MxMIndia

Tag: FICCI Frames 2013

  • Robert Bakish, President & CEO, Viacom International Media Networks and Sai Kumar, Group CEO, Network 18, tell MxMIndia what's making the network surge ahead

    Jaldi 5 with Robert Bakish & Sai Kumar: It’s fair to say that we have a pipeline

    Robert Bakish
    Sai Kumar

    Most of their broadcast products in India attained leadership position in the genre that they operate in. In recent years, some of them have managed to attain that in record time like the Hindi GEC Colors or English comedy channel Comedy Central.

     

    Viacom has had a fantastic innings in India thus far and much of that growth has been possible due to its win-win partnership with entertainment hotshop Network 18 in India.

     

    On the sidelines of FICCI Frames 2013, MxM India caught up with Robert Bakish, President & CEO, Viacom International Media Networks and Sai Kumar, Group CEO, Network 18 to find out what’s making the network surge ahead in India and what’s in store next. Excerpts:

     

    01.  With Viacom being a major player, what is your top-level view of the content business that exists in India?

    Robert Bakish: Like most things there are some common elements and there are some unique elements where content is concerned. Generally speaking, it’s about creating content that an Indian consumer is very engaged with. They could be watching their content anywhere, so in that sense the dynamics remain the same. The next end is funded partially through advertising and distribution and through consumer products. Now some of the specifics to India are different. Today everybody is talking about digitization and that’s a seismic shift in the television distribution marketplace in India, which quite frankly has been a long time coming. This has been a market where you have to pay for distribution where you really didn’t get paid. In most markets around the world on that basis they are making a lot of money from distribution. So we look forward to the day that happened in India and thankfully it’s happening now. So that’s one big unique element and that’s certainly to the benefit of leading content companies. So unless you have very strong content and brains you may not be able to do that and that’s what Viacom 18 is in a good position at.

     

    Another thing about this market is that there are many countries within India itself. These are still early days for exploitation by major content companies like us but there are tremendous opportunities ahead.

     

    In a sense you are going to have many countries in the Viacom 18 umbrella itself given Hindi and the various languages under ETV. So you do not have to look elsewhere for refashioning content in other languages…

    Robert Bakish: One of the advantages of Viacom 18 being a global company is that we can cast a very wide net for hit content in terms of format etc. But at the same time we can focus on the Indian market whether it is something that came out of our national set of services or may be some regional opportunity… or maybe from Eenadu with which we are still doing some regulatory diligence but there are already some national formats that are travelling to regional it’s only a matter of time before some regional format moves over to become national on Colors and maybe even exported to the US, the UK, Middle east etc. So there’s pretty broad opportunity that exists there.

     

    02.  Like you’ve said, Colors and the regional channels have had some successful content to their credit. Are you looking at taking that content and repurposing that for airing in international markets?

    Sai Kumar: That has already started whereby content from Colors is now available across 130 countries. That’s pure syndication. Now if you see, syndication is largely for the Indian market oversees. But if you look at the local market we have already started shipping formats. Uttaran has entered Africa as a format so it is going to be completely produced. Now that’s a green shoot that we have seen in the past two months. We are already having conversation around 3-4 of our soaps… so reverse migration has started. By which I don’t mean only syndication, I mean format migration which could be a very healthy revenue line for us.

     

    03.  In terms of revenues, what are the numbers you are expecting post-digitization?

    Sai Kumar: I’ll tell you what our wish-list is: two years down the line we will be happy if Viacom 18 gets about 45 per cent of its revenues from domestic distribution and about 10 per cent of revenues from international distribution…so a range of over 30-60 per cent is what we are looking at over the next two-four years which is something that will change our P&L dramatically. And I dare say that we are on track.

     

    04.  Comedy Central has been a big success in quick time. Are you looking at playing that content across other languages in India?

    Robert Bakish: Comedy Central is our third great global brand behind MTV and Nickelodeon. If you look at the last 12-18 months with Comedy Central, we have not only lit up India but also Russia, South East Asia, Africa, Latin America etc. So Comedy Central is a big deal for us. The brand obviously has a great ability to connect with the consumers all over the world, and obviously the services are different all over the world. So we will be launching additional services in India; we are not going to say what they are going to be but there will be more opportunities.

     

    05.  In terms of new offerings from the Viacom stable, can we look forward to more channel offerings…

    Robert Bakish: We are not here to announce any new products but it would be fair to say that we have a pipeline. From a Viacom standpoint, India is a very important market with a huge potential ahead of it. We know that part of accessing that potential will involve creating more products… we launched a couple of new national products last year including Comedy Central, Sonic etc and it’s safe to assume we will launch additional services in the future.

     

    Robert Bakish (pic source: blog.viacom.com)

     

  • Over the last few years, with an enhanced Bollywood presence, FICCI-Frames has also acquired some "glamour" connotations, apparent from the presence of gossip journalists in the media centre, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor | FICCI-Frames: 14 and counting

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The 14th edition of FICCI-Frames concluded in Mumbai yesterday. I remember attending the inaugural one back in 2000, held at a much lower scale, and if I recall correctly, over two days, instead of the three-day schedule now.

     

    Many such conventions and events begin to fall apart in their second or third year. So, the fact that FICCI-Frames has been conducted for 14 years without a break is no mean achievement in itself. It has arguably got more commercial and less “conventional” over these years, but it that’s what it takes for an event of this nature to keep running year after year, one would gladly accept the commercialization.

     

    The bringing together of the various sectors of the media and entertainment industry, as well as the government and the regulatory bodies, gives FICCI-Frames the stature it enjoys today. However, there is an aspect of the event that may be worth worrying about in the editions to come – that of its positioning.

     

    FICCI-Frames is clearly a “networking” event today, than being a “learning” event. Over the last few years, with an enhanced Bollywood presence at Frames, it has also acquired some “glamour” connotations, apparent from the presence of gossip journalists in the media centre.

     

    Now, I’m not sure if Frames acquired this networking + glamour positioning by accident or design. But I’d like to believe that they certainly didn’t design to remove “learning” from their intended positioning. But learning has idneed become an incidental aspect of the event.

     

    Yes, there are some stimulating panel discussions and keynotes, but those are far and few in between. A lot of discussion tends to scratch the surface, with reasons ranging from choice of panelists to poorly conceived topic to political correctness to (the most common one) unprepared moderators.

     

    There’s another off-shoot of the learning debate, and that’s to do with the nature of the delegates at FICCI Frames. When it first started, Frames attracted a wider mix of executives across levels. Many middle management executives could be seen at the event, with a genuine desire to learn something new.

     

    By pricing the event at more than Rs. 10,000 per delegate, FICCI has effectively made it the events of haves vs. have-nots. I’d like to believe that the biggest convention of the media and entertainment industry should be inclusive in its approach, attracting many more than the 2,500 delegates it currently manages.

     

    But irrespective of the positioning it acquires over the next decade, FICCI Frames has managed what would have been unthinkable back in the 1990s – an industry forum that’s no pushover!

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is founder and CEO of media & entertainment research and consulting firm Ormax Media. He spent nine years in the television industry before turning entrepreneur. He can be reached at his Twitter handle @shaileshkapoor

     

  • Text of speech by I&B secretary Uday Varma at FICCI-Frames 2013

    #Frames2013: Text of speech by I&B secretary Uday Varma

    I am indeed very happy and delighted to be here like previous years.

     

    FICCI FRAMES actually is one event in my opinion which perhaps is looked forward to by everybody in the media and entertainment industry. By Government also, because I think this is one platform, one forum where you get the best people from the industry and I think the level and quality of deliberation is of extremely high quality. And that provides us not only the inputs of the industry but also to a very large extent to the Government as well.

     

    There’s a very interesting and famous book in Sanskrit, known as Panchtantra. It’s like Aesop’s Fables but much more comprehensive and perhaps much richer. This was created by a fellow known as Vishnu Sharma. And when he started writing this book, he started with one couplet and I would like to quote it here. It says (quoting in the Sanskrit). Most of you perhaps don’t know Sanskrit, and therefore whichever way I translate it you will have to accept it but I am very faithful. What he did was he invoked good people. In an enterprise which is going to be an extremely important enterprise and they were going to be very important in delivery. Perhaps you know that this fellow was given the task of educating four delinquent children of a king and you know how difficult it is to deal with delinquent people, unruly people and undisciplined people. So this was the task given to him. And this is what perhaps FICCI is also doing, FICCI FRAMES. And I took it in the most positive sense and I made a bold statement. This offers through a collection of narratives and through a stream of thoughts. One is to be able to find a way forward, in practical terms. Also, there is a general sense of direction taken.

     

    But I think what is more important that we come out of these next … of deliberations is very substantial things and that is what is extremely critical. Meanwhile, we had all talked about digitization and we are all glad that it is happening. And it is happening because as Mr. Uday Shankar said, there was alignment, alignment within the industry first of all and also between the government and other stakeholders. And I think the argument of alignment is can be very challenging and I may refer back to it in my address. And that is perhaps one of the most important ingredient for any post – development from this sector that will be taken care. It was difficult task but we did it and we can feel very satisfied about it maybe a little bit proud also, a certain amount of pride we can take because this is something which has happened in record time and no country in the world has been able to do so and that too in the most smooth fashion. It happened quietly but it has happened very smoothly.

     

    We must remember that this has happened without a single paisa intervention from the Government. There was no subsidy. Whole cost of operation was pulled off by the industry. And I think this is remarkable. This has not happened anywhere else. With regards to Phase II, I can report to you that the progress is quite satisfactory. More than 60% digitization has already taken place. There are 21cities which are working with more than 50% digitization, 10 cities more than 75% digitization. And it is only in 4 cities, 4 problem cities where at this point of time digitization is roughly around 30%.

     

    I’m quite sure that with the help of all the stakeholders, the second phase of digitization should also be accomplished by 31st March. And if that is done, and I see no reason why it should not be done, the process of digitization of cable service in India would become virtually irreversible. And I think irrespective of mandate, irrespective of the deadlines, subsequent to 31st March, the process has to reach its logical conclusion and complete digitisation of cable service. So, we have been pursuing it, and I think all the stakeholders have been very helpful and very proactive and if there are any problems we need to see, we immediately look at them and we collectively tackle them and find solutions as far as those problems are concerned.

     

    While in the process of digitization, the seeding process of the Set-Top box has happened very successfully, I think the more important dimensions of digitization and after – effect of digitization is yet to be realized fully. Unless there is complete addressability, the digitization process is incomplete. And I think we have very seriously worked towards it and a number of steps are being taken by the government. Also we recognize the process and it takes a slight time, a while to do that. But I think all the stakeholders will have to work towards it. The certain responsibilities which are cast upon all stakeholders must be carried out because unless we are able to have complete transparency in the system, have full transparency in subscriber data, that would actually address the aberrations of the business models.

     

    And as Mr. Ronnie Screwvala was pointing out – in the next one or two years most of most of the aberrations should be addressed and we should have a far more healthy and more dynamic system based on real data and not on assumptions of approximate figures.

     

    So the challenges as far as this discussion is concerned – I’ll quickly put them: Number 1 – We have to make sure that set-top box is of good Quality and certifications are made by MSOs, We have to provide roughly 16million set top boxes; 10 million have already be seeded, 6 million have to be seeded; if we take into account what is in stock and what is in pipeline. We have 6 million lying and I don’t think we’ll have a problem. But I think the bigger problem is between the broadcasters and MSOs I think that needs to be addressed. And since all the people associated to that process are here, I’ll request them to address this problem.

     

    Also what is important is that the consumer understands what digitization is and what price he has to pay for the set-top box and the services – that is extremely crucial. The effective public awareness campaign is a must. And we already in one, it is already in place and we hope it gains momentum in the coming days. And it really becomes a very effective instrument of public awareness. And lastly the role of state governments is crucial because there are 15 state governments involved. And we know that it is seldom that Union and the State Governments seek to agree on any issue – that is what the situation is today. This becomes very crucial and a Role TRAI has to play the regulation of the right kind is put in place. I will not go into the detailsof TAM data,but I think it requires much better application of mind on the TV rating system.

     

    A lot of discussion took place to my understanding, and in proper rating system of TV programs I would like to say that the option of the industry creating its own rating system is already there.And if there is a general consensus that the governments intervene in this matter, we maybe come out with guidelines that any rating agency should be following in terms of sample sizes, spread, several other dimensions and parameters I think that it is possible. But that is that there is general consensus that is coming in into these matters, there are lots of people coming to us and telling us that we must do something about it there are issue waiting in the parliament, industry stakeholders come and say that governments should be doing more than what they are doing now and at the same time there are perceptions in the industry who feel that the government should be staying away from this thing because it is kind of a supply of a service and a demand for that service and therefore it is between the supplier and the person who is the purveyor of that service. But I’m mentioning this deliberately so that if it is indeed perceived as serious threat to the growth of TV industry and to what our minister has referred to as somewhat corrosive discourse on the TV screens, I think something has to be done about it and some decisions taken in the short term. I’m quite aware the disappointment that the film industry has articulated after the Budget speech of the Finance Minister. It is true that in terms of the tax capital the film industry actually feels, rightly so, that they haven’t got a fair deal.

     

    My ministry is with the film ministry. But the issue is how we go beyond the issues discussed. I have two suggestions to offer, one is to – and I have said also – the film industry and the gaming industry is to be seen as serious economic segment of the country. It is not nearly the glimmer and the glitch as Mr. Uday said in his speech. But a serious provider of employment and contributor too. And that is correct. Secondly the regime of general goods and taxes was to come into existence. It was to come into existence a year ago, it will take some time, it is unfinished, but I do believe it is the kind of industry and ministry to work together to make sure that is the kind of a not so fair deal that we have got so far from the film industry those issues are addressed right away so that when we have a new GST regime at least some of these issues are addressed.

     

    What I am offering is that we are willing the world to the film industry to deliberate on and how we can build up a very strong case for a fair case for the industry to the new GST regime comes in place. As far as the 100 years of cinema is concerned its initiative by the state has been talked about we now give away the national film awards every year on the 3rd of May to commemorate 100 years of cinema and  also to pay a tribute to Dada Saheb Phalke. The national museum on cinema, one part of it– is almost about to be ready and we and will be ready in next few months. We have launched the national film heritage mission, the formal launching will also take place, which actually will make sure that the film heritage is well preserved and are restored and the conservation of film heritage takes place.

     

    We want to make sure that nothing is lost…and we will facilitate the shooting in India by creating a board which will be used for film promotion and facilitation board so that people get that one window to go ahead and apply for permission by the producer, this is not only for the producer from outside the country butaldso domestic ones. On the FM radio we have done a meeting with the minister where we have some glitches because of TRAI recommendations which said that we could perhaps have more FM channels by reducing the spectrum requirement or inter spacing from 8ookilo hertz to 400kilohertz. But that had actually created a bit of a problem but that has been resolved. ECom has decided to go ahead with auctioning off 839 new FM channels to 295 cities, so it is my hope and am quite sure it should happen that in the next year we should be able to have close to 839 additional radio channels across the country. I think we can imagine to kind of impact it will have on the media industry once its close to 839 channels are launched and i think this will completely transform the industry in the country. I would now like to conclude that while  listening to other speakers and following FICCI Frames i heard things like talking about a 1000cr blockbuster, or having films like Life of Pi or Slumdog Millionaire being produced in India, and I think the KPMG report is talking about an encouraging kind of growth for the sector for next year and the years on for the next five years, I think this is perhaps the right opportunity to talk about this and my thought  is to make India the digital hub of entertainment not only interms of hardware in terms of teleports  but also interms of Digital production.  I think the task is difficult but I have no doubt in my mind that is neither impossible nor improbable the only thing is that we have to align our efforts align our thinking , and if the industry is able to do that we should be able to do this lots of people say that’s a risky proposition, and there are greats risks involved in the proposition, like in the film industry is considered to be a very risky, but I think risks must be takenand you must let me conclude with a poem that I find very stimulating but also very relevant and is titled only a one a person who risks is free……

     

    I’m very fond of this , please allow me to read out this as only a person who risks is free to laugh is to risk appearing a fool, to weep is to risk appearing sentimental, to reach another is to risk involvement, to explore your ideas out before a crowd is a risk to their loss, as a lot of people don’t talk about their ideas because they think that someone will steal them , to love is to risk not being loved, to live is to risk dying, to believe is to risk despair to try is to risk failure but risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing, the people who risk nothing do nothing, have nothing , are nothing the people who risk nothing do nothing,  have nothing , are nothing, they may be award3ed by suffering and sorrow but they cannot…, run, feel, change grow, love , live, change by the attitudes they are slaves they have forfeited their freedom only a person who risks is free.

     

    Thank you very much!

     

  • Text of speech by Manish Tewari, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting at the FICCI-Frames 2013 Valedictory Session

    #Frames2013: Text of speech by I&B Minister Manish Tewari

    Good morning ladies and gentlemen, please accept my apologies. As a result of the Parliament being in session, I have not been able to make it in Mumbai amongst you all for this very important conference which the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has organised. I have had the privilege of being briefed extensively about the discussions that have taken place and I am sure that this conference will come out with an appropriate take away which both the industries and government would be in a position to implement in order to ensure that we are able to make the sector far more robust and vibrant than it already is.

     

    As in happens in governments, the information and broadcasting ministry has its various limits, we are licensors, we are also stakeholders in the media industry, and we are also regulators of some sort. Therefore it is a mixed bag which you have to really banister as the person who is in charge of the information and broadcast limit of the government. However, I would not like to focus upon the initiatives the government has taken over all these years specifically with regard to making the entire broadcasting sector far more transparent and far more attractive in terms of an economic proposition. But I will try to choose and address the four or five issues which my friend who is the chairperson of the FICCI entertainment committee Mr. Uday Shankar has apparently raised in the inaugural speech, a copy of which he was kind enough to send to me.

     

    I cannot agree with the sentiment that media and entertainment industry is not only a huge economic multiplayer but it also has the potential of absorbing the creative intellect of our younger people as India goes into its next two decades of its economic trajectory. It is therefore incumbent upon the government that we put in place the appropriate mechanism which try and play the role of a facilitator and an enabler that in order for this sector is even at a far more rapid pace than what it has witnessed in the last couple of years.

     

    Uday in his speech has specifically referred to two issues, one was with regard to increased customs duty on set-top boxes and I believe the other issue was withholding of content rights and taxation bought on it, if I got it correct. So as far as the first part is concerned, digitization has been a unique experiment which my honourable predecessor took upon as a legal remit in order to see that cable and television which is analogue across 51 present of television homes in this country is digitised. In the first phase we went through a digitisation process in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and in Chennai. By and large this digitisation process has been successful but what is also come out as a result of this is that most of the set-top boxes are imported from our neighbouring countries especially South East Asia. So it is important that when such a huge exercise is undertaken which involves a revenue of about four to five billion dollars essentially paid by the Indian and multi system operators there must be some tangible benefits which must accrue to the Indian manufacturer so therefore to give the Indian manufacturer and to see that a part of this huge economic cake in the broadcasting sector does translate into tangibles in terms of providing appropriate incentives to the Indian manufacturing sector. The finance minister in his wisdom decided that the duty on set-top boxes needs to be increased slightly, so therefore I don’t think it has to be seen as an attempt to stall digitisation or set the process of digitisation backwards. It needs to be seen in its proper prospective that we as a country also do have a responsibility and a certain amount of vibrancy in our manufacturing sector as we implement this.

     

    Some of the sectors are made far more transparent and robust as we go into the second phase of our digitisation across 38 cities. I think it is very important for the industry also to realise that there may be a legal contract which backs this entire process and also a social context which calls upon all stake holders to this process whether they are broadcasters or multisystem operators or the local cable operators  to internally sort out the issues they have because eventually this process needs to be a win-win situation from everyone, broadcaster to the consumer and if any section within this larger family feels shortchanged then obviously there is a cause of concern and that is where the industry needs to walk the extra mile in order to ensure as we unfold the process. In the third and fourth phase this is a process which enjoys the backing of all the stake holders irrespective of wherever in the value chain they fit in.

     

    Similarly, the film industry has been one of India’s greaterstrengths be it Bollywood or regional films like Tamil,Telugu, Bengali … for the lack of time I wouldn’t go into all the languages which have added to the diversity of India’s soft power initiative as it has unfolded over the last 100 years and the beauty is that the Indian film industry has grown not because of the government, it has grown despite of the government, that is why we have been working to ensure that there is a single window clearance especially for people who want to come in from abroad and use Indian locales for shooting that clearance time between state and central government can be cut down and also issues which have come up regarding the certification process, though the entry of section 60 gives this power entirely to the union government to certify films fit or unfit for public viewing.

     

    The state governments have been organising a certain law and order remit for all powers which flow out of entry of section 33 of the state list. Therefore to reconcile and harmonise this, we have set a committee with former Chief Justice Mukul Mudgul to see that the integrity and robustness of the Central Board of Film Certification process is protected and film producers don’t have to go hand in hand from secretariat to secretariat even after they have been certified by the central film certification. I do hope this committee would be able to send its report as early as possible so that we can translate it into appropriate legal frame work and if it needs to be taken to the parliament, we shall take it in the next session.

     

    Another issue which Mr Shankar had flagged off in his speech was the crisis of talent, within the industry, and I think that is something that needs to be looked after in terms of public- private partnership. Of course the government has its film institutes, institutes in the information sector and also in the training and certification of journalists. But a far greater initiative in this regard will be especially when we go into technical prospects of broadcasting and film-making. We really need to come out of the private sector and if there are any suggestions on how this could be a viable economical model we are prepared as a government to look at it.

     

    Since this is a recorded speech and not the same how you talk to a live audience, so you are constricted by looking into a camera constantly. Therefore I would like to round it off by saying that the last issue that Mr Uday Shankar addressed during his speech is that of freedom of speech and expression and he had some strong words to say about it. I would just like to say that freedom of speech and expression is something that is guaranteed by the constitution, guaranteed by article 19 of the constitution, but the same constitution which guarantees the freedom of expression and speech also imposes certain reasonable restrictions on it and I think the challenge here is to see as to how we can find the golden weave between this liberty and the reasonable restrictions imposed on it by the constitution makers. But if you personally ask me the freedom of speech and expression does include the right to offend but then as someone is a practising lawyer, I ask myself this question what about my remedy if I have a legitimate grievance with the offence which has been caused to me as a result of certain amount of irresponsible attitude being interpreted as the freedom of speech then do I have appropriate remedy which can restore to me my dignity which are equally guaranteed by the constitution of India. Therefore the more we unfold this debate further, I think it is worth the while for the industry to introspect that there is a distinction between a debate which is honest and something which can be frozen to the national spirit.

     

    As India goes into the next two decades of its economic trajectory, this is the space for consolidation and in this space while we require robust oversight we need to safeguard at least the corrosive nature of discourse which also has the ability to derail India’s quest to be a part of the 21st century as everyone says is the Asian century.

     

    So therefore with these words, I would like to close my remarks and once again apologise to all of you that I was not present there personally. But as we speak I have requested the secretary of information and broadcasting if he can travel to Mumbai this afternoon to Mumbai to be present with all of you in the evening in order to amplify the remarks which I have made if he feels to or at least a road map initiative which the government has taken to be an enabler in the information and broadcasting sector which is something that I choose not to address in my remarks. But once again I would like to congratulate FICCI for giving me this opportunity to speak, remarks of which should not be misinterpreted as a policy statement under the government, but rather as a food for thought as you go into the penultimate and final rounds of the conference.

     

    Thank you very much.

     

     

  • At the session to discuss unleashing the power of data, it became clear that this power is already out there, and businesses don't have much choice except going with the flow

    #Frames2013: ‘Dependency on data unavoidable’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The ongoing 14th chapter of Asia’s foremost conclave on Media & Entertainment, FICCI-Frames 2013, Day III, hosted a session on ‘Unleashing the Power of Data’. The panelists consisted of some of the big names in the business of numbers. These include Ashish Khanna, Managing Partner, Communications and High Tech, Accenture; Lousie Chater, Audience Research Consultant & former head of research, Walt Disney Studios; Atul Phadnis, Founder CEO, WhatsonIndia; Anandshiv Paramatma, EVP, Consumer Rights, Star India; Nick Burfitt, Head, Global Business, Kantar Media,UK; Rajesh Rai, Partner & India Smarter Commerce Leader, IBM GBS and L V Krishnan, CEO, TAM who was the moderator for the session.

     

    “Data is king and it will drive the revenues of the entertainment industry,” said Ashish Khanna, Managing Partner, Communications and High Tech, Accenture. Ashish went on to add that data has become very dynamic and the challenge before the industry is to get this data together. “Today, data should be an enabler to provide real time content for a great consumer experience,” he said.

     

    L V Krishnan, CEO, TAM added that we are living in a digital world, surrounded by data be it phone, television, radio, movie, internet. In real life we live with data and are surrounded by this data matrix. He added that data has become an integral part of our livelihood.

     

    The discussion further moved around the increasing importance of data collation and market research in the media and entertainment space. “Data has become very critical in film making and marketing to make the movie a box office blockbuster,” said Lousie Chater, Audience Research Consultant & former head of research, Walt Disney Studios. “Today, movies are scripted and produced based on the researched data available; which makes the film projects viable and profitable,” she added.

     

    The panel also discussed the perspective of data in today’s scenario where there is an explosion of technology. Atul Phadnis, Founder CEO, WhatsonIndia said, “Today content is very critical and available across platforms be it television, movies, social media, mobile content and other available mediums.” He added that with the increasing number of channels in India, almost touching 700, audiences are becoming more cautious of watching the relevant content. “With the increasing number of channels, the need for enhancing the diversity of content is becoming more and more important,” he said.

     

    The session further went on to showcase the importance of data, fascinating ways in which both online and offline research and data can be harnessed to understand audience preferences and behavior so that the country can witness a real media revolution.

     

  • After some insightful sessions, the biggest M&E trade event in India came to an elaborate end

    3-day informational event fulfils tryst with destiny, almost!

    Actor and Convenor, FICCI MEBC East Prosenjit Chatterjee, Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, FICCI M&E chair Uday Shankar and co-chair Karan Johar, I&B secretary Uday Varma and Ronnie Screwvala, MD, Disney UTV

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    If there was ever a platform that was going to foretell the future that lay ahead for the M&E industry in a manner that was befitting, it had to be at the FICCI-Frames 2013. After an invigorating, insightful, challenging and forward-looking three days of deliberations, the biggest informational event for the M&E industry in India came to an elaborate end yesterday.

     

    While the day began with a series of interesting sessions that centred around topics like the economics of running a sports business, long versus short form of content consumption, skills in the M&E sector, unleashing the power of data, single window clearance for films, reinventing regional media and electronic news media among others, an equally power-packed panel of speakers made sure that the delegates had a lot to take away as learnings from the sessions.

     

    Perhaps the mood that was prevalent over the entire three-day event at the venue was summed up at the valedictory session on day 3 at FICCI-Frames. The session once again saw a line-up of dignitaries who had words of wisdom and promises to make to the gathering.

     

    Union I&B Minister Manish Tewari was not present at the event but shared a recorded message with the audience. Affirmed the minister, “The I&B ministry exercises various limits – we are licensors, we are players and stakeholders and are also regulators… so it’s a mixed bag of duty for us. But it’s incumbent upon the government to try and play the role of a facilitator and enabler in order to ensure the growth of this sector takes place at a more rapid pace than what it has witnessed over the past few years.”

     

    Highlighting his observations over the entire digitization exercise and the demand to do away with the hike in duty on STBs the minister said, “In the first phase we went through a digitization process in the four metros and what was observed was that the STBs are important from also a regional point of view – South East Asia. In order to give a fillip to the Indian manufacturers the Union Finance Minister therefore decided to hike the duty from 5 to 10 percent. So while a rollback is not possible we should see it in the perspective that we as a country also have a duty towards seeing that the other sectors are also benefited and a robust mechanism be established. To achieve success in the second phase across 38 cities all the players, stakeholders and MSOs and LCOs have to come together and make it a reality.”

     

    Adding further Mr Tewari said, “The other issue that had been highlighted was the issue of pricing of talent and that is something I feel has to be handled between the private-public players jointly. While the government has its own institute for providing training and other skill-sets it will take the combined efforts from the private sector to make that dream a reality.”

     

    Sounding a word of caution to the industry, Mr Tewari said that where the issue of freedom of speech and expression was concerned, it is something that is guaranteed by the Constitution but it also carries certain restrictions. “The challenge is to see how we can find the golden mean between liberty and the reasonable caveats that have been imposed by the Constitution. If you ask me the freedom of speech and expression does include the right to offend but we also need to ask ourselves the question – what about the remedy? As we unfold the debate further, it is worth that the industry also introspect that there is a distinction between a debate that is honest, candid and something which can be corrosive to the national spirit.”

     

    Next it was the turn of Ronnie Screwvala, MD, Disney UTV to put forward his predictions as he presented the keynote address. “Some of the good things that have happened in the recent past is the onset of digitisation that has had a huge impact on us. But I think we should hold on to popping the champagne as it will be another 2-3 years before the monetisation from this exercise comes about. So while we have made the investments, the consumer doesn’t necessarily reflect them. But it’s good news that after 20 years of waiting the move has finally come to fruition,” said Mr Screwvala.

     

    Adding further he said, “Where new media is concerned there is a lot to celebrate about, but unfortunately we have not been able to monetize it. The fact that we are going to be a 150-200 million smartphones market in less than two years, and the fact that large digital and mobile players look at this market as the second or third in the world is phenomenal. There is a need to take this growth further.”

     

    According to Mr Screwvala the future will belong to dominance from a single screen. “We all talk about the second-television household but that will become irrelevant as it is going to be our personal screen. We will be surprised to see how consumers from all corners of India wake up to using mobile as their primary source for entertainment. The issue is going to be of bandwidth and pricing,” asserted Mr Screwvala.

     

    Taking over from Mr Screwvala, Uday Verma, Secretary, I&B Ministry began by thanking the industry and the stakeholders for the response that was elicited for the digitization exercise. He said, “The digitization exercise has come about to be because of the alignment of the industry and the stakeholders. It was a difficult task but we are satisfied with what we have managed to achieve. It is something that has happened in a record time and has happened in a smooth manner. Also, it is something that has happened with no intervention from the government where cost is concerned; it has all been borne by the industry.”

     

    “Where Phase 2 is concerned the progress has been satisfactory with more than 60 per cent conversion having already taken place. There are 21 cities that have reported more than 50 percent digitization and about 10 cities have reported more than 75 percent digitization. There are just four cities that have been posing problems with a conversion rate hovering around 30 percent,” added Mr Verma.

     

    On the issue of measurement, My Verma said that the option of the industry making its own rating system is already there and the IBF is working hard towards making it a reality. “If there is a consensus that the government should intervene in this matter in terms of guidelines we can do so for the benefit of the industry.”

     

    Mr Uday Shankar, chairman of FICCI Frames summed up the proceedings by announcing the rollout of a Centre for Regulatory Excellence in collaboration with the industry. “This won’t be limited just to M&E but the entire corporate sector. It will also act as a facilitator in aligning corporate India’s objective with that of the goals of the government and policy establishments. We hope we receive active participation from all quarters.”

     

  • Ronnie Screwvala, MD, Disney UTV stepped up to the task of outlining a roadmap for the M&E industry to take itself into the next phase of growth

    #Frames2013: Combination of data, bandwidth and content will be more valuable than oil: Ronnie Screwvala

    By A Correspondent

     

    Assigned the task of providing a roadmap for the M&E industry to take itself into the next phase of growth, Ronnie Screwvala, MD, Disney UTV did a splendid job at that at the valedictory session on day 3 of FICCI Frames 2013.

     

    Mr Screwvala began by presenting his observations about the trends that were witnessed across various domains and what was needed to take the growth to the next level. He said, “If we start with the assumption that we are growing at 12 per cent, then compared to the top 4-5 industries we are still growing lower than most sunshine industries. So if we want to be in the peg of those sunrise industries we cannot afford to grow at just 10 per cent. My sense is that there is a certain gap that we are missing between the phenomenal talent that we have in the industry when it comes to creating content and also the talent that we have to make commerce out of it. Somewhere down the line there is a sliver in which a lot of it goes away. Each of us needs to introspect as individuals and also players to bring about a genuine change.”

     

    Elaborating on the big thing that has happened in the recent past, Mr Screwvala said, “A good thing that has happened in the recent past is the onset of digitisation that has had a huge impact on us. But I think we should hold on to popping the champagne as it will be another 2-3 years before the monetisation from this exercise comes about. So while we have made the investments the consumer doesn’t necessarily reflect them. But it’s good news that after 20 years of waiting the move has finally come to fruition.”

     

    Where the issue of measurement is concerned, Mr Screwvala said that it is upon the industry to come together and solve the problem. “It is catastrophic to note that 70 per cent of television households are still not in the ratings scanner. I cannot understand how anyone can run a business if we still cannot scan such a huge population size. But, we have moved from 10 per cent to 30 per cent and that can be seen as the cup half-full.”

     

    Where new media is concerned, Mr Screwvala added that there is a lot to celebrate about, but unfortunately we have not been able to monetise the medium. “The fact that we are going to be a 150-200 million smartphones market in less than 2 years, and the fact that large digital and mobile players look at this market as the second or third in the world is phenomenal. There is a need to take this growth further.”

     

    Presenting his outlook on the other mediums, Mr Screwvala said that this is the only country where print as a medium is growing. “It speaks about the dynamism as far as the print market goes.”

     

    “Also, we have been one of the largest DTH markets in the world but if you look at the foundation stone that has been laid for the sector and of you see the 4-5 year view, I feel we are heading in the right direction. But it is again a matter of seeing the glass half-full. There is obviously a lot to be done to derive more out of this medium,” said Mr Screwvala of the medium of DTH.

     

    Moving on to a more important topic of regulation, Mr Screwvala was candid as he said, “The fact is that our country enjoys minimum regulation where the M&E industry is concerned and if we benchmark that against the outside world there is actually very little regulation that we go through. When it comes to censorship I believe it is not necessarily a regulatory challenge; it has actually become a democratic challenge, an environmental challenge and a political challenge. Most of the resistance to self-censorship comes from organisations that are not part of the regulatory framework. We have to look at how we can support the regulatory mechanisms.”

     

    According to Mr Screwvala, “another big that has happened is that we have seen a massive audience democratization; it has flattened out. No longer can one sit out there and believe that a single advertising or media agency and a single marketing message os going to get anyone to consume anything else. Social media and word-of-mouth has made everything that is being created into a level-playing field. So while we are living in a competitive world we cannot undermine that thought process.”

     

    “Also, the regional market has grown phenomenally and will continue to post that kind of growth in the next 5 years or so,” noted Mr Screwvala of the domain.

     

    Moving on to the needle-movers, as Mr Screwvala put it, “the first thing is that we lack unanimity in this industry. Everyone has to look at what is going to be our contribution over the next 5 years to grow this industry further. We do work in competitive environments but we cannot be at loggerheads over 3-4 issues that emerge every year; we have to be a force to reckon with.”

     

    Adding further he said that “the other thing is that there is going to be a lot of innovation and disruptiveness. There are very few innovations that have taken place in the recent past. We have to see how Apple-innovative or Amazon-innovative are we with our ideas and have to plan accordingly to take the industry forward in the future.”

     

    He cautioned the audience saying that it is going to be very imperative for them to know the consumer. “It is something we take very lightly but it is a very difficult thought process. We have to make it a point to study our audience and see what they are going to require 4-5 years down the line.”

     

    Summing up his address, Mr Screwvala said, “We all talk about the second television household but that will become irrelevant as it is going to be our personal screen. We will be surprised to see how consumers from all corners of India wake up to using mobile as their primary source for entertainment. The issue is going to be of bandwidth and pricing. As an industry we have to look at engaging a billion users, this medium is going to be the one that will help us achieve that target. The next ten years is going to be a combination of data, bandwidth and content, which will be more valuable than oil.”

     

  • Escalating costs, restricted prices and little IP protection – a sports broadcasting universe that badly needs reform, concluded the FICCI panel on the last day

    #Frames2013: Business of sports demystified

    L-R – Sundar Raman, CEO, IPL, Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports, Harsha Bhogle, Sports Commentator, Venu Nair,Head-South Asia,World Sports Group, Kushal Das, Secretary General, All India Football Federation, Nitin Kukreja, President, Star India Pvt. Ltd.

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The third day of FICCI-Frames 2013 saw some of the key stalwarts of the business of sports and sports broadcasting industry come together to address and touch upon issues surrounding the sector. The session examined the hurdles plaguing the business of sports, which has evolved and yet lacks the direction to plunge ahead.

     

    With a regime beset with escalating costs, restricted prices and little IP protection; offering compelling content to Indian viewers remains a challenge, what are those enabling policies that will take sports business and broadcasting to its next level. The panel consisted of Sundar Raman, CEO, IPL; Kushal Das, Secretary General, All India Football Federation; Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports; Venu Nair, Head-South Asia, World Sports Group and Nitin Kukreja, President, Star India Pvt. Ltd.  The session was moderated by one of the most famed names in the commentating world, Harsha Bhogle.

     

    The initial part of the session stressed on some of the most common issues faced by broadcasters in the industry, ie the battle of Cost Vs. Revenue, if revenue is keeping pace with costs of the sports properties and whether they are viable. The session also touched on how broadcasters fair between airing cricket which has already established itself as a national sport and non-cricket sports which are still developing in India. Ultimately boiling down to the discussion whether costs on cricket properties are going on an upward spiral and if revenues are keeping pace with it.

     

    Sharing his views, Nitin Kukreja, President, Star India Pvt. Ltd said that his network has committed over Rs.38.50 billion over the last 6 years to acquire the rights to Indian cricket. He said “I think the challenges on the revenue part are manifold and are present in almost every field. The advertiser is always looking for continuous stream of content that he can count on for viewership. It’s the nature of the game, the format, the schedules which are different for sports hence influencing habit formation and therefore to get a consistent stream of advertising is a challenge. On the distribution front, the regulatory environment for sports is such that the catch up doesn’t happen and each step is a struggle. Also if you look at price caps every genre of content is treated similarly whether entertainment or sport or news. Any sport is bucketed together irrespective of viewership, so once again distribution has become a challenge and even monetizing a new form of content is a struggle because technology has emerged at a faster pace than regulation. The revenue stream is difficult to unlock in the value space.”

     

    Commenting on whether revenues and costs were pointing in different directions Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports added “The reality is that the revenue stream is still a little slow to catch up to today. The revenue streams are still not ramping up to costs. The DTH explosion has been slow and has not taken place at the rate we were expecting to. So you can say that the basic challenge is the cost structure, as it is slight above what is justifiable in the market at this point of time.

     

    The next phase of the session stressed that when rights are being purchased, broadcasters are fully aware of the environment and are therefore making rational choices. Venu Nair, Head-South Asia, World Sports Group said, ” Most people who bid on the rights, bid on basis on data which they think will come up to performance, the question when you go out and bid, can it be recouped?  The point is that unless you don’t bid on a cost that is unreasonable, you will not chase on its revenues. I believe this industry, like real estate, there is a price to every value point, if you can decide on a value point and stick to that, then you have a chance to make money.”

     

    Taking a look on the positive side and supporting the claim that there is no crisis in the industry Sundar Raman, CEO, IPL said “I personally don’t think there is a crisis as stated out for cricket or for any other sport.  There is a lack of opportunity in the industry and issues which need to be addressed and FICCI provides such a platform to address such issues. Today the amount of money that you notice in the markets such as UK, USA, South Africa or even Australia that a broadcaster gets paid is from subscription revenue. One of the major point broadcasters should look at is understanding the market size they exist in, once you are on track with that and recognise it you can understand the potential of revenue.”

     

    India now is getting influenced with the western world and is opening up to sports outside the world of cricket. The challenge is to develop these sports in the Indian environment where cricket is so strongly rooted. On that, Kushal Das, Secretary General, All India Football Federation said “The problem with football in India is football itself, you have every professional football league broadcasted across channels, if you compare the Indian league with other world class league you will see that it is not compelling. So if you look at it there are a host of problems as to why football is not being able to develop into a promising product. The challenge is to develop football as a compelling product through talent development and infrastructural improvements.”

     

    To summarize the discussion, Harsha Bhogle stated that the industry as is still at a crucial stage where sports broadcasters are trying to balance and justify their rationale of purchasing sports rights in the country, brace for developments into non-cricket sports and look forward to the digitization boom.

     

  • 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.”