MxMIndia

Category: XTREME FOCUS

  • Hike in allocation for National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme would provide boost to FMCG

    NREGS allocation hike would boost buying

    By A Correspondent

     

    A hike in allocation for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and reliefs offered to a section of taxpayers would put more money in the hands of the consumer. This, in turn, would provide the much needed boost to the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, which is currently witnessing a slight slowdown in volume growth.

     

    More money in rural pockets and an improvement in the standard of living would help in escalating product penetration and improving per capita consumption. Even a small rise in the disposable incomes of India’s 350-million-strong middle income consumers will bolster growth. These middle income consumers form a vast majority and contribute 40-45 % to the revenues of the roughly Rs 1,70,000-crore FMCG sector.

     

    “I’m happy that excise duties and import duties remain unchanged. No price increases are expected,” said Rakshit Hargave, MD, Nivea India.

     

    However, given the fact that this year’s Budget comes against the backdrop of the slowest economic growth in a decade, experts believe the finance minister may have missed the opportunity to give that much-needed booster dose for growth.

     

    “While steps like Rs 2,000 relief to taxpayers in the Rs 2-5 lakh bracket and Rs 1 lakh additional relief on home loans of up to Rs 25 lakh would certainly put more disposable income – howsoever little – in the pockets of the common man, but these were much below expectations. Given the continued inflation, there is very little real relief and cheer for the common man,” said Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Stakeholders and consultants on their expectations from the Union Budget, set to to be presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram

    What M&E wants from this year’s Budget

     

    By Ananya Saha and Meghna Sharma

     

    Girish Agarwal, Promoter Director, DB Corp Ltd

    Fundamental need of the hour is to boost the economy, which is essential for growth of M&E. The following steps are expected for sustained economic growth:

    • The budget should send a clear message of “Stability, credibility and long-term vision for reforms”.
    • Government revenues should increase without hurting growth while strict control on expenditure (especially non-plan) is expected from the budget.
    • Clear roadmap for reforms/key bills viz.: Companies Bill, Mining, GST, DTC, Insurance, land acquisition etc. is expected.
    • With rise in inflation and reduced earnings, savings have substantially gone down over the past 2-3 years. Appropriate tax breaks would boost savings.

     

    The above basic steps should result in fresh and long term investments from domestic as well as international markets. Old policies for governing M&E sector must be revisited and reworked considering current business scenario. Policies should be framed in such a fashion that decisions at Govt. level are smooth and fast.

     

    For Radio industry, we expect Govt. to roll out old pending 3rd phase of auction, immediately with clear transparent bidding process. We expect the 3rd phase license with larger period validity and also extension of time period to 15 years, for players related to 2nd phase of bidding. Prior to the same, we expect Govt. to address music royalty issue along with long pending demand of radio players of relay of news bulletins in FM radio. Further, renewal of 2nd phase of license, after expiry of its period, needs to be worked out in an acceptable and reasonable valuation, in order to ensure adequate return on investment for all radio players.

     

    T Gangadhar, Managing Director, India, MEC

    It is important for the government to create policies that stimulate taxes and widen the tax base, not necessarily by lowering the taxes. It is important that in current economic situation, to raise consumer sentiment. We have been hearing of uniform GST, which has not been undertaken yet. Also, it is important to lower interest rates.

     

     

     

    Rakesh Jariwala, Partner, Tax and Regulatory Advisory Services, Ernst & Young

    In the Direct tax category:

    • Reintroduce erstwhile benefit available under Section 80-IB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 – profit linked deduction for multiplexes to boost their growth for tier 2 and tier 3 cities
    • Introduce alternate mechanism or a monetary threshold for obtaining income-tax clearance for foreign performers, entertainers, etc before departing from India as the procedure is time consuming and onerous
    • Introduce incentives for content creation and infrastructure to encourage the Indian film industry
    • Currently, there is uncertainty with respect to income attributable to India in case of Foreign Telecasting Companies (‘FTCs’). Guidance should be provided by way of specific provisions for determining taxable income of FTCs.

     

    Indirect tax:

    • Provide exemption from service tax on costs of film making in line with the exemption provided on temporary transfer of copyright in cinematograph films
    • Reinstate the exemption on service tax on services provided by digital cinema service distributors in a digitized encrypted format transmitted directly to a cinema theatre for exhibition – this exemption was withdrawn with the introduction of the negative list based service tax legislation
    • Clarify that service tax is not attracted in case of post production services provided in respect of content temporarily imported into India for the purpose of re-export
    • Exempt from service tax, services rendered by players and coaches to private sports leagues / bodies in line with the exemption provided for services to recognised sports leagues / bodies
    • Subsume entertainment tax in the proposed Goods and Services Tax legislation without creating a window for its levy at the local or state level to ensure simplicity in the tax structure

     

    M&E industry is expected to outgrow the Indian economy with an expected cumulative annual growth rate of around 15% over the next four years. To keep up the momentum, the industry deserves tax incentives in the upcoming Finance Bill, 2013 thereby providing an impetus to the industry and bolstering growth.

     

    Budget 2012 was a bag of mixed beans and a budget wherein the M&E industry was not given its share of adequate encouragement. Key highlights are cited below:

    Incentives:

    Indirect tax

    • Exemption of service tax on temporary transfer of copyrights in cinematograph films
    • Inclusion of admission to entertainment events and amusement parks in negative list of taxable services
    • In addition to the print sector, advertisements in media (except radio and television) including the internet or in outdoor media shall not be liable to service tax
    • Services provided in capacity of referee, umpire, coach or manager to recognised sports body for participating in tournaments shall not be liable to service tax

     

    Dampeners for M&E industry:

    Direct tax

    • Retrospective amendment to the definition of royalty thereby characterising payments for use of computer software, transponder, information databases, uplinking facilities, leased lines, etc as royalty under domestic tax laws. Hence, impacting the use of digital media
    • Tax rate of non-resident sports persons and sports associations increased from 10% to 20%

     

    Indirect tax

    • Levy of service tax on costs on film-making
    • Withdrawal of exemption of service tax on digital distribution of films tantamounting to the levy of service tax on such services
    • Levy of service tax on services provided by players and coaches to private sports leagues / bodies

     

     

    Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network

    For the broadcasting industries of radio and television we look forward to clarity, uniformity and relief from taxes. Advertisement in free to air mediums like radio should be treated differently and lower or nil service tax should apply for the same, aligning with the print and out of home industries. Also, FDI in non-news radio operations needs to be brought at par with television broadcasting. Customs duty on radio and television broadcast equipment should also be relaxed.

     

    The TV Broadcast and Distribution industry is already reaping benefits from the success of the digitization initiated by the Government. We look forward to necessary fiscal incentives in the form removal/ reduction of multiple taxes and levies and regulations which ensure transparency and power of choice to the end customer.

     

    Sandeep Ladda, Executive Director/Partner and National Leader – Entertainment & Media – Tax and Regulatory, PwC

    On the direct tax front, we could look at the following key areas:

    • Clarification on the applicability of withholding tax provisions on discount offered by DTH operators for selling recharge coupons through subscribers to third parties and on payments made by TV channel companies to uplinking companies
    • Providing a clarification stating that benefits of carry forward and set off of unabsorbed losses in amalgamation or demerger etc. also available to service sector companies
    • Proposal to sign more Co-production treaties, to get the tax credits and subsidy benefits
    • To provide a 10-year tax holiday to exports in the gaming, animation and the VFX (visual effects) industry for Indian content development, as they are emerging sectors (whether or not these are set up in an SEZ)

     

    Key expectations on the indirect tax front include:

    • To promote the domestic gaming industry, excise duty on local manufacture of gaming content could be brought down to 0%
    • Service tax applicability to the DTH industry could be eased for a limited period till the phased implementation of digitization is complete
    • Copyright services could be excluded from service tax net to avoid dual levy of service tax and VAT
    • Multiplex operators could be exempted from levy of service tax on property rentals and to distributors for exploitation of cinematographic rights, till GST is introduced to result in a seamless pass through of these indirect taxes

     

    The industry has been growing at a pace of around 17 percent YoY and is expected to maintain the momentum. The recent liberalization of foreign investment norms for a majority of broadcasting carriage segments and the radio phase III roll out will surely provide a fillip to the entertainment and media sector. Similar liberalization measures could be extended to the remaining broadcasting carriage segments like local cable operators. Also, the Phase III rollout could be implemented early for the industry to reap in the allied benefits flowing from the same.

     

    There were a few positive steps seen in the 2012 budget such as eligibility of investment linked deduction to hotel owners even if operations are carried out by third parties and service tax exemption on temporary transfer of copyright in cinematographic films. However, on the whole, budget of 2012 left a lot to be desired:

    • Retrospective amendments to widen the scope of royalty by including payments for transmission by satellite cable, optic fibre etc. as royalty were not expected. The relative standing of some of these retrospective amendments vis a vis India’s tax treaties has also been questioned by recent tax tribunal decisions. This has only added to existing confusion surrounding such royalty payments.
    • The budget also introduced provisions casting obligations on a non resident having no presence in India to withhold tax on any payments being made to a non resident of income accruing in India. This measure has impacted some of the India content broadcasting transactions happening between non resident parties.
    • Tax rates in case of non-resident, non-citizen sportspersons, non resident sports associations were increased from 10 percent to 20 percent on gross basis. Similarly, non resident entertainers were also brought under the tax net @ 20 percent on gross basis. Both these measures were burdensome.

     

    Sunil Lulla, Managing Director and CEO, Times Television Network

    The burden on the growing service sector needs to be reduced, so it may accelerate India’s growth. In prior years, in recent times, we have not seen anything progressive as such via the budget. Investment norms in some parts of the sector have already changed, for encouraging investment. The industry has been asking for lower duties on STBs so that digitization can progress and benefit millions of consumers. This is vital. As for the last year, the economy has been slow, sluggish and behind expectations – 2012 has been a disaster!

     

     

    Responses are in alphabetical order by surname.

     

  • Ranjona Banerji finds it more sensible to read quotes from politicians in the papers than watch them on telly

    Ranjona Banerji: Budget blues with news channels & papers

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    After careful consideration (which in news channel selection terms translates into a combination of channel surfing and experience) I watched Union finance minister P Chidambaram’s Budget speech on Doordarshan and then switched to Budget analysis on the stockmarket channels. I avoided any channel which had a politician on its expert panel. This is because I know very little about most of the stuff discussed and I’m willing to bet that Deepak Parekh knows much more than me and knows more than Subramaniam Swamy.

     

    Most industry bigwigs, analysts and other expert type people appeared to like the Budget or at least assume that that Chidambaram was on the right track. Quotes from politicians of other parties are full of scorn, which is perfectly understandable. But it is more sensible to read quotes from politicians in newspapers than watch them have apoplexy on TV.

     

    In fact, I have decided that since age determines that blood pressure problems are close on the road ahead, watching prime time news TV is bad for health, state of mind, mental peace and so on. It is far more sensible to check on TV news through the day and studiously avoid it between 8.30 to 10.30 pm.

     

    Meanwhile, back to the Budget. The Times of India headline says: ‘PC Nets Big Fish’ in a drawing that takes its inspiration from Life of Pi, the movie. Intriguingly, the front page box tells us that the drawing is inspired by a recent Hollywood movie that bagged four Oscars without naming the movie. Medianet or a desire by TOI editors to tax the minds of their hapless readers?

     

    The Hindustan Times goes with ‘PC Offers Growth Tablet’. The Indian Express seems closest to home with this one: ‘1997: Dream, 2013: Wake-up’. My only objection here is that as far as possible, hyphens should be avoided in headlines. No damage would have been done with ‘2013: Wake Up’ except for extra therapy for an anal retentive subeditor. The Economic Times plays it straightforward with ‘FM Doesn’t Declare Elections’. Unlike its predilection in the past for over-the-top graphics, it settles for sticking a blue turban a la Manmohan Singh on Chidambaram’s head. However to me as a result, he looked a bit like Swami Vivekananda!

     

    In spite of the market crashing the general consensus was that this was the sort of workman-like Budget expected and needed. To provide ample fodder for political commentators and prime time TV actors, Nitish Kumar chief minister of Bihar liked the Budget (and wrote a special piece for ET) and Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat didn’t.

     

    The Times of India managed to find a loophole in the Budget’s tax provisions to give readers a row of women wearing bikinis on the top of one page – ostensibly to educate us on how much supermodels across the world earn. A more gratuitous form of sexual exploitation it would be hard to find. For reasons of gender equality and comparative commodification, a few pictures of buff, waxed male supermodels would have been appreciated. No?

     

    **

     

    Twitter was abuzz through the day, with jokes winning over analyses – well on my timeline at least. The tax for the super rich got the most scorn – especially the figure of 42,800 as the number of super-rich earning more than Rs one crore a year in India. You have to admit, it’s laughably low. The bank for women had many puzzled and then soon jokes began over the fate of deposits made by men which ran into risqué territory.

     

    **

     

    How am I to survive without watching Arnab Goswami every night? It is a question I am still grappling with…

     

  • With no pick-me-up in the proposals, industry movers tell MxMIndia what they think of the Budget

    Post-Budget 2013, M&E’s growth conundrum continues…

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    With business as a whole still awaiting an uptrend in the economy, the talk in the media and entertainment sector has centred around how avenues and investment options for growth are drying up and the need for a fillip to resurrect the once-vibrant sector. Trade analysts have been long anticipating the bounce-back in the economy, with projected time-frames going from post-September 2012, to first-half 2013, and now to the second half of 2013.

     

    Finance Minister P Chidambaram was expected to wield a magic wand, but while the Union Budget was announced yesterday, there was nothing really significant that could revive the hopes of thousands of employees in the media and entertainment space who waited with bated breath for SOPs and benefits to be doled out. This was after the media went gaga about how the budget would be a more pragmatic than populist in its approach if the UPA government fancied a third term into power at the Centre.

     

    Of the few measures announced by the Union Finance Minister for the M&E sector, the most important one was directed towards the radio sector. The Minister announced that it would expand private FM services to 294 more cities and that about 839 new FM radio channels would be auctioned in 2013-14 and, after the auction, all cities having a population of more than 100,000 would be covered by private FM radio services. The other important announcement was not a good one where the Minister proposed increasing customs duty on set-top boxes from 5 to 10 per cent.

     

    Hope for a few, dejection for others

    Rakesh Jariwala

    Analyzing the overall scenario, including measures announced for the film industry as well, Rakesh Jariwala, Tax Partner, Ernst & Young said, “The budget has given partial relief for the film sector as the non-theatrical revenues of a movie are now brought back in the tax net. Producers and distributors will be able to recover a portion of their input credits with this change, thus mitigating a portion of the adverse impact created by the complete exemption granted last year. For non-film business, impact of removal of exemption to copyright transactions will have to be measured in terms of eligibility of the service receiver to take credits. However, the question of double taxation of transactions in intangible rights (between service tax and Value added tax) remains unanswered.”

     

    Adding further he said, “The budget will increase the income tax cost on account increase in corporate income tax surcharge from 5 percent to 10 percent. Any outbound remittance towards IP royalties (except film exhibition royalties) and/ or fees for technical services will be subject to increased 25 percent tax rate, subject to a better tax treaty rate. Investment in specific plant and machinery towards manufacture of article or thing by media companies in excess of 100 crores will qualify for additional tax allowance at 15 percent. Also, Increase in import duty for set top boxes from 5 percent to 10 percent may increase the cost for DTH/ Cable operators. Applying service tax on exploitation of copyright in cinematograph film with the exception of exhibition rights should result in improved credit situation for the industry.”

     

    Smita Jha

    So while the good news is mostly limited to the sector of radio, the repercussions of the hike in duty of STBs is not being taken well by the other factions of the industry. Smita Jha, Leader, E&M Practice India, PwC said, “In principle, this move is to encourage local manufacturing of STBs. In that sense, it is a step in the right direction for the prospect of local manufacturers. But having said that and keeping the DAS deadlines in mind, I am not sure if it will really benefit the industry. With customs duty being raised, the cost will be passed onto either the consumer or be borne by the STB importers. Given that the prices of STBs are also very competitive, it is not good news for MSOs and LCOs since they might have to bear the costs.”

     

     

    Roop Sharma

    Jha’s assessment found resonance with Roop Sharma, President, Cable Operators Federation of India who said, “The increased customs duty on STBs will be passed onto the consumer. Though it is a very good step to promote indigenous STB manufacturers, if it will maintain BIS standards. The imported STBs are Chinese-quality and not very good. From LCO’s point of view, it will be beneficial for consumers for they will get good-quality indigenous STBs.”

     

     

     

    Uday Shankar

    The most worrisome response perhaps came from FICCI M&E committee. Uday Shankar, Chairman, FICCI M&E committee said, “FICCI expresses its shock at the proposed doubling of customs duty on the import of set-top boxes to 10 per cent from the existing rate of 5 per cent, announced by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2013-14. We strongly believe that an increase in import duties on STBs will be detrimental to the government’s digitization programme that was flagged off last year. This move at this stage will hamper the progress of digitization since it will significantly increase the outlays of the cable and DTH community. It will also adversely impact the government’s tax collections from additional revenues linked to faster digitization.”

     

    According to Mr Shankar, the availability of lower-priced set-top boxes is pivotal for smooth implementation of digitization. “The domestic industry lacks the scale and size required to meet the increased demand for set-top boxes and the industry is heavily dependent on import of these devices to implement the next phase of digitization. This sharp increase in import duty will escalate the costs for consumers and can potentially derail the digitization process,” he said.

     

    Adding further he said, “FICCI has been consistently recommending the lowering of customs duty on set-top boxes. The government could have instead considered lowering excise duty on local manufacturing of set-top boxes, thereby ensuring timely supply of such devices at lower costs and urges the I&B Minister and the Finance Minister to review and reconsider this proposal and provide much-needed relief to the media and entertainment sector.”

     

    Ajay Chacko

    Presenting a more diverse view on the budget, Ajay Chacko, President, A+E Networks|TV 18 said that apart from the rise in customs duty on STBs and a forward-looking incentive for radio players, there are other things that one should look at that can impact the way the industry functions. He said, “Media business is primarily driven by consumer products and consumer products means consumption. So if there is an increase in the disposable income it kind of motivates people to spend more. So there have been some attempts to increase consumption and disposable income if not growth of the industry as such.”

     

    According to Chacko, the waiver that has been given to the housing sector and boosters being given to a couple of other industries as well will see the advertising environment picking up in terms of spends. “This will be a good thing to happen as the advertiser spending has been slow in the past two years. So there has been an attempt to revive consumer spending which will at least lead to halt in the downward spiral of advertising spends.”

     

    Tarun Katial

    While a few hopes were indeed crushed, there were others who were satisfied with the outcome of the Budget. Like Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd, who said, “The Budget brings good news for the radio industry, with Phase 3 poised to create optimal reach for the medium. Other benefits like news, networking, current affairs and sports, multiple frequencies etc will add the necessary fillip to further fuel listenership growth through reach and content diversification and will also drive profitability and revenue through cost optimization.”

     

     

    Prashant Panday

    Expressing his joy, Prashant Panday, Executive Director & CEO, ENIL said, “We are happy that the Finance Minister announced the imminent launch of Phase 3 of radio expansion. With this, we hope all hurdles to the launch of Phase 3 are now removed. We hope quick action now follows this announcement.”

     

     

     

     

    Apurva Purohi

    Echoing a similar sentiment, Apurva Purohit, CEO of Radio City, said, “We welcome the announcement of Finance Minister on the government’s resolve to expedite Phase 3. This impetus would help FM radio expand and offer the choice of consuming private FM radio to millions living in smaller towns. We are looking forward to the same.”

     

     

    Not much effect on other domains

    As for the impact on other mediums, there was a mixed bag of feelings that emerged. Pradeep Gupta, CMD, Cybermedia said, “As I see it there is not much that has come out from the budget for the M&E industry as such. But then the print industry had also made a request to the government to not increase the rates of any duty structure for the benefit of the industry. And the government hasn’t raised any rate on the duty as such. So I suppose it will be business as usual for the print industry.”

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    IAA President Srinivasan Swamy said, “The budget unfortunately does not do anything to spur growth to the industry which will lead to handsome growth to Media and Advertising industry. This is reflected in the sentiments of the stock market. 2013-14 is only likely to see a single digit growth in the industry and this means the growth is likely to be in line with inflation. Not a happy state to be in.”

     

     

     

     

    Sunder Hemrajani

    Sunder Hemrajani, Managing Director, Times OOH said, “As can be inferred, there is nothing as such for the Outdoor industry in the budget. However, there is a positive correlation between business confidence, investment, GDP growth and growth in advertising spends. Some of the budget proposals are expected to provide the impetus for growth in the economy. This should spur growth of the OOH industry which has had a difficult year. But high food inflation and fiscal deficit continue to be a challenge.”

     

    The overall sentiment could probably be summed by what Amar Ambani, Head of Research, India Infoline Ltd (IIFL), had to say on the Union Budget 2013-14: “The FM presented a rather non-eventful budget given that fiscal deficit targets were vocally communicated earlier. The market was disappointed with the evident populism in the budget through higher social scheme allocations despite limited headroom. The math for achieving 4.8 percent fiscal deficit in FY14 looks vulnerable to slippage. Further, it was also not a budget which can revive the sagging economy. Absence of key reform measures such as GST implementation was also dejecting.”

     

    For now, M&E will have to look to other key industries which have benefited from the Budget, and who advertise heavily, to pump up their growth story so that positive effects rub off onto the M&E sector as well.

     

  • The controversial question of censorship saw participants engage in a lively discussion

    #Frames2013: Need for reforms to take centrestage

    L-R – Jay Panda, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Kamal Haasan, Chairman of FICCI Media & Entertianmnet Business Concalave (MEBC),Shoma Chaudhury, Managing Editor, Tehelka, Mahesh Bhatt, Film Director,Rahul Bose, Actor

     

    By Kshama Rao

     

    Day 2 of FICCI-Frames started with a session on ‘The Gag Orders: Are we stifling creative expression?’ Managing editor, Tehelka, Shoma Chaudhary moderated the session which had Kamal Haasan – who was recently at the receiving end when his ambitious 90-crore film, Vishwaroopam met with some opposition from certain religious quarters – MP Jay Panda, “liberal intellectuals” Mahesh Bhatt and Rahul Bose.

     

    Ms Chaudhary who admitted to believe in “absolutist freedom” had the panelists talking about the very definition of freedom, the role of art in society, on whether the Indian constitution is robust enough to tackle the various groups and diverse ones at that who get easily offended by any piece of art – be it a book, a piece of music, film or art. Mr Panda talked about how while the constitution doesn’t provide us with absolute freedom it does come close. What worried him were the Supreme Court rulings being defied by high courts and state governments when they should be tried for contempt of court. “The job of leaders is to resist lynch-mobs and not pander to populist measures.”

     

    While Kamal Haasan confessed to have curbed his daughters from always following their minds, he said as a filmmaker, he felt “curbing creativity and freedom is not a dignified thing. It shouldn’t be just about me. It should be about anyone and everyone irrespective of where he comes from who shouldn’t be pushed to a wall like I was.”

     

    Mr Bhatt said that the notion of absolute freedom is still a fantasy. “Right from the time I made Arth, which had people from my own fraternity ganging up against me for making a film that threatened the institution of marriage, the very bedrock of our culture and our being, I am still waiting to be free.”

     

    He added how the “offenders who are most often than not engineered to disrupt and disturb things” ensured that a little fear went a long way and did an irreversible damage to the society. “Timidity has now become a philosophy and every filmmaker lives with that dread of facing a lynch mob outside his door,” he said.

     

    The discussion also veered to demanding a film certification board rather than a censor board. Kamal Haasan observed, “Why should there be representatives from political parties on film certification boards? They are in no way connected with the aesthetics of cinema.”

     

    Mr Panda called for an urgent need for political reforms which could only be put in place with the rising middle class. “Their sensibilities are worthy of emulation and I do see a hope in the middle class who have already begun a movement for change if you go by the protests they recently staged in the case of the rising rape and violence.”

     

    Mr Bhatt rubbished Mr Panda’s trust in the middle-class, who, he saids are interested only in fighting battles they are comfortable with. “They will stand up for a Kamal Haasan but not a Kamaal Khan, a big Hindi film but not a Bhojpuri one.” Mr Bose agreed with him saying, “The middle class will come out in large numbers outside the PM’s house to fight for a rape victim but I wonder if they will be equally passionate about an issue that’s bothering some other part of the country.” Kamal Haasan added that sensibility is not the sole bastion of the middle-class. “It can come from any strata of society, from anyone.”

     

    The rather interesting conversation was ended with Chaudhary calling for everyone to first define the very idea of freedom and if the entire nation was ready to fight for it every time it was threatened by a few offending groups. She also placed the onus on the film and television industry to rise above their roles of mere entertainers and instead bring about social change through cinema.

     

  • In a shrinking world, the broadcast industry in India has to be on its toes to remain updated and geared for a promising tomorrow

    #Frames2013: It’s the best time to be in the content business: Andy Kaplan

    By A Correspondent

     

    There’s so much that has emerged in the recent past that it is mandatory for the broadcast industry in India to stay updated and geared for a promising tomorrow. Most of these developments have come from multinational brands which have made quite an impact on the way the M&E ecosystem functions in India.

     

    Presenting the experiences and practices adopted by his network, Andy Kaplan, President, Worldwide Networks, Sony Pictures Television had the stage to himself at a special session on ‘The future of television’ on the second day of FICCI Frames 2013.

     

    Sharing his outlook he said, “I think there has never been a better time to be in the content business. A few years there were barely any players that you wanted to sell your content to but today there are hundreds of players available that provide us many more opportunities. In the US market, there is a change that has been observed in the secondary revenue stream where if a show is there on a network long enough then there is syndication carried out with cable and TV stations but now there are a lot of new players in that world that are supplementing their revenue streams or are replacing them like Netflix, Amazon etc. So the way the content providers are looking at the world is completely different. It is providing them enough opportunities and is thus a good place to be in.”

     

    Highlighting his opinion on the issue of revenues facing the business, Mr Kaplan said, “Where revenues are concerned around content I do not think they are going down but are rather coming in from other places. But there are the challenges of infrastructure because one needs to be equipped with different areas of expertise from the distribution side that allows one to monetize these opportunities and have more sophistication and knowledge and transparency into all of these other businesses.”

     

    On the influence that localization has over global, Mr Kaplan said, “From an international network standpoint there is the localized model that we follow around content. So while we buy a lot of programming from our own we also buy from other studios as well. Our job is to pull in the best programmes that we can and deliver the best networks to our audience and maximise our ratings and eventually revenues as well. The good news is that there are a lot of people in the content business who want to sell their content and as we become more successful in these markets we want to become more important buyers. Also each of these markets throws up different nuances where content acquisition is concerned and where we are concerned we are always faced with a challenge of balancing the local with global. We resort to using research and focus groups and whatever local knowledge we get about our networks in each market to maximise our ratings. As an adjunct to the global programming we also have our own local programming because that is what will drive higher ratings and give us an opportunity to have a broader conversation with the advertisers.”

     

    On the ways that Sony has managed to stay relevant and close to its consumers, Mr Kaplan said that it is important for broadcasters to keep themselves available across platforms. Sharing his experiences from his offering, Crackle, Mr Kaplan said, “Crackle has been around for five years and is a non-linear network where one can watch movies, television programmes etc. It is streamed content and is advertiser-supported. While most players have a subscriptional or transactional role we are a purely advertiser-supported entertainment website. It’s all about being available on all platforms and being able to garner more eyeballs. That’s what the advertisers too look out for. The good thing is that the advertisers are dying to get into this world either because they think that they have the audience matrix they want to reach or either because it is the next big thing. But whatever it is, Crackle in the US caters to male 18-49 yrs and that’s where most advertisers are also comfortable being focused towards.”

     

    Mr Kaplan went on to highlight the role of India in fostering his growth in the region and the role that content will play in making broadcast a space to vie for.

     

  • India cannot afford to be complacent in the digital era, concluded panelists at FICCI-Frames

    #Frames2013: ‘For digital to excel, freemium has to make way for pay’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The past two years have seen the digital ecosystem in India take off in a big way. Whether for the medium of mobile or web, the fast-paced growth sweeping this medium is making other developing economies around the world sit up and take notice.

     

    The session on ‘Digital content consumption: developing a robust paid ecosystem’ on day 2 at FICCI Frames saw panelists discuss the advantages, opportunities and challenges facing the medium. The panelists comprised, Neeraj Roy of Hungama Digital Media, Devraj Sanyal of Universal Music, Manish Agarwal of Reliance Entertainment – Digital, Sidhartha Roy of Hungama Digital and Boaz Ben Yaacov of Catch Media Inc.

     

     

    Neeraj Roy

    Neeraj Roy, CEO, Hungama Digital Media Enterprise started off by presenting a positive picture of the medium. He said, “India is today the third largest internet market in the world and is likely to be the second largest market with 600 million internet users in the next 3-4 years. The industry is adding about 5-6 million users every month and most of this is largely from the mobile device, especially smartphones that saw about 60 million new users this year. India will also be one of the rare nations that will transition from 2G to 4G this year. In India there was a single ecosystem that was created around the mobile which had got to do with micro-transactions. Unfortunately there are a lot of regulatory hurdles that are impeding the rapid growth of the sector. We are now at the cusp of moving away from voice to data consumption. What the industry needs to do is contemplate ways to develop an ecosystem that will bring in robust growth and provide an impetus for the industry to move forward swiftly.”

     

    Devraj Sanyal, MD, Universal Music said that it was exciting to see three ecosystems in digital co-existing well with each other. “It rarely can be seen in other parts of the world. For me, the death of voice is the beginning of a much bigger phenomenon – data. The entire future will ride on data. In a country as diverse as India there are two kinds of consumers – the first being pay consumers who are very few in number and the other kind of consumers being those who will pay for nothing and want everything free. As a content creator, I want to see a lot of this ecosystem thriving on the pay model. For me, having 1 million paid viewers is much more valuable than having 500 million viewers who are fence-sitters/pirates. The future will be pay along with value-added services.”

     

    Manish Agarwal

    Manish Agarwal, CEO, Reliance Digital said, “There’s no doubt on the huge impact that mobile will have on our lives. It is a device of the future and will be accessed for a host of things including content, gaming, etc. The market is very appealing and has just about taken off. I travel a lot around the world and have often heard things like if there are 20 million mobile users in Japan and if that economy is where it is today on that medium, imagine what potential the Indian market has which has more than 600 million mobile users and counting. While there is no doubt on the loyalty on behalf of the customer, we have to see how the medium will benefit the business across the formats that they will operate in.”

     

    According to Boaz Yaacov, CTO & Co-founder of Catch Media Inc, “The question we need to ask ourselves is whether we are still living in a world where a customer pays a dollar for a song when there are others who get it from Bit-torrent or even a youtube for free. If we are to sustain the technology or content we need to find practical solutions. We all know how the business of credit cards started about three decades ago and how they charged micropayments to give convenience and access to our money. Today one such player – Visa, is worth about $ 250 billion but the point is that we consumers do not know of these payments.” Adding further Boaz said, “What we are trying to do is build technologies to give people very convenient and mobile way to access their content. If we are able to deliver content to consumers where they are and at their convenience they won’t mind paying for it.”

     

    The panel went on to discuss the challenges confronting the medium and also how ‘pay’ would be a preferred model in the future compared to the model of ‘freemium’ that is currently what the players are taking a preference to.

     

  • Indian media and entertainment is at a crossroads, believes the GroupM global chief, and the route it takes now will determine whether it soars or stumbles

    #Frames2013: Indian M&E must take a global stance: Dominic Proctor

    By A Correspondent

     

    That the media and entertainment industry in India is making steady progress is known, but whether it is able to deliver advertising value to brands in a manner that gives them maximum bang for the buck is still questionable. For brands to remain interested in the medium and empower them to play a larger role in steering the ecosystem forward would require a great deal of recalibration from the industry and its stakeholders.

     

    The session on ‘Will advertising still be the key growth driver for the converged ecosystem?’ by Dominic Proctor, President, GroupM, Global threw up interesting insights on the role that the advertising and media industries had to play in helping the sector achieve remarkable growth.

     

    Taking off on the key theme that had been drawn up for him Mr Proctor said, “If you ask me, will advertising drive growth in the converged ecosystem – the short answer to that is yes! But the real question is – we all know that India is an emerging entertainment superpower, but will the growth come from just from extending business in India or will the business grow because of the global ecosystem? We believe that the Indian entertainment business is at crossroads and they can make a choice of whether to stay as a relatively inward-looking business or join and be a part of world entertainment business.”

     

    Questioning the reasons for the industry being under-valued, Mr Proctor stated, “I often wonder why the media business as not managed to do what the IT business has in terms of its growth and size. While the IT business is about $ 100 billion the media business is still about one-fifth of that size. The reason why the IT business has become what it is because it has taken a global stance.”

     

    Presenting another interesting facet about the media industry, Mr Proctor said that the thing about India is that it is a powerhouse of strong content. “If you look at the sector, the country produces more than 1000 films every year, has more than 700 channels, has more than 7 DTH platforms, about 900 million mobile downloads, has a huge base of consumers who access content online or through a mobile device… all these are factors around which India could build itself up in the global entertainment value chain. Right now what is happening is that a lot of programming on television or music on platforms or even sports is being produced for local consumption; that approach has to change and a more global route needs to be taken,” he said.

     

    Adding further, Mr Proctor said that where content is concerned it is obsessively dependant on things like Bollywood, cricket, stars etc but it was important to see whether these options were going to be sustainable in the long run. “For example, cricket in all its form is seeing a downfall in viewership over recent months. This poses a serious threat to its profitability and sustenance in the long run. But what is interesting is that Indian sports is expanding its horizons and looking at options such as football, hockey, golf, etc. But it is still not what is observed in other markets like the US and UK where each sport has become an entity of its own, be it in terms of viewership or revenue generation. So sports marketing in India will require a broader base for the long term.”

     

    Sharing his observations on the medium of films, Mr Proctor said, “If you look at films, the problem with that sector is that it hasn’t really moved at a pace that benefits brands more than it does from cricket. This is despite movies having a larger viewer base than sports. The tie-up as of now between the two is still very clumsy and they need to find new ways to take it to the next level. One way they could do it is through the web, which presents massive opportunity. Other avenues include hyper-targeting through STBs that could also change the way the ecosystem works. The way forward for our business is to move from inventory planning against demographics to specific audience planning and buying because the technology that we have at our disposal allows us to optimise our offerings by serving different advertisers and consumers.”

     

  • In the session on 'The second phase of TV digitization' noted panelists from the sector came together to discuss and mull options of making the exercise a more robust and achievable one

    #Frames2013: Making Phase 2 of TV digitization a reality

    By Johnson Napier

     

    When phase 1 of digitization became a reality in India there was a sense of accomplishment that was witnessed amongst most factions within the broadcast industry. Apart from the huge advantages that it presented to the broadcasters and allied interests, it was also seen as an exercise that enabled the consumer to become empowered like never before. But while issues remain about the impending challenges emanating from phase 1 of the rollout exercise and also the non-interest shown by some metros, the industry seems to be waiting with bated breath for phase 2 of the rollout to take shape.

     

    In the session on ‘The second phase of TV digitization’ noted panelists from the sector came together to discuss and mull options of making the exercise a more robust and achievable one. The panellists comprised of N Parameshwaran of TRAI, Sameer Manchanda of DEN, Sunil Lulla of TTN, Man Jit Singh of Multi Screen Media, Raman Kalra of IBM, Tarun Katial of Reliance Broadcast and Anuj Gandhi of Indiacast. The session was moderated by Vivek Couto of Media Partners Asia.

     

     

    N Parameswaran

    N Parameswaran, Principal Advisor, TRAI began by highlighting the outcomes witnessed by rolling out of P 1 of digitization. “We all know what has happened with P1 of digitization where metros like Mumbai and Delhi have recorded a remarkable conversion rate. We may have questions about the metros of Kolkata not yet achieving their target and Chennai not yet taking off but rather than the negatives we should focus on the positives from this exercise, including the role that the industry players and stakeholders played in making this dream a reality.” According to Mr Parameshwaran, while P2 digitization would be kicked off from March 31, 2013 it would again require the coming together of industry players, trade bodies, MSOs/LCOs and the government itself in making this dream an achievable one.

     

     

    Sameer Manchanda

    Sameer Manchanda, Chairman and MD of DEN began by appreciating the efforts put in by all from the industry and added that “digitization has been the biggest change that has ever happened to our industry. While there are a lot of positives from this exercise, one of the big drawbacks as been lack of accountability. The MSO/LCO operators have to ensure that the KYC forms are filled by the consumers as it is mandatory and binding on them. There is still some time to go before that becomes a reality. Where I see it, P2 of digitization is a transition phase and will start rolling out over the next 60 days.”

     

     

    Anuj Gandhi

    Without wanting to sound too cynical, Anuj Gandhi, Group CEO, Indiacast said that while digitization has bought about a positive change for the industry there was some serious thinking that is needed. “If P1 of digitization is taking us about 7-8 months to become a reality we can imagine what P2 would be like. The onus lies on the MSO/LCOs to make this rollout a reality but I can assure you that this won’t be possible without the coming together of all from the industry.”

     

     

     

    Man Jit Singh

    Man Jit Singh, CEO, Multi Screen Media had a similar feeling to share as he voiced his excitement at the good that was seen from rolling out P1 of digitization. “Due credit should be given to one and all from the industry who made this a possibility and we can hope for a similar outlook from P2 as well. Even the government’s role has been encouraging but there are a few shortcomings that have to be worked upon if further rollout is to become more successful. There are issues that are cropping up at the MSO/LCO level regarding filling of KYC forms, data collection etc. All these have to be addressed immediately.”

     

     

    Raman Kalra

    Raman Kalra of IBM Global Business Services said, “We have entered an era where it is the end of digital. By that I mean that we are already in the know-how of how digital works and the benefits that the medium presents but the challenge now is how do we take it to the next level. There is need for the industry to come up with strategies to cater to the ever-evolving ecosystem.” Pointing out that the consumer today was faced with an array of choices to access entertainment, he said that consumers won’t mind paying more money to access content but it is essential that we know who our customer is and what are his likes/dislikes.”

     

     

    Tarun Katial

    Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast said that what DAS has done is enabled channels to have a wider reach and get carried more easily. “Early data has shown how most channels, especially those offering niche offerings, have benefitted in terms of ratings and acceptability from DAS. For new players, as you sharpen your positioning there are high chances of they getting lapped up more easily. The exercise has also opened new avenues for advertisers who will be looking at niche channels with renewed interest. I guess the advertisers will have to shell out more advertising dollars where niche channels are concerned.”

     

     

    Sunil Lulla

    Sunil Lulla, MD & CEO, TTN highlighted that the current economics do not fund the ecosystem as the industry is going through a transition and there is need for change. According to Lulla, it would do the industry a lot of good if the prices were to be lowered but that is not a logical thing to do. “In fact it is commendable to see how the industry has come together in making phase 1 a reality and the same can be expected from phase 2 too. At the end it is essential that we keep the customer at the centre of all that we do and keep on satisfying him so that he comes back to us for more.”

     

     

  • Text of FICCI's M&E chairperson and Star India CEO Uday Shankar's keynote speech at the Frames 2013 inauguration

    #Frames2013: Text of Uday Shankar’s keynote

    Good morning and welcome everybody. Secretary Uday Kumar Verma, Honorable Minister Dr.Soon Tae Park, Andy Bird – who has flown down all the way to be here, my dear friend Karan Johar, Rameshji, ladies and gentlemen.

     

    I take this opportunity to say that I am honored to be here in my new role as the chairman of FICCI Media and Entertainment Committee. I am stepping into the big shoes of the late Yash Chopra who was a leader of the Indian film industry for four decades. Yashji played a pivotal role in building Media and Entertainment as a cohesive community with a clear identity, and made FICCI FRAMES its most distinguished platform. Your presence here today is a testimony to his contribution. My goal will be to work with you all to further reinforce this community and accelerate the growth of the industry.

     

    And hence, the choice of the theme for this year’s FRAMES: “Engaging a Billion Consumers”.

     

    A concrete manifestation of this aspiration is reflected in the next big milestone that we have identified for the Indian film industry: to produce a 1,000 crore blockbuster. Celebrating its 100th year, Indian cinema has shown proof of its enduring followership and in recent times has set new benchmarks at the box office. It is time for the next audacious leap. And, there is no better consensus builder and no one more enterprising than my friend Karan Johar to steer this ambitious task. I am confident that both Karan and I will benefit heavily from the sage counsel of Ramesh Sippy.

     

    I remain convinced that such quantum leaps are possible across the media and entertainment sector. We all have tremendous progress to show for the last two decades: as a community, we have shown an admirable commitment to enthrall Indians and the Indian diaspora with compelling content. But, in business and creative terms, the Indian media and entertainment sector still remains much smaller than it should be in a country of 1.2 billion people. Our collective and individual ambitions should be taking wings around this big opportunity.

     

    I am confident that in the next three days we will come up with big ideas to make media and entertainment economically more robust, creatively more vibrant and socially more meaningful. However, in my view the single most important enabler towards all this would be a strong alignment within the industry, and with other stakeholders in the Government and the policy establishment. Our most recent experience with digitalization is a superb evidence of the power of alignment. Despite many hurdles, the unthinkable is beginning to happen in television distribution, with the first phase of digitalization well underway. As we speak, over 10 million cable homes have gone digital and in the next 2 years, 80 million homes will be digitalized. It will be the fastest digital transition anywhere in the world. How did this happen? It was because all of us within the industry and in the government were strongly aligned behind a move that was good for the industry and great for consumers.

     

    But, let me be honest – our experience with consensus building hasn’t been great. Usually, we disagree more than we agree. So, I want to highlight today what I see as the four big problems facing the industry around which we need consensus. And, in the days ahead, I hope to focus my own and the FICCI media and entertainment committee’s energies towards forging a consensus on how we can address each of these challenges.

     

    Firstly, media and entertainment is a real economic enterprise not just a vehicle of glitz and glamour. This industry is an economic enterprise like the best of them and is capable of creating employment and wealth much faster than most other sectors and with the ability to be a force multiplier, like it is in most countries. It is particularly relevant in India because it can be an employment generator without massive public investments and without being hampered by the deficiencies of public infrastructure. Just to put things in perspective, as a 15 billion dollar industry, we employ over 6 million people. This can be so much more significant and meaningful.

     

    Let me explain this further: according to official estimates, about 15 million people are entering the job market every year while the country is generating only about 3 million new jobs a year. This means that we are adding, as my friend Shekhar Kapoor eloquently put it, a city of unemployed people as big as Delhi every year.

     

    And yet, the lens often used to look at this industry is largely one of glamour and propaganda and the biggest debate is on how to control and contain it. As a result, the growth of M&E has not been supported by policy and regulatory initiatives. With full recognition of the government’s constraints, this year’s budget is a case in point. Instead of giving fiscal support to digitalization which can unlock huge economic value, there is an imposition of additional customs duties on boxes and of withholding taxes on content rights. Why would you not nourish an industry which has the potential to become a huge employer? Why would you not fuel an industry that can grow with more policy support than resource support? The time has come for all of us to make sure that it is not just industry status that we seek; it is a fundamental change in mindset.

     

    Confusion on basic facts

    This takes me to the second big challenge. How can we seek support from the government when as an industry we do not even have the basic facts in place?

     

    It is not my desire to add fuel to the debate on TAM. However, it is indeed a matter of concern that the credibility of the most prevalent currency of all transactions in TV enjoys so little credibility. Imagine if the automobile sector didn’t have consensus on the number of cars sold or the railways did not know the number of passengers transported or the tonnage of freight carried. The lack of reliable data is not limited to TAM. In fact, as a TV executive, I am surprised sometimes how I am even able to function. I do not know enough about my viewers – in fact I don’t even know how many of them are there. There are 140 million cable and satellite homes but the measured universe is 62 million households. I do not know how many subscribers I have with a particular MSO and the MSO doesn’t know how many households his LCO delivers the signals to. Same is true in advertising too. The country’s premier media agencies can’t even seem to agree on a fact as basic as the size of the advertising market. One leading agency estimates the total market size to be ~35,000 crores, while the other, equally illustrious, estimates it to be ~29,000 crores. A variance of no less than 20%! I don’t even want to get into projections for next year, where this variance is even more bizarre! The ambiguity in data for other sectors of the media and entertainment is no less. For instance, no film producer seems to know accurately how many people actually bought tickets to watch his film. How can this industry function without a shared and non-controversial view of the most basic facts? Numbers are supposed to be the foundations of rational business decisions but how can we make decisions when professionals in the business of numbers can’t get their numbers straight?

     

    Crisis of talent

    The third issue that must keep us awake at nights is talent. We have a real crisis on both supply and quality. While it is not unique to Media and Entertainment, what is different is the lack of recognition of the scale of the challenge. While other fast growing sectors like IT and financial services are actively working to find the right talent and building the right skills, we, as a community are complacent in our belief that this sector is different. We hide under the pretense of creativity and have convinced ourselves that creativity gives us the license to be informal and chaotic. It is this informality and chaos that has seeped into our approach to spotting and grooming talent. This is dangerous. We must realize that discipline and formality are not antithetical to creativity and if anything they are necessary ingredients to fostering the creative process.

     

    In the last 10 years, there has been a manifold increase in the content we have produced, the number of channels, the number of newspapers, the number of radio stations, and the number of films – but there is not even a nominal increase in the number of quality training institutions to support this kind of growth. Fly-by-night training shops have mushroomed, making the problem even worse.

     

    Even in what are considered “established” disciplines like management and technology, the situation is not any better. Not a single premier management institute has a proper course on media and entertainment.

     

    No industry without free expression

    While these are all big challenges, for me, the most important issue at the moment is the one on freedom of speech. This perhaps is the only major democracy in the world where, after over 60 years of independence, there continues to be a debate on how much freedom can be given to the media. I am shocked that there are still groups and interests who continue to debate on the right amount of freedom that can be granted to media; as if this is something to be granted and as if this is even negotiable.

     

    There is a strong positive correlation between creativity and the space for free expression. There is no greater evidence than Silicon Valley that culture is destiny. The Valley’s preeminent role in global media and technology can be directly attributed to the freewheeling culture of the 1960s and 1970s California. So, what is troubling to me is that in a very competitive world, we are questioning the scope of free speech – one of the few real sources of advantage for us. China and Russia are way ahead of us in most areas of business and industry. But we, as a democracy, should be unquestioningly leveraging the democratic advantage that we have over them and many other competitors to become a global media and entertainment giant.

     

    What is interesting to me is that we all agree that the role of media is to question the status quo. But with the right to question must come the right to provoke and the right to offend. In the absence of these, there is no debate and without debate there is no clarity. But we seem to be regressing in this area.

     

    When Satyamev Jayate points to weaknesses in the medical system, doctors are offended. When Jolly LLB creates a courtroom satire, lawyers are offended. Even when a precocious teenager posts a comment on Facebook, some people start baying for her blood. We are not far from a point where someone’s sneeze or a cough on a television show will be source of offense and outrage for many. What makes it worse is that increasingly the democratic institutions have more patience for those who promote intolerance. It is time for us to recognize that free speech is what is sacrosanct, not the right to be offended.

     

    In conclusion, I want to go back to the idea of the 1,000 crore blockbuster – mainly because of the scale of its ambition, how bold and daring it is. Just in the last couple of years we had major Hollywood movies – like Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire – where everything was Indian except production and direction, and these went on to become world-wide successes. There is no reason why those movies should not have been made in this country by one of us here.

     

    It is that kind of ambition that needs to fire up all the sectors in their pursuit of the next big leap. Today, let’s commit ourselves to this goal.

     

    Thank You.

     

  • As audiences for children's channels expand to include the entire family, among the chief challenges is keeping the genre viable

    #Frames2013: Need to grow the kids’ pie further

    By Johnson Napier

     

    While increasing importance is being given to Hindi GECs and sports broadcasting in India, a genre that has been steadily pushing itself up the growth chain is children’s entertainment. Accounting for nearly 7 per cent of the growth pie, kids’ channels in India have been throwing up interesting growth trends over the past few years.

     

    At the session on ‘Trends in Children’s Entertainment’, panelists presented their viewpoints on the genre and what was the way forward. The panelists comprised Harpreet S Tibb of Kellogg India, Vijay Subramaniam of Disney UTV, Ashish Karnad of IMRB, Krishna Desai of Turner, and Pradeep Hejmadi of TAM.

     

    Harpreet S Tibb, Marketing Director, India & South Asia, Kellogg said, “The focus for marketers is to strengthen our brand and also that the message gets conveyed to the desired TG. The thing about kids today is that they are increasingly gravitating to newer mediums and it is therefore essential that the broadcasters come up with content that is valuable and meaningful. There is also a need for players to create content that is interactive and relevant.”

     

    Vijay Subramaniam

    Vijay Subramaniam, Executive Director, Kids Network, Disney UTV highlighted how the focus by his group was to tell stories that are great.” We have always been known to present stories that are innovative and pioneering. While much of our content is centred around kids, it is also made keeping the family audience in mind. The challenge facing the genre is of financial viability.”

     

    Ashish Karnad, Group Business Director, IMRB International presented his outlook as he said that boys consumed different content while the girls too consumed content that was different from boys. “There was not much differentiation that was observed between the two subsets earlier but that is seeing a change now. And as we all would be aware, there is a huge demand for locally produced content.”

     

    Krishna Desai

    Krishna Desai, Director-Content, South Asia, Turner International India elaborated on how the broadcast players were waking up to providing new content options for the kids of today. “Admitting that animation as an industry is still in its infancy, Mr Desai said that it was indeed picking up in growth. “Overall the kids’ genre is still small compared to the other genres as the ad spends around the medium are still very low. But there are other positives that are emerging inclusing its ability to ship content to outside markets. The industry is evolving and it is up to us to unite and take it to the next level.”

     

    Earlier Pradeep Hejmadi of TAM went on to present his perspective of the kids’ genre in India and what was in store for the players in the years to come.

     

  • In an era when the consumer is king and is faced with an array of choices for consumption, the challenge is engaging the growing audience and hiring the right people

    #Frames2013: Unlocking M&E’s true potential for a billion consumers

    By Johnson Napier

     

    That the media and entertainment sector in India is one of the liveliest and has been delivering a robust growth year-on-year is what makes it a favourite for many. Little doubt that when the economy is just about struggling to stay afloat the M&E industry surprised one and all by posting a 12.6 percent growth rate in 2012 (according to data from FICCI-KPMG).

     

    There have been a stream of avenues that have led the industry to achieve the kind of growth it is seeing thanks largely to the emergence of new mediums and technologies which in turn have led to a growth in the number of audiences out there to consume such mediums. The challenge going forward would be how the industry can engage a billion people in an era when the consumer will be king and would be faced with an array of choices for consumption. The panel discussion ‘Engaging a billion consumers in the M&E industry’ saw a high-profile display of knowledge and mantras from speakers including Ravi Dhariwal of Bennett & Coleman, Punit Goenka of ZEEL, Sidharth Roy Kapur of Disney UTV, Sudhanshu Vats of Viacom 18, Rahul Johri of Discovery and Shailesh Rao of Twitter Inc. The session was moderated by Uday Shankar, chairman of FICCI Frames 2013.

     

     

    Uday Shankar

    Uday Shankar, chairman of FICCI-Frames 2013, began by warming up the audiences on the quality of panellists that had assembled at the session who according to him were among the best in the business. “If any change has to happen in the M&E industry then it has to begin with us (pointing at the speakers) and if we cannot do it then nobody else can and it will eventually be a failure,” remarked Mr Shankar.

     

     

     

    Ravi Dhariwal

    Presenting the mantras that get practiced at his workplace, Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, Publishing, Bennett & Coleman began by saying that for him it was important to concentrate on the smaller audiences, which is roughly about 1 per cent of the total population, and try and make a business model out of it. “To get this going we lay more emphasis on hiring good creative people and give them the freedom to do what they feel like. Ours is a very federal system where we let our people do what they want to do whether it is television or Radio Mirchi, TOI etc. With this, we also make it a point to hire good marketing professionals as we believe that the creative people also need to understand where the market is moving and be able to hear the voice of the customer. We try and make this combination come together to develop brands.”

     

    Sudhanshu Vats

    On the question on whether the industry is geared to cater to the entire range of diversity in terms of content, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom 18 Media said that the emphasis going forward would be to be able to build more of this ability and be able to segment and target. “In order to cater to a billion Indians we sharply need to segment and target them.” Pointing out to three trends that were helping the industry move forward, Mr Vats said, “The first trend is the mega-consumer trend where people generally tend to fall under the ‘collectible’ category and believe in sharing with the others around them and the ‘I’ category where people focus more on themselves and what they desire. The other trends include multiple screens that are here to stay and also the role that digitization will be playing in delivering focused content for both the mediums of television and print.”

     

     

    Punit Goenka

    For Punit Goenka, CEO & MD, ZEEL, the industry has just about taken baby steps and there is still a long way to go. “In fact if we are not geared for it then fragmentation is going to be the order of the day. And if do not do something about this then the consumer is going to go away.” Adding further he said, “From a television POV we have to stop calling ourselves as broadcasters and call ourselves content creators and aggregators. As in the end we will have to customise content even to the last individual. The problem is that the industry does not believe in working together today and if the entire value chain cannot work together then it cannot be done.”

     

    Sidharth Roy Kapur, MD – Studios, Disney UTV said that where films is concerned what has happened in ten last 7-8 years is that commercial and parallel cinema have learnt to co-exist and also become popular too. “Films have managed to bridge the gap where you have audiences who like a Rowdy Rathore and are also enjoying a film like Barfi at the same time. And these are not two different set of audiences. I think the massive gap that we have in our country is infrastructure. In India there are only 12 screens per million viewers compared to the US who have 130 screens for the same number. So you can see the unlimited potential that exists in our country. Even the scope of catering to the outside diaspora is large but we hardly are doing anything to cater to their needs. The thing is that we haven’t even scratched the surface of where we want to go with our content and as we keep experimenting I think our job is to keep expanding the footprint and it needs to be done collectively.”

     

    Rahul Johri

    Rahul Johri, Sr VP & GM, India – Discovery Networks said, “Where localisation of content is concerned we have our channels available across multiple languages. The fact is that we need to have a right mix today; the way we are looking at the market is that people come to our brand to see what is happening around the world. Today about 60 per cent of the population is in the youth category and how do we engage this set of audiences that is an important TG is what is core to us. For us it is not about ratings and creating sensationalism but about building strong brands.”

     

    Putting forth his observations, Shailesh Rao, Head of Global Operations, Twitter Inc remarked, “Where the Indian M&E industry is concerned I honestly think that it is one of the finest in the world in terms of creativity and diversity of content and product that’s brought out in the market. So while we have huge assets at our disposal we have to see what is it that will make us aspire to deliver more. And I think it is technology that will help us deliver that.” According to Mr Rao the way technology can  help connect the dots is in the following manner: “We have always seen broadcast and print as a push medium but I think there is a role for something like Twitter that is used to pull. We have to ask the audience what they like and communicate with them on a continuous basis. The other thing is to use technology for effective distribution. I see mobile playing a huge role in the way we communicate with the consumers, especially SMS.”

     

    The panel proceeded by discussing other ways, including regulatory challenges, that would make this industry amongst the most preferred and profitable for the economy.