move ahead in life. There is a wide variety of roles for women today and the fact that there is no model code for women any more is liberating.”

     

    While all these eminent women had plenty of inspiring stories to share, each of them have had to overcome their own tough challenges, change the societal mindset about women being weak and docile, to climb their way to the top.

     

  • FICCI panel on evolution of TV's many personas figures out that the medium’s response to the digital revolution will determine its survival.

    @FF12: Digital will decide the fate of TV

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_uR54g7cbI[/youtube]
    Video By Shruti Pushkarna

    By A Correspondent

     

    When you get a diverse set of panellists together to discuss a medium that’s been changing the way media functions in the country, there is bound to be endless debate on how the medium is preparing itself to face the oncoming challenges and opportunities of the future. And so when the panel discussion on ‘TV’s Many Personas: Evolution of Business Models and Technologies in the Digital Era’ took off, it was interesting to see the panellists move away from the usual banter surrounding the medium to the more serious and in-demand topic demanding attention – impact of digital on the medium of television. The panellists comprised Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast, Punitha Arumugam, Group CEO, Madison, LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM and Vishal Malhotra, Business Head – Digital, ZEEL. The session was moderated by Rajiv Makhni, Managing Editor, Technology, NDTV.

     

    LV Krishnan of TAM began by bringing to the fore his thoughts on audience measurement as he said, “As digitisation happens, it will be much easier to track consumers; this will be more easy to expedite than what analog does right now given the enormous constraints analog is faced with, including infrastructural challenges, pricing issues, reach, etc.” In fact Mr Krishnan provided a more bullish perspective as he said that in the US and UK, Nielsen had already made a significant progress as they already measure online content (videos), on the mobile and such evolved devices. It won’t be long before that becomes a reality in India too. He also went on to cite an example of a client – Unilever in the US, who was being exposed to the culture of GRPs, TRPs, etc – terms that are more endearing to the Indian setting.

     

    Tarun Katial provided a more holistic setting that his network BIG CBs was adapting to given the impending challenges that digital was casting on the broadcast industry. Mr Katial said that his network was focusing on a few key areas, namely, moving away from the traditional norm of selling DVDs in stores to selling them online and renewing focus around how does it revolutionise and monetise the content that it owns. Katial advocated that the way forward would be for broadcasters to analyse how much they are liked and needed by viewers, basis which they will be able to score an edge over peers in the business.

     

    Punitha Arumugam put forth her points as she bought to the fore 4Es that will redefine the way the industry will function in the future. She said that because of digitisation there is bound to be an expansion in ratings as viewership and reach is expected to rise because of digital. She cited the example of rural cities and towns that are seeing an increasing entry of DTH players in recent times. The second E that she put forth was on behalf of the planning industry as she said that agencies and advertisers were looking at engaging better with their consumers and be able to narrowcast. The third E was the need to bring about efficiency and lastly, the need to encompass all digital streams leading to better measurement. Highlighting the core issues of digital being a nascent medium to advertisers she said, “Clients are indeed excited about being on the digital medium but it is just 5 per cent of the total ad spends and therein lies the problem. This is because most clients still do not know how to go about engaging with digital but all this will change and 2012 is expected to show digital as being the third largest contributor of ad spends ranging between 6-7 per cent.”

     

    Vishal Malhotra, Business Head – Digital, ZEEL said that digital was a new avenue for Zee at the moment and that it had a lot of catching up to do with what other players were offering. But it was doing enough on its part to appease audiences watch content of their choice through Ditto TV, their newly launched venture.

     

    Mr Krishnan added further by stating that there were several myths that could be busted with digital. He said that there is a new concept of destination viewing that is evolving which will not necessarily guarantee more reach but it will guarantee enhanced reach. Another myth surrounds the viability to pay for content that is accessed, especially in the rural areas. With rural areas still finding it difficult to accept the high cost of service, the ability for content to go pay will need a revisit in marketing strategies especially in rural areas. And the biggest myth would be around measurement as content would be measured across multiple platforms like TV, iPads, mobile, etc and not through mediums as is being done now. That may bring about a significant shift in the viewing patterns of consumers, he said.

     

  • N Ram and Girish Agarwal discussed newspaper content and the state of the media in India today.

    @FF12: How relevant is newspaper content to the reader?

    By Archita Wagle

     

    N Ram, former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, opened his keynote address by stating that there is ‘anxiety and gloom’ over the fact that journalism is in ‘meltdown’.

     

    Speaking on ‘Building Deeper Reader Engagement- Sustaining Long Term Newspaper Loyalty over Regions’, Mr Ram said that news media is in crisis in the mature markets, due to which there has been a decrease in the circulation and readership of newspapers. But the fact to be noted was that the decline started in mature markets like theUSeven before advent of the Internet. He added that even the broadcast media, ‘the dominant player’, has also seen a sharp decline.

     

    Mr Ram outlined Two Media World Phenomenon next, where the less developed countries are witnessing increase in circulation of newspapers unlike the mature market. He illustrated his point with the example of the regional, especially the Hindi, newspapers which have seen increase in their circulation. But he added a word of caution when he said that TV, even in the developing world is going through a crisis which it has so far covered by showing entertainment as part of news. Inspite of this, Mr Ram was optimistic that the medium term prospects for the media industry are looking good.

     

    The key factor for the decline in the newspaper is the increasing popularity of the digital media. Mr Ram called this the Digital Age Paradox and added that in recent times the newspapers have seen an increase in the readership of their online editions. But he added that the recent paid content model will impact the readership in a big way.

     

    Mr Ram opined that the paid content model will not replace the old revenue model of the newspapers any time soon as a lion’s share of the revenue earned goes to the search engines like Google and content providers like iPad apps.

     

    He added that the paid content model has put a “double squeeze” on the newspapers’ revenue, as they have to subsidise digital journalism, which in turn is cannibalizing their circulation.

     

    Mr Ram was optimistic about Indian newspapers surviving the challenge of the Internet as he believed that India has a “new kind of advantage” due to its fact the media here is still growing at the time when it is faced by the Internet challenge. But he said that the media can’t afford to be complacent about the time before it faces ‘a mature market-like situation’, estimating that the newspapers have around 3-7 years before the negative trends overtake us.

     

    After taking the audience through a detailed study of the challenges being faced by the newspapers, Mr Ram turned his attention towards how the newspapers can engage the readers to sustain their loyalty.

     

    Mr Ram said that readers today have real time access to information and could check out the information that was provided by the newspapers. He was of the opinion that if the newspapers stuck to the basic principles of journalism – context, accuracy, perspective, fact checking and verification – they can build a relationship with the readers, which it can rent out to the advertisers. But he was emphatic that “newspapering” must not be reduced to consumer marketing of news.

     

    He advised the newspapers not to target “attractive demographics” which help in getting revenues, but to provide news for all sections. He said “trust is the key to good journalism”. He asked the newspapers to be clear about their identity, core values and focus on where they want to go and cautioned them against imitating anybody else.

     

    He said that the readers today want shorter articles and more analyses and editorial content and views, especially in the digital viewing context. But he expressly warned against “editorialising in the guise of news”.

     

    He concluded his address by stressing the importance of having an internal mechanism for correction of the mistakes that ran independent of the editorial and the advertisers which will help the newspapers to do the right thing.

     

    Director of the Dainik Bhaskar Group Mr Girish Agarwal took the stage next for a short but relevant address. He started off by stating that he agreed with Mr Ram about maintaining the standards and fundamentals of journalism but begged to differ from him by stating that Indian newspapers are growing in their circulation and readership.

     

    He said that India had a huge advantage in terms of number due to the gap between those who can read and those who actually read a newspaper.He spo

     

    ke about the need to engage the reader by asking “How relevant are we (newspapers) to the reader?” He said the need for an intellectual organisation like newspaper is external understanding and internal adaptation. He opined that a newspaper cannot rest on its past glory but should move ahead by acknowledging and understanding what the consumer wants and giving him what they think he needs.

     

    He also differed from Mr Ram when he empathetically suggested that newspapers need to be simplified and adapt themselves to the readers’ requirements. He ended by saying that newspapers should have global vision and hyper local content.

     

    After the speeches the floor was opened to the audience who questioned Mr Ram and Mr Agarwal about threat perception of the culture of medianet and media houses being bought over by MNCs

     

    Mr Ram denounced paid news as a rogue practice which has been rubbished by the Press Council and Mr Agarwal added that since only one company had this practice it was not fair to generalise about the industry. Mr Agarwal said that ethically media should report anything that may be perceived as defaming by the parent company but the ground reality is not always so rosy.

     

  • The role of the Competition Commission in the industry and the need for this umbrella body.

    @FF12: CCI is an overall market regulator: Ashok Chawla

    By A Correspondent

     

    Keynote speaker Ashok Chawla, Chairman, Competition Commission of India (CCI) opened his address by pointing out that the media and entertainment (M&E) industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in India today, with an expected CAGR of 14-15 percent. He attributed this to increase in disposable incomes and aspirational lifestyles.

     

    He said that with digitisation set to come in by July 1, the M&E industry witnessed consolidation which has ensured synergy for players looking for entry. The state has been acting as facilitator, and by not regulating directly, ensuring a balanced growth.

     

    Outlining this scenario, Mr Chawla proceeded to outline the role CCI performs in the industry. He said that CCI is an overall market regulator whose objective is to ensure that market forces operate with transparency and fair play. It has been put in place to identify the boundaries of behaviour of the industry.

     

    Mr Chawla gave an overview of the Competition Act and how it came into force in 2009, in spite of having been passed in 2002. The philosophy of the Act was that with deregulation, there is a need for a body which can look at behaviour and how businesses are conducted.

     

    Mr Chawla said that the Act has a two-fold agenda. It takes a look at, and if necessary action against, activities which are anti-trust and anti-competition in nature. It also ensures that the economic activity is not restricted and freedom of trade is not affected. The main objective is to ensure that the consumer should benefit by the more efficiency.

     

    He said that they keep an eye on the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in all the sectors. Any M&A which goes above a certain threshold and can have an adverse impact on the market requires the mandatory approval of CCI, he added. The dissenters made to pay monetary penalties.

     

    Mr Chawla also outlined the role that trade associations and bodies should play. He said that rules framed shouldn’t inhibit non-members as it could be anti-competition in nature. The bodies shouldn’t encourage collective boycott of non-member players as it would be construed as engaging in anti-competition practices and abetting collusion among the members and let the consumers choose their preferences.

     

    He said that self-regulation was of prime importance to avoid infringement of law or market practices. He cautioned the players that consumers should be given primary importance and that should be the end goal of the businesses.

     

     

  • The general feedback from delegates was that Frames 2012 had pertinent topics discussed

    @FF12: Day 3: Industry expects thoughts to lead to pertinent actions

    By A Correspondent

     

    The last day of FICCI Frames 2012 was an eventful day — insightful sessions, a lot of networking, sharing of ideas, deals being cracked — and amongst all of this, the highlight was the session on Women in Media and Entertainment.

     

    The day started off with a keynote presentation by Ashok Chawla, Chairman, Competition Commission of India (CCI). He said that the media and entertainment (M&E) industry was one of the fastest growing sectors inIndiawith an expected CAGR of 14-15 per cent. He then proceeded to outline the role of the CCI and its importance: “CCI is an overall market regulator whose objective is to ensure that market forces operate with transparency and fair play. It has been put in place to identify the boundaries of behaviour of the industry.

     

    Mr Chawla opined that self-regulation was of prime importance to avoid infringement of law or market practices and cautioned industry players that consumers should be given primary importance.

     

    Taking on the Digital threat

    The next session was on “Sustaining Long-term Newspaper Loyalty” by two biggies — N Ram, former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu and Girish Agarwal, Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, who shared their views on the future prospects of the newspaper industry.

     

    Mr N Ram started off his speech by stating that there was ‘anxiety and gloom’ over the fact that journalism was seeing a meltdown in the mature markets. He outlined two media world phenomenon next, where the less developed countries are witnessing increase in circulation of newspapers unlike the mature market. But he added a word of caution when he said that TV, even in the developing world, is going through a crisis which it has so far covered by showing entertainment as part of news. Inspite of this, Mr Ram was optimistic that the medium term prospects for the media industry are looking good.

     

    As is been spoken widely about, the key factor for the decline in the newspaper is the increasing popularity of the digital media. Mr Ram called this the Digital Age Paradox and added that in recent times the newspapers have seen an increase in the readership of their online editions but have witnessed a “double squeeze” on their revenue, as they have had to subsidise digital journalism, which in turn is cannibalising their circulation.

     

    On how to sustain loyal readers, he tipped, “Stick to the basic principles of journalism – they can build a relationship with the readers, which it can rent out to the advertisers. And most important – “newspapering” should not be reduced to consumer marketing of news.”

     

    Mr Girish Agarwal took the stage next. Contrary to Mr Ram’s belief, he said that Indian newspapers are growing in their circulation and readership. He spoke about the need to engage the ‘consumer’ by asking “How relevant are we (newspapers) to the reader?”

     

    He opined that a newspaper cannot rest on its past glory but should move ahead by acknowledging and understanding what the consumer wants and giving him what they think he needs. On how to keep pace with changing times, Mr Agarwal said that newspapers should have global vision and hyper local content.

     

    After the speeches the floor was opened to the audience who questioned Mr Ram and Mr Agarwal about threat perception of the culture of medianet and media houses being bought over by MNCs. Mr Ram denounced paid news as a rogue practice which has been rubbished by the Press Council. Mr Agarwal said that ethically media should report anything that may be perceived as defaming by the parent company but the ground reality is not always so rosy.

     

    Women to the fore

    A big highlight of Day 3 was a session titled   ‘Women in Media & Entertainment circa 2012: Leading from the front’.

    The panel members of this session were Vidya Balan, Actor; Anurradha Prasad, Managing Director, BAG Films; Jeni Tosi, CEO, Film Victoria; Ekta Kapoor, Creative Director, Balaji Telefilms; Barkha Dutt, Group Managing Editor, NDTV; and Usha Uthup, Singer. The session was moderated by Rajeev Masand, Entertainment Editor, CNN-IBN.

     

    This session discussed the journey of each of the above eminent women personalities and the challenges they faced during their journey. As the moderator, Rajeev Masand put it: “Traditional media, for long, was dominated by men, but not any longer. It’s become outdated.”

     

    All the eminent women personalities claimed that despite all their challenges they had an incredible journey and the results have been fruitful.  Ms Tosi observed that there would always be obstacles in a woman’s journey but, at the same she also admitted that at times a little bit of luck and timing also plays a part in one’s success nevertheless, she must also be hard working and committed to succeed.

    According to Ms Dutt, the real heroes are the women who came before them i.e. those who made a mark and their presence felt in the male dominated industry.

     

    One of the topics discussed at the session was whether ambition for men meant one thing and another for women, and how society reacts to ambitious women. Ms Ekta Kapoor agreed that ambition for men is a virtue, but for women it is seen as something negative. “I never took being a woman as a disadvantage. Today I am successful not in spite of being a woman but, because I am a woman,” she added.

     

    Ms Prasad said: “Today women have become mature, and so have their families. Women have to juggle multiple roles. Had I thought that since I am a woman, I cannot take on a task, then I would not have been successful. If you are happy with what you are doing, you will be successful in life.”

     

    Ms Uthup was of the view that what has really changed is the audience. “The field of Arts has been a level playing field for women. You really don’t have gender bias. I believe if we want change to take place, the people need to be awakened. Men and women must work together, but then there are things that women can do and men can’t and there are things men can and women can’t do.”

     

    Ms Balan said: “The Indian actress today has been humanized; she is getting to play a part in the story. I have never seen my gender as a disadvantage, all I knew was I had to be strong to move ahead in life. There is a wide variety of roles for women today and the fact that there is no model code for women any more is liberating.”

     

    While all these eminent women had plenty of inspiring stories to share, each of them have had to overcome their own tough challenges, change the societal mindset about women being weak and docile, to climb their way to the top.

     

    The road is set for 2013

     

    In a session which ran parallel to the one on Women in M&E, a panel of regional TV experts got together to discuss growth avenues. Moderated by Nachiket Pantvaidya, Executive Vice-President, Star Pravah and with speakers like K Madhavan, Managing Director, Asianet and Sharada Sunder, EVP – Regional Channels, Zee, the session concluded that “Regional was the new National.” One issue which was discussed in the session was how to attract talent and also how does regional broadcast channels attract youth, the single largest segment inIndia.

     

    A session on GEC regulation discussed dos and don’ts as far as content is concerned, what is permissible and what not. It included Justice AP Shah, Prof Jonathan Askin, Ashok Nambissan of Sony Entertainment Television and Naresh Chahal of IBF.

     

    The general feedback from delegates was that Frames 2012 had pertinent topics discussed. One hopes that industry put the many ideas and resolutions discussed to action.

     

  • On Day 2 of FICCI Frames 2012, delegates felt that innovations need to keep pace with technology changes.

    @FF12: Day 2: Seamless blending with traditional mediums – a big want!

    By A Correspondent

     

    After an invigorating day where suggestions and formulas surrounding digital came flying thick and fast, it was time for the mediums of television, advertising, radio, films etc to do some soul-searching and look for solutions to tackle the imminent challenges that digital is bound to bring. The day began with a keynote address by Hernan Lopez, CEO, Fox International, who began by praising the dominance that India had cast on several countries around the world. But he regretted the fact that despite ideas and innovations gaining prominence, one area that sadly lacked innovative ideas and content was television. According to Mr Lopez, the reason for India’s lack of show was due to the fact that Indian talent “operates under price control which equals creative shackles”.

     

    Mr Lopez continued saying that the Indian television industry is almost totally dependent on advertising revenues – almost $2.6 billion per year – which, coupled with the fact that there is an overabundance of channels and less number of affiliates, meant that broadcasters are in a bind. The way forward according to Mr Lopez was if the price control was done away with. He said that this would make it possible to pay the talent in the industry what it deserves and then it can operate without any constraints to produce the best possible content. Mr Lopez lauded the move to digitisation which would reduce the carriage fees being paid and increase the revenues for the industry.

     

    In a session moderated by Neeraj Roy of Hungama, Sanket Akerkar, MD of Microsoft India talked about “The converged future – Multiple platforms, technologies & transforming applications for media and entertainment”. The theme of his keynote address was significance and emergence of digitisation. Citing the example of ‘Occupy Wall Street’, Mr. Akerkar said that the consumer lifestyles today are controlling the way conversations happen. The industry has to takes its cues from what the consumers want. According to him, even ads will now be consumed as per the consumers’ choice and the advertisers can’t dictate the place and time for the consumption. Now the people are going to become the content creator and content consumer. The main challenge for the industry is now to seamlessly blend and enable technology to become user-friendly, he said.

     

    Mr Roy added by saying that technological progress has enabled applications that recognise the customer preferences, be it the Internet or the phone. All the speakers were in agreement that once the digitisation bill comes into effect, the choice of content available to the user will be limitless. As Mr Akerkar said, “the challenge will be to separate content, be it mainstream or user generated into what is relevant and what is not.”

     

    In another session titled “Innovations in the advertising industry in the digital world”, the panellists focused on why the much sought after medium of digital was rather ignored by advertisers who preferred to seek refuge elsewhere. The panellists comprised Rajan Anandan of Google India, Olivier Fleurot of MSL, Frederic Josue of Havas Media, Vikram Sakhuja of Group M, Kapil Agarwal of UFO Moviez and Varun Gupta of KPMG India. The session was moderated by Rajiv Makhni, Managing Editor, Technology, NDTV.

     

    Mr Anandan began by stating that India is still an emerging market where web advertising is concerned and it still constitutes just 3 per cent of the overall advertising spends in India – estimated to be around Rs 33,000 crore. The biggest driver of growth in advertising on the web would be through the rise in the number of users of smartphones, which is estimated to touch 100 million users in 4-5 years time. Smartphones alone could boost the growth of web advertising to about 8-10 per cent, he said.

     

    Mr Josue of Havas was of the view that it would be content that will drive the growth of the medium in the years to come. But the medium will face its share of issues which include multi-tasking across various platforms as an attempt will be have to be made to offer content seamlessly across various mediums, he said. Mr Fleurot began by stating how the marketing and communications industry was witnessing a profound disruption due to the invasion of technology and social media. This, he said, has led to an increased level of competition in the marketplace. The challenge, according to Mr Fleurot, is that clients today are not yet organised for the 21st century as they still prefer to work in silos. But in the case of online, the model of working in silos will disappear as all the other mediums work as a single unit on the internet. Going forward, the two key factors that will determine the growth of this medium, he said, include the speed with which marketers communicate with their users through the digital medium and the transparency with which they operate on the medium.

     

    Vikram Sakhuja was at his jingoistic best as he began by questioning what the term innovation in advertising actually stood for. “Innovation is a term that is broader than creativity. It is a new way of doing something better,” he said. He outlined the current scenario by stating that technology today is an overestimated medium in the short term but is underestimated for the long term. The problem according to him is that the medium has been underestimated for a long time now and that it was about time the medium leapfrogged ahead of the others – go from the current 3 to 15 percent in the shortest possible timeframe.

     

    In the session titled “Building sustainable models for niche content” honchos from the broadcast industry such as Paritosh Joshi of Star CJ (session moderator), Smeeta Chakrabarti of NDTV Lifestyle, Monica Tata of Turner International India, Ajay Chacko of A+E Networks I TV 18 JV, Atul Pande of Zee – Sports and Rasika Tyagi of Star India discussed on revenue models to sustain TV content catering to niche audiences and its long-term sustainability. Atul Pande stressed on the need to charge premium to audiences who really are on the lookout for speciality content. Smeeta Chakrabarti said that as a speciality channel one cannot talk about TRPs, rather it is the brand connect that needs to be spoken about as far as ad sales was concerned. Rasika Tyagi on the other hand remarked that the whole idea of measuring a speciality interest channel should be relooked at. “It’s not about how many people are watching you; it’s more about what kind of people are watching you.” She also said that the audiences of niche channels are of such quality that they do not mind paying, and that broadcast companies should look to tap into that opportunity.

     

    On whether the industry requires a different approach as far as measurement for these channels was concerned, Paritosh Joshi said, “The big challenge with respect to measurement is that we need to find a way to measure both quantity as well as quality. The quality aspect is very critical for a speciality channel.” Monica Tata added, “We need to have a different measurement system to evaluate special interest channels.”

     

    In the post-lunch session titled “Radio: Innovations in content”, industry veterans discussed at length the innovations that radio was witnessing with regards to content and the enormous innovation opportunities that FM Phase III would allow. The session was moderated by Apurva Purohit, CEO of Radio City and the panellists included Rabe Iyer of Big FM, Abhijit Avasthi of O&M, Bhavna Somaaya, Columnist and Writer and Charles Falzon of Ryerson University.

     

    Ms Purohit kick-started the session stating that radio currently is in a schizophrenic stage wherein on one hand the medium is witnessing immense growth, it has a huge reach in the country and the FM listenership has also further increased with higher number of mobile phones, while on the other hand the overall ad pie of the medium is at a dismal 4 per cent. She pointed out that in the next two years the industry anticipates another phase of growth which will bring news, sports commentary, multiple frequencies, besides further expansion into towns and cities.

     

    Speaking about the strengths of radio as a medium to advertise, Mr Avasthi first admitted that out of all the media, it is the toughest to write radio spots. He explained, “The strength of radio I believe is one can conjure up a world in the minds of the listeners. What you hear on radio today is mainly restricted to Bollywood music. There are so many kinds of music still to be explored and so many types of content that can be experimented, and I believe the industry requires some amount of courage to break this format.”

     

    According to Mr Iyer, although 80 per cent of content on radio is music and 20 per cent on the packaging of music, there has been some innovation in the medium and with the launch of phase III it will bring with it immense opportunities especially on the innovation and differentiation front.

     

    Key takeaways:

    – Need for television to do away with price control

    – Niche channels to broaden content choice for consumers

    – Post digitisation, consumers will dictate place and time of content consumption

    – Need for significant hike in digital adspends by clients

    – Phase III to steer growth of radio significantly

     

  • Discussions on digitization (& how it could impact the sector) dominated the three-day FICCI-Frames 2012 last week

    Counting on digital to be M&E’s trailblazer

     

    @FF12: Day 1: Digital attracts ‘desirable’ status
    on Day1
    @FF12: Day 2: Seamless blending with traditional mediums – a big want!
    @FF12: Day 3: Industry expects thoughts to lead to pertinent actions
    @FF12: Takeaways: Digitization rules the roost @FICCI Frames 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    Those familiar with the going-ons at FICCI Frames would testify how an infatuation gets displayed by delegates at the event each year so as to summarise the mood of the convention even before it broadly takes off across the three days that it is entitled to. But probably, the setting was a bit different this time around when the delegates – joined in unison by the media – were running ballroom to ballroom trying to ingest giveaways that were being thrown up abundantly across several sessions. May be, it was a year where each day had something new to offer to the delegates that kept them at tenterhooks throughout the 3-day event. And going by the loud decibels that were being emanated across every nook and corner of the venue, it was evidently clear that there was some motivating factor that was driving the gathering to go on an overdrive spree.

     

    The organisers of FICCI Frames 2012 have every right to take credit for coming up with a theme around a medium that attracted the attention of one and all. Having kept it on the sidelines till last year, digital was finally given its due at the convention as experts, authorities and enthusiastic youngsters came face to face to deliberate and come up with outcomes that would redefine the way the consumers consume the medium. From television to print to films and even radio, digitisation and the benefits and effects it would cast on these sectors were discussed in length at the venue. In fact Star India CEO Uday Shankar in his keynote address didn’t hesitate in thanking the FICCI committee for putting across a theme that would go on to redefine the way the industry functions in the future.

     

    What was apparently clear through the various sessions at the convention is that with the nearing of date for total digitisation across key metros by June 30 2012, and then across the country by 2014, broadcasters had to relook their distribution and content provision models so as to keep the consumer at the heart of every shift that will transpire in the future. Emphasising on the current digitisation scenario in the country, Mr Shankar said, “Most of the discussions that I have participated in are still around whether digitization will happen and if it indeed were to go through, how chaotic it would be. But all these are meaningless discussions triggered by a bunch of retrograde interests who are living in denial.” According to Mr Shankar, digitisation of distribution is a big reality and the 40-45 million homes that have bought DTH boxes at some point or the other are a conclusive evidence of that.

     

    Shooting back at critics who had doubted whether the makeover to digital would ever be a reality, Mr Shankar said, “To the critics and the cynics who are still wondering whether digitization would happen, my answer is: Look around, it is already happening and the rest of it is bound to happen because even in this country it would be difficult to undo such a momentous shift. To those who wonder how chaotic it would be, my response is that there would be some chaos, but chaos is not necessarily bad if the alternative is status quo or regression. When a transition at such a scale is happening that affects the illegitimate but strong vested interest in certain pockets, then there is an incentive to put up with chaos in the interest of the larger social objectives.”

     

    A broader outlook was provided by a few panellists who said that digitization will come in as a relief for broadcasters who will be benefitted from additional subscription revenue, relaxation on paying heavy carriage fees, and of course providing viewers with a superior content experience – MSOs and cable operators have to quickly respond to the digitization mandate by investing in set-top boxes – the cost that is only possible to recover after four years.

     

    Sounding off the challenges that digitisation would present for the broadcast sector, Tarun Katial, CEO of Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd said that, “For television, it will be a combination of content as well as marketing. The old model which was a combination of carriage and product, as it stands today, won’t work. The business plan which currently has a very high rate of carriage will obviously see the content taking precedence.” And as for content, it will be niche content that will call the shots for broadcasters as according to experts at the convention, niche isn’t niche any more as all niche channels put together command a share that is equivalent to the share of Hindi GECs and the mass channels, so to say.

     

    Perhaps the many advantages that digitisation will have on several mediums was rounded off by Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, South Asia, Group M who said, “The inherent power that digital brings along with it is interactivity and its ability to link multiple devices. Also the ability to enhance real-time consumption of content; linked to that is the entire thing about going mobile.” On the roadmap for the industry, Mr Sakhuja said, “I think integrated media is the best way forward. Today when people think of multimedia planning, they do a separate TV plan, print plan, radio plan, internet plan and so on. I believe that if you actually look at media agnostically and at common metrics of each cost per thousand impressions, these are the ways in which you can construct a media agnostic plan. What it does is, it suddenly gets more money into digital, and when more money can come into digital, that’s when focus is going to come in.”

     

    While digitisation was the mainstay of every discussion, the all-important issue of regulation too was taken up by panellists who chose to have the government respond to the many queries surrounding the topic. Uday K Varma, I&B Secretary, said that “if people at large seem to be happy with self regulation, I think the government would have no problem in legitimizing them. But I think the self regulation mechanism which has been set up by both the news broadcasters and the entertainment broadcasters, they’ll have to really prove it, not to the government but to the people at large.” He was joined in his cause by Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister ofMaharashtrawho said that the challenge would be to adopt the regulatory framework to new technology and ensure that over regulation doesn’t kill a good thing. The Chief Minister emphasised on the need for regulation and suggested that instead of the state regulating the media, the medium should look at regulating itself.

     

    The other important announcements that came up at the venue included the soon-to-be-passed Copyright Amendment Bill, the roll-out of the imminent phase 3 radio policy that would steer the growth of the medium and increased government aid for the film & entertainment sector.

     

    New ventures @ FICCI

     

    BARC takes wings

    In between the many promises and hopes that were being doled out at the sessions came the news of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announcing the official formation of a nationwide audience research joint body — Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

    While IBF will have 60 per cent stake in BARC, ISA and AAAI will each hold 20 per cent stake. The Board of the council will have 10 members, six members from the IBF and two members each from the ISA and AAAI.

     

    Discovery Kids to flag off ops in April

    Another important announcement was made by President & CEO of Discovery Networks International, Mark Hollinger who announced the launch of its new network for children inIndia, ‘Discovery Kids’. Mr Hollinger said, “Launching in April, the network will initially be available in three languages – Hindi, English and Tamil. The channel will offer children a fun and entertaining way to satisfy their natural curiosity with stimulating and imaginative programming,” he said. The company plans to roll out the channel inPhilippinesandIndonesialater this year.

     

    Ten Golf tees off

    Taj Television India Pvt Ltd announced the launch of Ten Golf, a dedicated 24-hour golf channel. Ten Golf is the fifth channel from Taj Television India Pvt Ltd and began transmission on March 15, 2012. The dedicated golf channel will showcase a mix of live, non-live and feature programming. The channel will also broadcast live, high quality Golf action from around the world.

    Ten Golf has acquired rights for European Tour and Asian Tour till 2016, and has also entered into partnership with PGTI for three years to telecast the Indian Tour. Further, Ten Golf will be telecasting 400 hrs of golf programming in association with NBC.

     

  • FICCI Frames 2012 took off on an exhilarating note on Day 1, with the burning issue of Digital coming to the fore right away and more or less staying there.

    @FF12: Adapt to the digital tide or be left out

    By A Correspondent

     

    In keeping with the theme, ‘Embracing the Digital World’, FICCI Frames 2012 got off to a wishful start at Hotel Renaissance, Mumbai on March 14 with a welcome address by the Co-Chair of FICCI Entertainment Committee, Karan Johar. After Mr Johar’s welcome address, Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India & Chairman, FICCI Broadcast Forum, proceeded to present his perspective on the Event and the broadcast industry in general. Making a dash for the core topic of digital, Mr Shankar began by stating, “Digitization is a big reality which will revolutionise the way content (creation and distribution) is offered.” Even though he said that digitisation will create a level playing field for the broadcasters and the cable operators, he had a word of caution to add when he said that his biggest concern was “the chaos which will be caused by the broadcast industry’s inaction”.

     

    Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra was next and began by assuring how the current era was an “exciting time to be living in”. He said that the challenge would be to adopt the regulatory framework to new technology and ensure that over regulation doesn’t kill a good thing. He also said that the move towards digitization will create a huge employment opportunity but there is a need to explore how technology can empower the field of education. The Chief Minister also touched upon the need for regulation and suggested that instead of the state regulating the media, the medium should look at regulating itself.

     

    Following the CM’s speech, the event witnessed the release of the FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2012; FICCI-Amarchand Lawbook and ‘Positivity: The impact of television on India’ by The Indian Broadcasting Foundation.

     

    Uday K Varma, Secretary, Ministry of I&B, opened his address next by stating that the concerns that the industry had over digitization and the Phase 3 of FM radio have been addressed by the move to allow 839 new FM stations and 500 community radio stations. He stressed that the government is committed to ensuring time bound digitization and said that come July 1, the four metros will switch over to the digital format and the plan is to ensure that the move to digitization is completed by December 31, 2014. He agreed that the challenge was mammoth – to convert 80 million analog connections to digital format, but added that it will ensure faster and deeper penetration. “This will address a plethora of issues facing the television industry, such as addressability, carriage fees, audience measurement and consumer preferences,” he said.

     

    Punit Goenka, CEO & MD, ZEEL too spoke about the pros and cons of digitization, how the ratings are inadequate and how self regulation was the need of the hour for the broadcast industry. Carolyn Everson, VP, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook elaborated on how Facebook can benefit the media and entertainment industry and cited examples from music, gaming and films to drive home her point.

     

    Session highlights:

    Post the promises and pleasantries doled out by committee members and authorities, it was time for some serious discussion which began with a panel debate on ‘Addressable Digitization – The way forward’. Sanjay Gupta, COO – Star India, Sunil Lulla, CEO and MD Times Global Broadcasting, Sameer Manchanda, Founder – DEN Networks and Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, ZEEL comprised the panellists. The panellists agreed that digitization is the way forward and will soon be a reality. Uday K Varma, Secretary – I&B, put the ball in the industry’s court as he said that there were no political opposition to digitization and the parliament too passed the law in December 2011, therefore it is now incumbent upon the industry to make digitization a reality. Sunil Lulla pointed out that the there is greater good in digitization, but the industry has to do a lot of work over the next few years. Sameer Manchanda was of the view that digitization is a reality and that it will bring more number of channels. The session also discussed opportunities and challenges that digitization has to offer and how the industry was gearing for digitization – whether they are ready or not?

     

    A session on ‘Maximising the power of digital distribution’ saw industry leaders speak about the challenges that come along as the country is experiencing the much talked about shift – from analog to digital cable – the investments that goes into and many such challenges. Industry honchos such as K Jayraman of Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, SN Sharma of DEN, Anshuman Misra of Turner, Asia Pacific, Vikram Chandra of NDTV, Jagi Mangat Panda of Ortel, Prof Jonathan Askin, and Anita Wallgren, Government Attorney, US Department of Commerce made up for the panel.

     

    The panel agreed that while digitization comes in as a relief for broadcasters who will be benefitted from additional subscription revenue the relaxation on paying heavy carriage fees, and of course providing viewers with a superior content experience – MSOs and cable operators have to quickly respond to the digitization mandate by investing in set-top boxes – the cost that is only possible to recover after four years.

     

    Vikram Chandra talked about the difference digitization makes to the news industry. “Digitisation is important for news players. It is leading players in the news industry into areas they don’t want to be in. In the race of chasing TRPs, people are forgetting that digital has great potential that has to be tapped, a business model which needs to be looked at.” Mr Chandra also mentioned the role of tablets and high-end devices as new distribution platforms.

     

    Next was a session titled “Financing the Media and Entertainment Business” where the panellists comprised eminent personalities such as Prashant Jain of HDFC Mutual Fund, Mathew Cyriac of Blackstone, Soumo Ganguly of Moxie Entertainment Pvt Ltd and Daniel Dubiecki, Founder and Partner, The Allegiance Theatre, Hollywood.

     

    Mathew Cyriac started off the session by pointing out that majority of the investments within the media and entertainment industry were made in television and print as they represent a fairly large share  in terms of sheer numbers as against Internet and Radio. The Hindi GECs in TV is typically where a lot of money goes to, followed by regional GECs and sports channel. For print media, it was the regional publications that command a lot of attention as regional advertising is very robust and extracts a lot of profit.

     

    Prashant Jain pointed out that a lot of companies in India have managed to get good funding and that it is not reflective of the supposedly very, very sorry picture that was being talked about. “It’s not that all of India in the media entertainment space are not attracting funds. Companies like UTV and a few others have attracted investors.”

     

    In the session on ‘Protecting Copyrights, Infringements & New Trends i.e. Remake’, the panellists chose to rummage over the impediments surrounding copyright issues in the film and music industry in India. The panellists included Sai Krishna from Sai Krishna Associates, Deborah Benattar from the French Embassy, Jagdish Rajpurohit from RCL Motion Pictures, Bertrand Mouiller, former DG IFFPA and Amar Butala from UTV Motion Pictures.

     

    Sai Krishna provided a hopeful insight as he said, “The industry should take heart in knowing that the Copyright Amendment Bill is currently being debated in the parliament and is expected to be passed after the current Budget Session. There are provisions that can alter the way the entertainment industry functions in India.” But he cautioned that the Bill has its setbacks too, as there are no clear guidelines when it comes to copyright issues between the writer, music composer and the producer of a film.

     

    Mr Butala added, “We have made huge leaps in terms of legal paperwork with actors and performers where copyright issues are concerned. But it is just the start and the challenge will be to sort out legal issues and take the offenders to Court with the hope of finding a favourable outcome from the judiciary.” The panel proceeded to discuss the trend of moviemakers bagging rights for remaking movies and that there was a need for a law that would streamline procedures for the industry at large.

     

    Key takeaways:

    – Complete digitization makeover scheduled for December 31, 2014

    – Copyright Amendment Bill to be passed in Parliament soon

    – Digitization will encourage niche and differentiated content

    – Need for media to self-regulate self then wait for a nodal authority to do it

    – Digitization to create more employment opportunities

     

  • Having played a tepid role thus far, digitization is poised to take a big leap as it sets out to revolutionize the fortunes of the M&E sector.

    @FF12: Counting on digital to be M&E’s opportune trailblazer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Those familiar with the going-ons at FICCI Frames would testify how an infatuation gets displayed by delegates at the event each year so as to summarise the mood of the convention even before it broadly takes off across the three days that it is entitled to. But probably, the setting was a bit different this time around when the delegates – joined in unison by the media – were running ballroom to ballroom trying to ingest giveaways that were being thrown up abundantly across several sessions. May be, it was a year where each day had something new to offer to the delegates that kept them at tenterhooks throughout the 3-day event. And going by the loud decibels that were being emanated across every nook and corner of the venue, it was evidently clear that there was some motivating factor that was driving the gathering to go on an overdrive spree.

     

    The organisers of FICCI Frames 2012 have every right to take credit for coming up with a theme around a medium that attracted the attention of one and all. Having kept it on the sidelines till last year, digital was finally given its due at the convention as experts, authorities and enthusiastic youngsters came face to face to deliberate and come up with outcomes that would redefine the way the consumers consume the medium. From television to print to films and even radio, digitisation and the benefits and effects it would cast on these sectors were discussed in length at the venue. In fact Star India CEO Uday Shankar in his keynote address didn’t hesitate in thanking the FICCI committee for putting across a theme that would go on to redefine the way the industry functions in the future.

     

    What was apparently clear through the various sessions at the convention is that with the nearing of date for total digitisation across key metros by June 30 2012, and then across the country by 2014, broadcasters had to relook their distribution and content provision models so as to keep the consumer at the heart of every shift that will transpire in the future. Emphasising on the current digitisation scenario in the country, Mr Shankar said, “Most of the discussions that I have participated in are still around whether digitization will happen and if it indeed were to go through, how chaotic it would be. But all these are meaningless discussions triggered by a bunch of retrograde interests who are living in denial.” According to Mr Shankar, digitization of distribution is a big reality and the 40-45 million homes that have bought DTH boxes at some point or the other are a conclusive evidence of that.

     

    Shooting back at critics who had doubted whether the makeover to digital would ever be a reality, Mr Shankar said, “To the critics and the cynics who are still wondering whether digitization would happen, my answer is: Look around, it is already happening and the rest of it is bound to happen because even in this country it would be difficult to undo such a momentous shift. To those who wonder how chaotic it would be, my response is that there would be some chaos, but chaos is not necessarily bad if the alternative is status quo or regression. When a transition at such a scale is happening that affects the illegitimate but strong vested interest in certain pockets, then there is an incentive to put up with chaos in the interest of the larger social objectives.”

     

    A broader outlook was provided by a few panellists who said that digitization will come in as a relief for broadcasters who will be benefitted from additional subscription revenue, relaxation on paying heavy carriage fees, and of course providing viewers with a superior content experience – MSOs and cable operators have to quickly respond to the digitization mandate by investing in set-top boxes – the cost that is only possible to recover after four years.

     

    Sounding off the challenges that digitisation would present for the broadcast sector, Tarun Katial, CEO of Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd said that, “For television, it will be a combination of content as well as marketing. The old model which was a combination of carriage and product, as it stands today, won’t work. The business plan which currently has a very high rate of carriage will obviously see the content taking precedence.” And as for content, it will be niche content that will call the shots for broadcasters as according to experts at the convention, niche isn’t niche any more as all niche channels put together command a share that is equivalent to the share of Hindi GECs and the mass channels, so to say.

     

    Perhaps the many advantages that digitisation will have on several mediums was rounded off by Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, South Asia, Group M who said, “The inherent power that digital brings along with it is interactivity and its ability to link multiple devices. Also the ability to enhance real-time consumption of content; linked to that is the entire thing about going mobile.” On the roadmap for the industry, Sakhuja said, “I think integrated media is the best way forward. Today when people think of multimedia planning, they do a separate TV plan, print plan, radio plan, internet plan and so on. I believe that if you actually look at media agnostically and at common metrics of each cost per thousand impressions, these are the ways in which you can construct a media agnostic plan. What it does is, it suddenly gets more money into digital, and when more money can come into digital, that’s when focus is going to come in.”

     

    While digitisation was the mainstay of every discussion, the all-important issue of regulation too was taken up by panellists who chose to have the government respond to the many queries surrounding the topic. Uday K Varma, I&B Secretary, said that “if people at large seem to be happy with self regulation, I think the government would have no problem in legitimizing them. But I think the self regulation mechanism which has been set up by both the news broadcasters and the entertainment broadcasters, they’ll have to really prove it, not to the government but to the people at large.” He was joined in his cause by Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra who said that the challenge would be to adopt the regulatory framework to new technology and ensure that over regulation doesn’t kill a good thing. The Chief Minister emphasised on the need for regulation and suggested that instead of the state regulating the media, the medium should look at regulating itself.

     

    The other important announcements that came up at the venue included the soon-to-be-passed Copyright Amendment Bill, the roll-out of the imminent phase 3 radio policy that would steer the growth of the medium and increased government aid for the film & entertainment sector.

     

    Session Byte

    “I think we have created some kind of history by encouraging self-regulation for the news and entertainment channels. We are keeping a close watch on the efficacy of this novel mechanism. A lot would depend on how effectively these self regulations become functional. If people at large seem to be happy with self-regulation, I think government would have no problem in legitimizing them, but I think the self-regulation mechanism which has been set up by both the news broadcasters and the entertainment broadcasters, they’ll have to really prove it, not to the government but to the people at large.”

     

    — Uday K Varma, I&B Secretary

     

    New ventures @ FICCI

    BARC takes wings

    In between the many promises and hopes that were being doled out at the sessions came the news of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announcing the official formation of a nationwide audience research joint body — Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

     

    While IBF will have 60 per cent stake in BARC, ISA and AAAI will each hold 20 per cent stake. The Board of the council will have 10 members, six members from the IBF and two members each from the ISA and AAAI.

     

    Discovery Kids to flag off ops in April

    Another important announcement was made by President & CEO of Discovery Networks International, Mark Hollinger who announced the launch of its new network for children in India, ‘Discovery Kids’. Mr Hollinger said, “Launching in April, the network will initially be available in three languages – Hindi, English and Tamil. The channel will offer children a fun and entertaining way to satisfy their natural curiosity with stimulating and imaginative programming,” he said. The company plans to roll out the channel in Philippines and Indonesia later this year.

     

    Ten Golf tees off

    Taj Television India Pvt Ltd announced the launch of Ten Golf, a dedicated 24-hour golf channel. Ten Golf is the fifth channel from Taj Television India Pvt Ltd and began transmission on March 15, 2012. The dedicated golf channel will showcase a mix of live, non-live and feature programming. The channel will also broadcast live, high quality Golf action from around the world.

     

    Ten Golf has acquired rights for European Tour and Asian Tour till 2016, and has also entered into partnership with PGTI for three years to telecast the Indian Tour. Further, Ten Golf will be telecasting 400 hrs of golf programming in association with NBC.

     

  • Text of keynote address by Mr Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India and Chairman, FICCI Broadcast Forum

    @FF12: Text of Star India CEO Uday Shankar’s keynote

    Good morning.

     

    Senator Dodd, Secretary Uday Verma, Chief Minister Chavan, Prosenjit, Jehil and my dear friend Karan Johar, the remarkable team of FICCI that has organized this fabulous event, friends from media, ladies and gentlemen.

     

    A couple of years ago when I was asked by FICCI to take over the chair of FICCI Broadcast Forum, none of us had an exact idea of the timeliness of that decision.  FICCI was seized off the maturity and the size of Broadcast media and felt that the time had come for it to sharpen focus on this aspect of media and not merely treat it as an adjunct of films.  However the momentous changes that have happened in the Broadcast media landscape in the last 2 years clearly justify the wisdom of FICCI.

     

    I find a powerful validation of the significance of television and broadcasting in “Positivity” – a report by the IBF on the impact of television. IBF has gone ahead and spoken to our viewers – the key findings of the research are gratifying and humbling for the industry. I don’t want to give too much away, but must highlight two interesting results – Over 90% of our respondents believe that television is a source of encouragement and motivation and a similar percentage of women respondents believe that Television has given them the confidence to believe in the capabilities and potential.

     

    Gratifying as it may be, it is just the beginning. We are at the cusp of what is set to completely transform broadcasting in India forever.  I am talking about the universal digitization of television distribution.  This is a subject that has dominated all discussions at all forums in the last year and I presume will continue to do so for a long time to come.  But let’s pause a minute and recall what the discussion is centered around.  Most of the discussions that I have participated in are still around whether digitization will happen and if it indeed were to go through, how chaotic it would be.  With all humility may I suggest that it is a meaningless discussion triggered by a bunch of retrograde interests who are living in denial.  Let’s get some basic facts -The Cable Television Networks Amendment Act is not the beginning of digitization.  Digitization of distribution is a big reality and the 40 – 45 million homes that have bought DTH boxes at some point or the other are a conclusive evidence of that.  In fact as we speak, India may just have overtaken the United States as the world’s largest DTH market.

     

    What Minister Ambika Soni, Secretary Uday Verma and his team are doing is to create a structured, institutional framework for shaping this big social reality.  More than 25 crore people who have stated their preference for DTH over analogue cable have clearly spoken out that this country is now ready for universal digitization and the current move is merely to create a level playing field.

     

    So, to the critics and the cynics who are still wondering whether digitization would happen, my answer is: Look around, it is already happening and the rest of it is bound to happen because even in this country it would be difficult to undo such a momentous shift. To those who wonder how chaotic it would be, my response is that there would be some chaos, but chaos is not necessarily bad if the alternative is status quo or regression.  When a transition at such a scale is happening that affects the illegitimate but strong vested interest in certain pockets, then there is an incentive to put up with chaos in the interest of the larger social objectives.

     

    Actually my biggest concern now is a chaos of another kind that we are all set to create by our inaction.  Whether we like it or not, in a few years time, the vast majority of this country will receive its content through digital media – digital cable, DTH, 4G, wireless and internet.  But are we preparing for that? The answer is a big NO.  I worry that while we debate a digital future day-in-and -day-out we are doing nothing to transform or find business models for a digital world. Let’s face it – universal digitization is going to force us to change the way we do business and we are so not ready for it.  We often blame the cable operators and MSOs that they are not ready but I am afraid that even the broadcasters and the content creators are not ready for a digital world.  Are we then setting ourselves up to become uncompetitive and irrelevant?

     

    In case you think I am a scaremonger, let me ask a question – we all know how many people DTH services and now a large number of them have evolved services like HD, DOLBY sound and digital video recorder and yet what are we doing differently to service this segment?  DTH has been around now for about 6 years and is there one thing that we as broadcasters or the content community have done that we could point out as an example of a strategy to exploit the new technology?  This is despite an intuitive and an experiential understanding that the behavior and the consumption patterns in DTH homes are significantly different from analogue homes. The data also show that the average time spent on content in digital homes is much more and yet we do not treat them differently.

     

    It is perhaps scary how we have force-fitted an analogue broadcasting model into the digital domain.  Is that what we are going to do even after cable goes digital?  I am afraid if the past behavior is anything to go by, we are not ready to offer anything significantly different and therein lies the biggest crisis and risk of a chaos.  We have often spoken about how digitization would enable a multiplicity of niche channels to emerge.  Digitization of TV and even film infrastructure for that matter can revolutionize the way media is consumed in India.  There is enough global experience to suggest that digitization leads to de-centralization, regionalization or localization of content creation and distribution.  Creatively, it is a huge catalyst for innovation and diversity.  Essentially what it means is that with universal digitization the business models of broadcasting which are built on centralized creation and distribution of content and even a centralized advertising revenue model may come under a huge pressure.  I am proud to lead one of the finest media companies in this country and the world and yet I must confess that all of us have built our businesses in an environment where access to distribution was complicated, expensive and even impossible.  That is all set to change. So the big incumbent advantage is set to slowly, if not rapidly disappear. Socially, it is all very desirable because the plurality of this country is very valuable and digitization is a big catalyst for that plurality.  But, are we ready to re-tool our strategies and our businesses?  The cable community is still busy lamenting the potential loss of carriage fees not realizing what an amazing opportunity it has to participate in the local economic boom that is sweeping most parts of this country.  The first phase of digitization that covers the 4 metros will be a huge unshackling of broadcasting and content opportunities.  These are the cities that have crumbled under the weight of analogue frequency limitations.  Just imagine the opportunities that these metros also our economic hotspots present when, from the first of July access to frequency will no longer be a constraint.  So to my mind the MSOs and the cable operators may potentially become a powerful content creator that the traditional broadcasters have to contend with. There may be new creative talent ready to ride this technological transition.  As the subsequent phases roll on, the decentralization of broadcasting is bound to gain enormous momentum.  However, I don’t see anyone trying to race ahead to take a pole position here.

     

    Now let’s look at the content and the creative community that I myself am a part of.  But I am struck by our obliviousness to the opportunities and changes awaiting us.  Let me explain this with a slightly different example.  It’s been for a few years now that HD TV sets have been available in this country.  While many people were buying them, their off-take was still low primarily because there was no HD content and nobody was willing to invest in HD content because there were not enough HD consumers.  It was the classic chicken and egg problem.  However early last year, when we at Star launched 5 HD channels with DOLBY 5.1 surround sounds even we were surprised by the rapidity with which HD gained acceptance. Today, in less than a year there are around 25 HD channels. But, I have to admit with a touch of disappointment that I am yet to see an adequate recognition of the potential of HD and a superior sound possibility by my fraternity.  It is a classic case of the old mindsets struggling with a new technology.

     

    Are we going to stay locked into this struggle or are we going to create a new generation of television which would be designed for the digital world?  It will require all of us to change.  The creative and broadcasting community has to change their approach to content and the distribution mindset needs to change equally. If you are a cable operator or an MSO -  carriage fees is not the reason why you came into this business and people do not take a connection so that you can earn carriage fees. We are all in the business of delivering best television experience for the consumers and they will be happy to pay for it.  There is enough evidence that people want to consume content and lots of it – but they love it when it is customized to their taste.  Today there is an opportunity to do that and let’s put our heads together to take advantage of that opportunity.  Let’s determine what we require from the Government and the regulator. I have been an admirer of the current information and broadcasting dispensation which I think has shown more vision than any other dispensation in my two decades of interaction with the broadcasting establishment.  However, let me point out that we still need a lot of official and legislative enablers to remove the bottlenecks on this expressway.  For instance, a clear policy to enable multiplicity of beams and splits would be a powerful trigger for proliferation of content and revenue opportunities.

     

    I could go on.  But I would like to end by just reminding you of the latest Oscar success from Hollywood – The Artist – which is an amazing portrayal of how a talented and accomplished artist from the silent era could become completely irrelevant because he refused to see that the times have changed. Let’s not try to thwart a revolution which people are crying for.  We will only hurt ourselves.  The question is whether we will lead the change or whether we will vacate the space for a new set of entrepreneurs and visionaries who will replace us.  It is up to us to use it or lose it. Thank you very much.

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp