By A Correspondent
Pixels 2017, a day-long conference on digital entertainment, brought to the fore the importance of video and how it will change the way people will consume entertainment in the years to come. Delivering the inaugural address, Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, said that in the next four-five years, there would be at least five million active users of video driven services.
Stressing on the importance of this industry, Roy said: “The entire aspect of digital media, video, and the connotation of content is going to be a tremendously significant component as the amalgam of digital India falls in place. The kind of audiences, the kind of communities and the way the industry is progressing, it is going to be the next real estate, leading into mobile payments, leading into e-commerce and the overall growth of the sector.†He further said that “traditional story tellers are more relevant now than ever, and imagination is a key for entertainment.†The event was organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
Speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Digital Entertainment through a crystal ball’, Kuek Yu-Chuang, Managing Director, APAC, Netflix stated that digital entertainment delivered through internet will have a global taste coming together. He also added that there should be appropriate content for appropriate audiences and advocated parental control, piracy control. According to Chaung, a relationship of trust needs to be maintained between the businessmen and the consumers. In this regard, he cited an example saying that he would not want the consumers of Netflix to be hesitant to provide their credit card details for subscription.
Meanwhile, Vishal Maheshwari, Country Head – India, Vuclip India, said there should be more innovation on advertising product and the use of right metrics of measurement. Panellists agreed to the point that reinvention is highly required and businesses should analyse and understand what consumers want to pay for.
According to Ajit Mohan of Hotstar, there will be more screens of consumption rather than just mobile and televisions. He said that the range of content will be wider and more segmented and the consumption would be so high that it will break the traditional stereotypes. Technology will be more consequential.
Panellists were also of the opinion that there are unique digital opportunities in India in terms of online video. Content delivery will be smarter in the future, however, the target should be to move from subscription base to paid models. That is the only way forward for the industry.
On the contentious issue of piracy, the panellists said that digital content is vulnerable and there can be laws to control piracy. It cannot be stopped, which is a given. The US and UK have laws, while India doesn’t. By the next year, digital content will go way higher than any linear media and therefore, it is important to bring about control of piracy sites in India.
Anand Tiwari, Actor & Founder, Still and Still Media Collective in a conversation with Nikhil Taneja, Head-Development of Y-Films, Yash Raj Films, said that content creation is easy going but the delivery and execution is the most difficult part.
Video-on-demand service Viu, by Vuclip and PCCW, is teaming up with production house Phantom Films to produce their upcoming movie High Jack. The film is scheduled to be released on April 20.