ITV

Category: Special Report

  • Restaurant industry can introspect and reinvent during Covid2019: Sanjeev Kapoor

    Restaurant industry can introspect and reinvent during Covid2019: Sanjeev Kapoor

    MUMBAI: The restaurant industry, just like any other industry in the country, has suffered huge losses since the Covid2019 outbreak. India’s culinary master and food entrepreneur, Sanjeev Kapoor, in a virtual fireside chat with indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari talks about the spirit of generosity, lessons learnt during Covid2019 and his personal evolution. He also explains how the restaurant industry needs to reinvent itself in order to grow ahead.  

    Explaining about his work during the pandemic, Kapoor said, “In Mumbai we have partnered with Taj Group to distribute food to 45,000 people every day and same is the case in Delhi and Bangalore.”

    As people will not stop eating food, there is a significant growth in the consumption of digital content where audiences are looking up their favourite chefs to acquire cooking skills. Hence, Kapoor is keeping himself busy looking after his specialised channel Food Food and also creating content for his digital platforms where he is creating content and live shows with the help of his family members who have turned into sound and camera persons.
    According to Kapoor, reviving restaurants during this pandemic is very essential. Because people's need to eat is still there. What they will eat or where they eat may change. Which means that skills are still required. He added, “If you want to eat a rumali roti you cannot eat at home.You need skilled people to do that. I have been advising people in the restaurant industry to bring in new concepts, new thoughts to sustain and grow.  Also, this is the time to look at what was going wrong in the industry.”

    Kapoor is of the opinion that the fixed cost in the restaurant industry is very high. He notes businesses should look into compensation based on the work being done. They should create work that functions on a variable cost model in order to survive.

    The one positive outcome of the pandemic will be a chance for the restaurant business to refurbish itself.

    Kapoor feels that the restaurant industry will have to go in for some major modification in the coming future. When the business starts, it is important to let go of outdated business practices and develop new concepts, thoughts and more innovative ways to feed people.

    According to Kapoor, the hospitality industry is a very resilient sector, but going forward, will they change their traditional model of doing business? He said, “Meal kits are going to be the next big thing in the industry. We have already started our meal kits. I will include primary ingredients, a recipe card along with a cook along with Alexa, where you scan the QR code and the cook will guide you. It is about changing the model and creating opportunities.”

    Kapoor, who closely works with Akshay Patra, serves 18 lakh meals every day. The food is prepared at 50 large kitchens. According to Kapoor, the restaurant industry was not looking at sectors like that as an opportunity. Institutions like Akshay Patra have interns from top universities including Harvard and Stanford whereas top Indian colleges do not even go there. He thinks that a food service solution needs people who understand processes and taste.

    He says, “If today you want to eat Thai food at home and if you are vegetarian, you don’t want something with fish oil and shrimp paste. You want an Indian solution for that. There are many such opportunities in the market like I closely work with, such as pharma companies. Has anyone thought if medicine tasted good what miracles it would create? There are nutritional and functional foods which need to be healthy and tasty. So, many companies need that intervention. This is the time for specialists and there are many opportunities. We just have to keep our ears and eyes open. I have always advised people to look beyond the standard option.”

    About the options available for a corner-side restaurant, Kapoor said, “They are way better warriors than us. I know many people who are supplying food to a hospital chain. There will be two kinds of people: one who will fight and another who will wait. The ones who are fighting will survive and those who are waiting will also survive but they will need much more time.”

  • Is FB-Jio deal just a great Indian e-commerce story?

    Is FB-Jio deal just a great Indian e-commerce story?

    MUMBAI: What has been hogging the limelight lately? The Rs-43,574-crore Facebook-Jio deal. When the entire country continues to be bogged down by the Covid2019 pandemic, when marketing sentiments were at their nether, the deal came as a big surprise, a refreshing break from all the gloom and doom. Indeed, it is worth the tom-tom, for, the world’s largest social media group has just invested in India’s largest telecom operator, Jio, run by the country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani. Irrefutably, it's a multifaceted deal, but more skewed towards e-commerce play. Even though Jio’s parent company Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has a hold over the Indian media and entertainment ecosystem, there have been speculations about its impact on the sector but it's going to be a minor one for now.

    Because the two giants have been known to disrupt the ecosystems over and again, it's not easy to predict the direction this new association might take. But the e-commerce ambition is unquestionable and has become more evident with JioMart going live on WhatsApp in some areas of Mumbai. Announcing the deal, Jio said: “Our focus will be India’s 60 million micro, small and medium businesses, 120 million farmers, 30 million small merchants and millions of small and medium enterprises in the informal sector.”

    Will India get its own WeChat?

    SBICap Securities institutional equity research head Rajiv Sharma says WhatsApp Payments is in the process of getting launched and it took five years for Paytm to get all the vendors and merchants signed up. While Jio is doing this kirana commerce, it will be significantly faster for WhatsApp Payments to go to market thanks to the partnership. 

    “For Facebook, it is ‘get set go’ on the WhatsApp Payments and WhatsApp Business and if it can make it work here then not only it will improve the value but also the investment it has made, and it will create a new revenue stream. And that model can be replicated in other countries,” he adds.

    An analyst unwilling to be named says WhatsApp will turn out as WeChat of India as Facebook will use even Instagram and look at expanding the horizon by looking at other sectors like healthcare as well. According to him, Jio is going to create a market along with Facebook through this “thick partnership.” It will empower them to do multiple businesses. 

    “I'd always said India will be eventually a hybrid e-commerce market with neighbourhood kirana stores being an integral part of fulfilment strategy. JioMart and WhatsApp have the potential to significantly build on this model and change the rules of the e-commerce landscape in India. While on one side the ease of WhatsApp will make it convenient for consumers to transact, the reach and prowess of the JioMart engine will provide the necessary boost to WhatsApp to exponentially grow as a business platform. It will be interesting to see how Google Spot and Paytm Mall play out their strategies in this space,” PwC India media, entertainment and sports advisory, partner and leader Raman Kalra says.

    What Jio gets out of it?

    Ambani’s biggest bet for the future will also benefit from the deal. The first and foremost is Jio’s debt coming down as RIL may go soon with the former’s initial public offering (IPO). Moreover, the company had laid out a plan to become net debt-free. The deal also comes at a time when the market is significantly hit by the Covid2019 crisis, making business worse for many tycoons. And not to be forgotten, RIL’s oil business may face a huge headwind in the future, especially with the delay in its deal with Saudi Aramco too.

    Sharma explains that while Jio is focusing a lot on commerce, WhatsApp is a great brand to make it very easy for the kirana guys to relate to, if you have payments linked to your chat. Elara Capital VP – research analyst (media) Karan Taurani says that access to Facebook’s large user base across apps will help Jio’s e-commerce ambition, making it a large entity after Amazon and Flipkart. 

    “Across various platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram), FB enjoys significant time wallet share of Indian consumers and with Jio's reach across content and commerce, it creates an attractive value proposition and stickiness for existing consumers as well as the incremental net new consumers. This boost can fuel the digital adoption across multiple untapped segments of society across end consumers and small businesses. With Facebook's focus around groups and communities, the extended reach can provide an exponential boost across healthcare and education segments,” Kalra adds. 

    Will the media and entertainment sector see an immediate impact?

    Although e-commerce is the biggest narrative here, stakeholders and experts across the media and entertainment sector are also evaluating the deal. This is not unpredictable as RIL has built its own media empire by acquiring majority stakes in networks, content production studios, etc. While there is no short-term impact, the combined force can create another wave of disruption in the industry.

    Sharma says that both could share insights around consumers and subscribers, based on data that could allow them to understand consumer behaviour around digital content in a much better way. If Facebook shares some of the consumer insights on Indian users and Jio shares that of all its users, both the parties can have a huge understanding of how the larger part of India is consuming content.

    “From a media and entertainment perspective, the combined force will carry the potential. However, a lot would depend on the content creation and sharing strategies between the two. With extended reach into the hinterland and rural segments, Facebook will have the opportunity to provide extended services around short-form video creation like TikTok and end the monopoly in that segment. I do expect sports streaming to become a strategic focus for the combined force in times to come. All this leading to higher time share on FB platforms could also help them with a few incremental points gain in the digital advertising market share,” Kalra says.

    Data sharing concerns?

    With the massive extraordinary user base, both the parties have access to huge data which has created a concern in the ecosystem. One of the legal experts in the M&E sector says it's important to evaluate the conditions of data sharing, given Facebook’s tainted record, especially in the recent past with regard to data privacy and sharing. Considerably, India is yet to finalise a data protection law. He also adds that the unfair advantage of data sharing may throw more challenges to competitors. However, according to media reports, both the parties emphasised that there would be no data sharing. 

  • Multichannel TV, digital video growing in Myanmar: CASBAA report

    Multichannel TV, digital video growing in Myanmar: CASBAA report

    MUMBAI: Multichannel TV and digital video markets continue to grow exponentially in Myanmar. Around 12 months ago, the TV household penetration touched 5.8 million homes, or 55%.

    Nationally pay-TV connections amounted to 12% of total households. Within the traditional TV market, there are signs of rapid expansion. In
the free-to-air (FTA) sector, the number of channels increased fivefold from four networks in between 2009 and 2015.

    Meanwhile, multichannel-TV investment continues apace, including plans by several pay-TV providers to localize and improve and programming, expanding their reach through more extensive distribution investment supporting less complexity during the subscription and renewal processes.

    Asia Pacific multichannel TV association CASBAA today released its exclusive, members-only “Myanmar in View” report on the fast-evolving multichannel market in Myanmar, one of the world’s most dynamic media and telecoms economies.

    The “Myanmar in View 2017” report was released at the opening of CASBAA’s “Essential Building Blocks for Multichannel TV in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos” spotlight conference in Singapore on 5 December.

    “Even as Myanmar experiences roller coaster political events, the multichannel TV and digital video markets continue to grow exponentially,” said Christopher Slaughter, CASBAA CEO. “According to our analysis and that of many economists and infrastructure specialists, Myanmar continues to experience high economic growth with the continued liberalization of the economy, moving towards becoming a free market and welcoming foreign direct investment as well as foreign firms.” Nevertheless, the CASBAA Report also notes that “Myanmar continues to suffer from inadequate infrastructure such as the lack of electricity and proper roads, although it has begun upgrading its infrastructure.” “Although Myanmar’s TV market stats reflect continued under-development within the broader economy they only highlight great medium-term opportunity for our sector,” said Slaughter.

    Meanwhile, multichannel-TV investment continues apace, including plans by several pay-TV providers to localize and improve and programming, expanding their reach through more extensive distribution investment supporting less complexity during the subscription and renewal processes.

    According to CASBAA, competition in the pay-TV sector will intensify as existing operators improve their service propositions and new players enter the market. However, while TV adspend has grown rapidly (US$120 million in 2015, up 31% since 2009) widespread piracy from “overspill” satellite dishes may dampen growth in the pay-TV industry.

    Through unregistered satellite services, viewers are able access more channels at significantly lower prices than that charged by Myanmar pay-TV players. Pirated DVDs of international movies and drama, which are widely available in urban areas, also dampen growth of the pay-TV market. “Unfortunately, there is a lack of concerted effort to tackle piracy issues in the country,” said Slaughter.

  • Multichannel TV, digital video growing in Myanmar: CASBAA report

    Multichannel TV, digital video growing in Myanmar: CASBAA report

    MUMBAI: Multichannel TV and digital video markets continue to grow exponentially in Myanmar. Around 12 months ago, the TV household penetration touched 5.8 million homes, or 55%.

    Nationally pay-TV connections amounted to 12% of total households. Within the traditional TV market, there are signs of rapid expansion. In
the free-to-air (FTA) sector, the number of channels increased fivefold from four networks in between 2009 and 2015.

    Meanwhile, multichannel-TV investment continues apace, including plans by several pay-TV providers to localize and improve and programming, expanding their reach through more extensive distribution investment supporting less complexity during the subscription and renewal processes.

    Asia Pacific multichannel TV association CASBAA today released its exclusive, members-only “Myanmar in View” report on the fast-evolving multichannel market in Myanmar, one of the world’s most dynamic media and telecoms economies.

    The “Myanmar in View 2017” report was released at the opening of CASBAA’s “Essential Building Blocks for Multichannel TV in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos” spotlight conference in Singapore on 5 December.

    “Even as Myanmar experiences roller coaster political events, the multichannel TV and digital video markets continue to grow exponentially,” said Christopher Slaughter, CASBAA CEO. “According to our analysis and that of many economists and infrastructure specialists, Myanmar continues to experience high economic growth with the continued liberalization of the economy, moving towards becoming a free market and welcoming foreign direct investment as well as foreign firms.” Nevertheless, the CASBAA Report also notes that “Myanmar continues to suffer from inadequate infrastructure such as the lack of electricity and proper roads, although it has begun upgrading its infrastructure.” “Although Myanmar’s TV market stats reflect continued under-development within the broader economy they only highlight great medium-term opportunity for our sector,” said Slaughter.

    Meanwhile, multichannel-TV investment continues apace, including plans by several pay-TV providers to localize and improve and programming, expanding their reach through more extensive distribution investment supporting less complexity during the subscription and renewal processes.

    According to CASBAA, competition in the pay-TV sector will intensify as existing operators improve their service propositions and new players enter the market. However, while TV adspend has grown rapidly (US$120 million in 2015, up 31% since 2009) widespread piracy from “overspill” satellite dishes may dampen growth in the pay-TV industry.

    Through unregistered satellite services, viewers are able access more channels at significantly lower prices than that charged by Myanmar pay-TV players. Pirated DVDs of international movies and drama, which are widely available in urban areas, also dampen growth of the pay-TV market. “Unfortunately, there is a lack of concerted effort to tackle piracy issues in the country,” said Slaughter.

  • Will LeEco’s device-content bundling strategy pay off in India?

    Will LeEco’s device-content bundling strategy pay off in India?

    MUMBAI: There’s a content acquirer on the prowl in India. And it is carrying a fat purse to buy and create the content. Chinese company Leshi Internet Information & Technology aka LeEco – introduced its Super3 TV sets in India last week – and a day later a whisper campaign started that it was going to spend top dollar to build a robust OTT content ecosystem to encourage uptake of the screens by Indian consumers.

    The figure being bandied about is US$200 million or Rs 1,330 crore, according to media reports. It reportedly is in talks with Netflix in the US to offer its content on its devices – which includes smart phones, TV sets, and even smart cars. And it has appointed a content head Harini Calamur whose job is to work with local producers, and distributors to build up its Indian content roster further.

    Its LeEco content ecosystem was launched earlier this year (in May 2016) when it introduced its Le 1S Eco phone at a price tage of Rs 10,899 (discounted to Rs 9,999 in the early flash sale period). Existing phone owners wanting to subscribe to the content package would have to ante up Rs 450 a month separately or Rs 4,990 annually.

    LeEco’s plan to sell 100,000 of these phones through a flash sale on Flipkart on 12 May was a resounding success with the ecommerce site having to shut the registrations quickly. 70,000 of its devices were sold in two seconds.

    LeEco later launched the Le Eco Le 2 and Le Max 2 phones in India in July.

    And finally its latest line of LeEco Super 3 smart TVs launched in early August. The Super3 X55 is priced at Rs 59,790, Super3 X65 at Rs 99,790 and Super3 Max X65 at Rs 1,49,790. These are being made available for pre-sale on Flipkart, as well as LeEco’s e-commerce platform LeMall, from 10-12 August.

    It announced that the LeEco content ecosystem would be available to buyers of its Super TVs also which would allow them to access the movies and TV channels. All that they would have to do is download a software update.

    The LeEco content ecosystem has content from YuppTV, Eros Now, and Hungama.

    Its Yupp TV deal, under the brand Le Live, allows customers to watch Sony Entertainment, NDTV, Gemini Movies, 9X Tashan, Sun TV, Times Now, Nickelodeon, Colors, and others, in multiple Indian languages.

    Its Eros Now partnership allows it to offer 2,000 plus movie titles in various languages under the brand Le Vidi.

    Its Hungama relationship has resulted in the Le Music app under which users can listen to 3.5 million tracks and another bunch of live concerts (in partnership with iConcerts).

    The Le View app which users also have access to consists of curated YouTube content categorized into news and politics, science and technology.

    Will this strategy of bundling content with TV sets and phones work in India? Especially at a time when data usage costs are a dampener? And when cable TV and DTH are offering a slew of channels at low sticker prices. Observers doubt that the content that is on offer in the LeEco content system currently could be a driver for sparking off TV set sales; the TV sets would be bought on their own merit in comparison to the LG, Samsung, Sony, Vu, Videocon and Haier offerings.

    As far as phones are concerned it could be a different story on account of LeEco’s perceived quality and lower prices.

    “Whether they will use the services in their homes on their TV sets or not is a moot question,” points out a senior media observer. “The audience that is using Wifi to watch video in their homes is in nano proportions compared to DTH and cable TV. The content library is also not exclusive and alluring enough.”

    Adds another media expert: “Consumption on the phone seems a more likely bet because there is some amount of on the go viewing happening in India. Mobile service providers have already resorted to a round of bandwidth cost cuts in advance of the Reliance Jio launch. But even so costs are still too high for consumers to binge watch on the phone. Maybe another round of price cuts will come to pass and that will bring costs down further. We will have to wait and watch. ”

    LeEco could draw some inspiration from what it did in Hong Kong earlier this year. It coughed up $400 million for exclusive rights for the region for the English Premier League, probably the highest for Asia, to add to its catalogue of other sports and entertainment content.

    It then bundled its hardware and software into a promotional pack wherein customers subscribing to the Premier League matches for two years at a cost of HK $1,690 a year got a 40 inch TV set free. If customers opted for a more premium Premier League package at a cost of HK$2,490 per year for two years, they got their hands on a 43 inch TV set at no cost to them. The super sports plan also included access to LeEco’s newly secured English FA Cup and other international sporting events such as Major League Baseball (MLB), men’s and women’s China Super League and the Copa Libertadores soccer tournament in South America.

    LeSports chief executive Cheng Yizhong had then stated that “The days that users have to pay for their own device have gone and we are trying to develop a content-led platform for our users. They only have to pay for the content and the device will be given free.”

    “The promotion worked very well and the company notched up HK$27 million in buy-ins in over just two days,” says a Hong Kong based media expert.

    Indian media observers believe that LeEco will have to pick up rights to sports events like cricket or top Bollywood movies and these need to be exclusive for its device-content ecosystem package to work with the masses.

    “Tieups with Netflix are just incremental steps as its has barely 50,000-70,000 paying subscribers and the content there is not that expansive,” says the head of an ad agency. “If it has to get into the mass market it needs to offer fiction and non-fiction shows which will then pit it in competition with the existing majors such as Star, Sony, Colors and Zee. Now that is totally a different ball game. Exclusive sports and films could be alluring as well as sticky for subscribers. Look at how well Star’s hotstar does when the cricket comes up.”

    Another media observer points out that its game strategy could attract buyers. LeEco plans to put out more than 500 plus high end games on its content ecosystem, eliminating the need for consoles.

    “That could be a game changer for its content play,” says she. “Let’s not worry too much however. We are in the very early days of the OTT industry’s play out in India. Go back to the late nineties: no one believed that satellite TV and cable TV would really explode the way it has in the country. Yes, the different players will make mistakes, they will course correct, they will spend money, they will lose money, they will make profits, they will course correct again. But the good thing is that another optional mode of video delivery and for entertainment is being given the push in this country.”

  • Will LeEco’s device-content bundling strategy pay off in India?

    Will LeEco’s device-content bundling strategy pay off in India?

    MUMBAI: There’s a content acquirer on the prowl in India. And it is carrying a fat purse to buy and create the content. Chinese company Leshi Internet Information & Technology aka LeEco – introduced its Super3 TV sets in India last week – and a day later a whisper campaign started that it was going to spend top dollar to build a robust OTT content ecosystem to encourage uptake of the screens by Indian consumers.

    The figure being bandied about is US$200 million or Rs 1,330 crore, according to media reports. It reportedly is in talks with Netflix in the US to offer its content on its devices – which includes smart phones, TV sets, and even smart cars. And it has appointed a content head Harini Calamur whose job is to work with local producers, and distributors to build up its Indian content roster further.

    Its LeEco content ecosystem was launched earlier this year (in May 2016) when it introduced its Le 1S Eco phone at a price tage of Rs 10,899 (discounted to Rs 9,999 in the early flash sale period). Existing phone owners wanting to subscribe to the content package would have to ante up Rs 450 a month separately or Rs 4,990 annually.

    LeEco’s plan to sell 100,000 of these phones through a flash sale on Flipkart on 12 May was a resounding success with the ecommerce site having to shut the registrations quickly. 70,000 of its devices were sold in two seconds.

    LeEco later launched the Le Eco Le 2 and Le Max 2 phones in India in July.

    And finally its latest line of LeEco Super 3 smart TVs launched in early August. The Super3 X55 is priced at Rs 59,790, Super3 X65 at Rs 99,790 and Super3 Max X65 at Rs 1,49,790. These are being made available for pre-sale on Flipkart, as well as LeEco’s e-commerce platform LeMall, from 10-12 August.

    It announced that the LeEco content ecosystem would be available to buyers of its Super TVs also which would allow them to access the movies and TV channels. All that they would have to do is download a software update.

    The LeEco content ecosystem has content from YuppTV, Eros Now, and Hungama.

    Its Yupp TV deal, under the brand Le Live, allows customers to watch Sony Entertainment, NDTV, Gemini Movies, 9X Tashan, Sun TV, Times Now, Nickelodeon, Colors, and others, in multiple Indian languages.

    Its Eros Now partnership allows it to offer 2,000 plus movie titles in various languages under the brand Le Vidi.

    Its Hungama relationship has resulted in the Le Music app under which users can listen to 3.5 million tracks and another bunch of live concerts (in partnership with iConcerts).

    The Le View app which users also have access to consists of curated YouTube content categorized into news and politics, science and technology.

    Will this strategy of bundling content with TV sets and phones work in India? Especially at a time when data usage costs are a dampener? And when cable TV and DTH are offering a slew of channels at low sticker prices. Observers doubt that the content that is on offer in the LeEco content system currently could be a driver for sparking off TV set sales; the TV sets would be bought on their own merit in comparison to the LG, Samsung, Sony, Vu, Videocon and Haier offerings.

    As far as phones are concerned it could be a different story on account of LeEco’s perceived quality and lower prices.

    “Whether they will use the services in their homes on their TV sets or not is a moot question,” points out a senior media observer. “The audience that is using Wifi to watch video in their homes is in nano proportions compared to DTH and cable TV. The content library is also not exclusive and alluring enough.”

    Adds another media expert: “Consumption on the phone seems a more likely bet because there is some amount of on the go viewing happening in India. Mobile service providers have already resorted to a round of bandwidth cost cuts in advance of the Reliance Jio launch. But even so costs are still too high for consumers to binge watch on the phone. Maybe another round of price cuts will come to pass and that will bring costs down further. We will have to wait and watch. ”

    LeEco could draw some inspiration from what it did in Hong Kong earlier this year. It coughed up $400 million for exclusive rights for the region for the English Premier League, probably the highest for Asia, to add to its catalogue of other sports and entertainment content.

    It then bundled its hardware and software into a promotional pack wherein customers subscribing to the Premier League matches for two years at a cost of HK $1,690 a year got a 40 inch TV set free. If customers opted for a more premium Premier League package at a cost of HK$2,490 per year for two years, they got their hands on a 43 inch TV set at no cost to them. The super sports plan also included access to LeEco’s newly secured English FA Cup and other international sporting events such as Major League Baseball (MLB), men’s and women’s China Super League and the Copa Libertadores soccer tournament in South America.

    LeSports chief executive Cheng Yizhong had then stated that “The days that users have to pay for their own device have gone and we are trying to develop a content-led platform for our users. They only have to pay for the content and the device will be given free.”

    “The promotion worked very well and the company notched up HK$27 million in buy-ins in over just two days,” says a Hong Kong based media expert.

    Indian media observers believe that LeEco will have to pick up rights to sports events like cricket or top Bollywood movies and these need to be exclusive for its device-content ecosystem package to work with the masses.

    “Tieups with Netflix are just incremental steps as its has barely 50,000-70,000 paying subscribers and the content there is not that expansive,” says the head of an ad agency. “If it has to get into the mass market it needs to offer fiction and non-fiction shows which will then pit it in competition with the existing majors such as Star, Sony, Colors and Zee. Now that is totally a different ball game. Exclusive sports and films could be alluring as well as sticky for subscribers. Look at how well Star’s hotstar does when the cricket comes up.”

    Another media observer points out that its game strategy could attract buyers. LeEco plans to put out more than 500 plus high end games on its content ecosystem, eliminating the need for consoles.

    “That could be a game changer for its content play,” says she. “Let’s not worry too much however. We are in the very early days of the OTT industry’s play out in India. Go back to the late nineties: no one believed that satellite TV and cable TV would really explode the way it has in the country. Yes, the different players will make mistakes, they will course correct, they will spend money, they will lose money, they will make profits, they will course correct again. But the good thing is that another optional mode of video delivery and for entertainment is being given the push in this country.”

  • Government & private initiatives required to achieve ambitious goal of Digital India

    Government & private initiatives required to achieve ambitious goal of Digital India

    MUMBAI: According to Akamai’s 2015 Asia Pacific Survey, India had the lowest average broadband speeds of 2.5 Mbps. As 3G speeds increase and 4G adoption is still nascent; the quality of internet access and affordability in terms of data tariffs and on 3G/4G enabled devices continue to remain a challenge to deliver consumer value. On the regulatory side, there have been a lot of discussions on net neutrality and licensing of OTT services. These will have a significant impact on how digital media evolves in the future.

    Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd. head – marketing & analytics, digital business Abhishek Joshi strongly believes that content is where you stream it and the government has the a say in it. “The OTT industry has graduated from the innovators stage to the early adopters stage within the innovation diffusion curve, based on distinguished product strategies by players in the market. However to cross the chasm to gain the majority market, policy makers will have to play a very big role. Infrastructure and regulatory policies are going to be the biggest differentiators for industry growth for the next 18 months.”

    While on the other hand, Ping Networks co-founder Rajeshree Naik is of the opinion that the government should not play any role in an individual’sprivacy. “That is a grey area. The government should rather focus on the infrastructure, companies coming up, partnerships, investments, etc rather than on content. Infrastructure does not bother pay because I know it is going to get better soon. The thing that scares me are the two terms related to digital i.e. no censorship and payment methods. Though, the beauty of digital is having no regulations, collective responsibility is to be taken ensuring that the government stays away.”

    Supporting Joshi on government interference was VOOT head, marketing and partnerships Akash Banerji. “Short form of content is not the solution. “These are early days for OTT in India. Players are either following the AVOD or SVOD model today. Both are profitable but for now what concerns me about the SVOD model is that why should a consumer pay for subscription when he is already paying a lot for mobile data. “

    Banerji adds, “There also is limitation of vast content on platforms. 80-90 percent of content is with the top players and a minuscule number of hours of great quality content is curated. For a new entrant for eg VOOT, it is difficult to drive money immediately after it rolled out.”

    Whereas Joshi thinks that even the consumers are not inclined to pay. “There is no inclination to pay. They will pay for content that has some value for them. They want quality content, expect HD, streamless service, etc.”

    Hungama.com COO Siddharth Roy opined that transactions have worked. “There is massive copyright infringement. The government needs to have a robust and strong IPR. Branded entertainment is the driver of this entire eco-system. Branded IP makes money.”

    “Value comes from the content and the way it is consumed. The business needs a lot of clarity. Government and all the players should work together to come to a concrete conclusion. In the end, crows is the king,” asserts Banerji.

    Naik believes that videos and original content will co-exist and that content will keep evolving.

    With global players like Netflix and Amazon Prime in India, the players present in the panel are looking forward to the global entrants. “If Netflix is a success in India, the creators will have more chance to put their content on the digital platforms. It is investing plenty on producing original content here and will be a good example. Viewers will love to pay for quality content that can entertain them.”

    Joshi is also excited with the entry of this global player and India and thinks that it is only going to be good for the business.

    Sharing his thoughts on the future of India’s burgeoning digital market, Technicolor’s country head for India Biren Ghose, in his valedictory remarks, said, “Content is assuming new life in the emerging digital economy. Technology enables innovations in imagery that could hitherto neither be produced nor consumed. FICCI and LA India Film Council need to be complimented on encouraging the conversation for the Indian agenda in this space.”

    Panelists at FICCI Knowledge Series 2016 for the Regulatory and Infrastructural Challenges for Digital Media, concluded that a combination of government and private initiatives would need to be rolled out to achieve the ambitious goal of a truly Digital India.

  • Government & private initiatives required to achieve ambitious goal of Digital India

    Government & private initiatives required to achieve ambitious goal of Digital India

    MUMBAI: According to Akamai’s 2015 Asia Pacific Survey, India had the lowest average broadband speeds of 2.5 Mbps. As 3G speeds increase and 4G adoption is still nascent; the quality of internet access and affordability in terms of data tariffs and on 3G/4G enabled devices continue to remain a challenge to deliver consumer value. On the regulatory side, there have been a lot of discussions on net neutrality and licensing of OTT services. These will have a significant impact on how digital media evolves in the future.

    Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd. head – marketing & analytics, digital business Abhishek Joshi strongly believes that content is where you stream it and the government has the a say in it. “The OTT industry has graduated from the innovators stage to the early adopters stage within the innovation diffusion curve, based on distinguished product strategies by players in the market. However to cross the chasm to gain the majority market, policy makers will have to play a very big role. Infrastructure and regulatory policies are going to be the biggest differentiators for industry growth for the next 18 months.”

    While on the other hand, Ping Networks co-founder Rajeshree Naik is of the opinion that the government should not play any role in an individual’sprivacy. “That is a grey area. The government should rather focus on the infrastructure, companies coming up, partnerships, investments, etc rather than on content. Infrastructure does not bother pay because I know it is going to get better soon. The thing that scares me are the two terms related to digital i.e. no censorship and payment methods. Though, the beauty of digital is having no regulations, collective responsibility is to be taken ensuring that the government stays away.”

    Supporting Joshi on government interference was VOOT head, marketing and partnerships Akash Banerji. “Short form of content is not the solution. “These are early days for OTT in India. Players are either following the AVOD or SVOD model today. Both are profitable but for now what concerns me about the SVOD model is that why should a consumer pay for subscription when he is already paying a lot for mobile data. “

    Banerji adds, “There also is limitation of vast content on platforms. 80-90 percent of content is with the top players and a minuscule number of hours of great quality content is curated. For a new entrant for eg VOOT, it is difficult to drive money immediately after it rolled out.”

    Whereas Joshi thinks that even the consumers are not inclined to pay. “There is no inclination to pay. They will pay for content that has some value for them. They want quality content, expect HD, streamless service, etc.”

    Hungama.com COO Siddharth Roy opined that transactions have worked. “There is massive copyright infringement. The government needs to have a robust and strong IPR. Branded entertainment is the driver of this entire eco-system. Branded IP makes money.”

    “Value comes from the content and the way it is consumed. The business needs a lot of clarity. Government and all the players should work together to come to a concrete conclusion. In the end, crows is the king,” asserts Banerji.

    Naik believes that videos and original content will co-exist and that content will keep evolving.

    With global players like Netflix and Amazon Prime in India, the players present in the panel are looking forward to the global entrants. “If Netflix is a success in India, the creators will have more chance to put their content on the digital platforms. It is investing plenty on producing original content here and will be a good example. Viewers will love to pay for quality content that can entertain them.”

    Joshi is also excited with the entry of this global player and India and thinks that it is only going to be good for the business.

    Sharing his thoughts on the future of India’s burgeoning digital market, Technicolor’s country head for India Biren Ghose, in his valedictory remarks, said, “Content is assuming new life in the emerging digital economy. Technology enables innovations in imagery that could hitherto neither be produced nor consumed. FICCI and LA India Film Council need to be complimented on encouraging the conversation for the Indian agenda in this space.”

    Panelists at FICCI Knowledge Series 2016 for the Regulatory and Infrastructural Challenges for Digital Media, concluded that a combination of government and private initiatives would need to be rolled out to achieve the ambitious goal of a truly Digital India.

  • Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    MUMBAI: In a bid to grab eyeballs, spending on digital advertising is on the increase, but this increase also comes with challenges, if KPMG is to be believed.

    KPMG director Girish Menon said that digital advertisement is likely to cross Rs 25,500 crore in 2020, but digital ads do not come without challenges with major concerns being inability to track mobile activity, ad fraud, ad blocking and measurement.

    Making a presentation at an event organised by FICCI here yesterday, Fast Track India: Bolstering Growth in the Digital Content, Menon added, “OTT video is likely to become the holy grail in digital media. The advent of OTT services and on-the-go content, aided with competitive tariffs and falling average retail price of smartphones, has helped to drive video consumption in India.”

    According to him, approximately 40 per cent of mobile data traffic is being driven by video and audio consumption.

    The Indian market is highly price sensitive and broadcast services are well accepted, making the growth and profitability of OTT video players an uphill task. As digital media consumption grows in the country, content owners and delivery platforms need to reflect on innovative ways of monetizing digital content. OTT players need to leverage market opportunities while rationalizing rising costs of acquiring or producing digital content.

    “Profitability still continues to be a major challenge coupled with infrastructure and affordability of data tariffs and payments models. It is imperative for the OTT players to address these concerns through innovative means to achieve the medium’s full potential,” added Menon.

    Discussing future trends to grow this market, through effective monetization of content, while delivering consumer value, in addition to evaluating various payment models at FICCI Knowledge Series 2016 were Film Producer Vishesh Bhatt, DittoTV business head Archana Anand, Arre co-founder and CEO AJay Chacko and Eros Digital COO Karan Bedi.

    Sparking the discussion was Bhatt who observed how this conversation flagged off last year with everyone talking about content that has come to a point where it’s annoying. He is of the opinion that serious content makers fuelling the various platforms have to first understand the ecosystem. “In my opinion, even the platforms have not taken initiatives to educate the content makers. The ecosystem currently is extremely poor. The content makers have to understand the economics first or open my own platform to air content and then make money out of it.”

    Various content monetization options are being explored with the rapid adoption of digital platforms. Ad remains the major source of advertising. Short format made-for-digital content is being leveraged for immediate monetization opportunity. Existing content is being repackaged and delivered across digital platforms owned and 3rd party (YouTube, Mobile Apps, etc.). Existing content infrastructure is being leveraged to create purpose built content (interactive shows, online polls, etc.).

    The focus has now shifted to original/exclusive content for digital media, to drive subscription revenues

    Enlightening the audience further, Chacko pointed out how the content consumption medium has evolved from print to broadcast and now to digital. While there is 70 per cent investment in content creation for digital, the showdown does not stop there. “Investing more on content is the rule.”

    Citing the example of Pokemon Go, Bedi asserted how the game is earning roughly 1.6 million per day which is just 10 per cent of what they can make if monetised properly. “The cost of data, infrastructure, etc, remains an issue for us. We are definitely not there yet with the subscription model, but it’s not far.”

    Anand though strongly surmises that platforms need to set their strategies right. “You have to establish with masses first to get subscribers. We followed the consumer behaviour trend on mobile and made it affordable for them. Like anyone else, we never told them to download our app, rather gave them the option to give a miss call to download it. To solve bandwidth constraints, we tied up with Telcos and payment wallets and the usage has been phenomenal.”

    dittoTV has a clear road map set wherein it has first focused on getting eyeballs to its platform. Anand also opined that the platform does not have to necessarily follow a linear model in future.

    But how will the value change make money? Answering that, Bedi said that the three levers- revenue generation, content creation and marketing acquisitions. “Netflix does not invest on marketing acquisitions. In the end, it depends on the platform to decide what model it wants to follow and it has to make it work right.”

    “SVOD also allows multiple things to be done. There is an inherent ability to share piece of profit with partners by tying up with various partners”, added Anand.

    With various global players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc, entering India, the players will have to focus on producing original quality content to drive viewers. But is it beneficial to the creators here to put their content on the different platforms. Bhatt strongly affirmed that the West has made its content makers worth. It’s no more only about money but about environment.

  • Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    MUMBAI: In a bid to grab eyeballs, spending on digital advertising is on the increase, but this increase also comes with challenges, if KPMG is to be believed.

    KPMG director Girish Menon said that digital advertisement is likely to cross Rs 25,500 crore in 2020, but digital ads do not come without challenges with major concerns being inability to track mobile activity, ad fraud, ad blocking and measurement.

    Making a presentation at an event organised by FICCI here yesterday, Fast Track India: Bolstering Growth in the Digital Content, Menon added, “OTT video is likely to become the holy grail in digital media. The advent of OTT services and on-the-go content, aided with competitive tariffs and falling average retail price of smartphones, has helped to drive video consumption in India.”

    According to him, approximately 40 per cent of mobile data traffic is being driven by video and audio consumption.

    The Indian market is highly price sensitive and broadcast services are well accepted, making the growth and profitability of OTT video players an uphill task. As digital media consumption grows in the country, content owners and delivery platforms need to reflect on innovative ways of monetizing digital content. OTT players need to leverage market opportunities while rationalizing rising costs of acquiring or producing digital content.

    “Profitability still continues to be a major challenge coupled with infrastructure and affordability of data tariffs and payments models. It is imperative for the OTT players to address these concerns through innovative means to achieve the medium’s full potential,” added Menon.

    Discussing future trends to grow this market, through effective monetization of content, while delivering consumer value, in addition to evaluating various payment models at FICCI Knowledge Series 2016 were Film Producer Vishesh Bhatt, DittoTV business head Archana Anand, Arre co-founder and CEO AJay Chacko and Eros Digital COO Karan Bedi.

    Sparking the discussion was Bhatt who observed how this conversation flagged off last year with everyone talking about content that has come to a point where it’s annoying. He is of the opinion that serious content makers fuelling the various platforms have to first understand the ecosystem. “In my opinion, even the platforms have not taken initiatives to educate the content makers. The ecosystem currently is extremely poor. The content makers have to understand the economics first or open my own platform to air content and then make money out of it.”

    Various content monetization options are being explored with the rapid adoption of digital platforms. Ad remains the major source of advertising. Short format made-for-digital content is being leveraged for immediate monetization opportunity. Existing content is being repackaged and delivered across digital platforms owned and 3rd party (YouTube, Mobile Apps, etc.). Existing content infrastructure is being leveraged to create purpose built content (interactive shows, online polls, etc.).

    The focus has now shifted to original/exclusive content for digital media, to drive subscription revenues

    Enlightening the audience further, Chacko pointed out how the content consumption medium has evolved from print to broadcast and now to digital. While there is 70 per cent investment in content creation for digital, the showdown does not stop there. “Investing more on content is the rule.”

    Citing the example of Pokemon Go, Bedi asserted how the game is earning roughly 1.6 million per day which is just 10 per cent of what they can make if monetised properly. “The cost of data, infrastructure, etc, remains an issue for us. We are definitely not there yet with the subscription model, but it’s not far.”

    Anand though strongly surmises that platforms need to set their strategies right. “You have to establish with masses first to get subscribers. We followed the consumer behaviour trend on mobile and made it affordable for them. Like anyone else, we never told them to download our app, rather gave them the option to give a miss call to download it. To solve bandwidth constraints, we tied up with Telcos and payment wallets and the usage has been phenomenal.”

    dittoTV has a clear road map set wherein it has first focused on getting eyeballs to its platform. Anand also opined that the platform does not have to necessarily follow a linear model in future.

    But how will the value change make money? Answering that, Bedi said that the three levers- revenue generation, content creation and marketing acquisitions. “Netflix does not invest on marketing acquisitions. In the end, it depends on the platform to decide what model it wants to follow and it has to make it work right.”

    “SVOD also allows multiple things to be done. There is an inherent ability to share piece of profit with partners by tying up with various partners”, added Anand.

    With various global players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc, entering India, the players will have to focus on producing original quality content to drive viewers. But is it beneficial to the creators here to put their content on the different platforms. Bhatt strongly affirmed that the West has made its content makers worth. It’s no more only about money but about environment.