Category: Ficci Frames

MUMBAI: Out of 800 films released a year, around 200 films are made by Bollywood. Among them, around 85 per cent of the films flop.

So do we know what the audience really wants? Do we go into researching to find out the answer?

“This is a kind of a 50:50 situation. Something that can and something that can’t,” said UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur. “You can feel that people need youth-based films, but researchers can’t find out the wants of the audience. Research can be extremely beneficial in marketing a film.”

Kapur was deliberating on ‘ Market Research for Indian Cinema: Gut Feel vs Market Realities’ along with Nielsen Media India region MD Farshad Family, iRock founder and CEO Siddhath Jain, scriptwriter Jaideep Sahani, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra and Eros International chief creative officer Ram Mirchandani.

Averred Jain, “ There is a lot of difference between consumers of a FMCG product and a cinema-going audience. While research does help in the first case, it doesn’t in the latter. Along with the sensibilities to make a good film, what one needs the most is gut feel. We are making a Vampire film, the country’s first space adventure, an animated sequel of Andaz Apna Apna. But, primarily , we have a set of 10 to 12 writers who are guided by noted filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor.”

Mirchandani gave an example of what Eros went through with their forthcoming film Chalo Dilli. “ We were quite pleased by the going on in the shooting when the director came up with the proposal to have an item number. This when such a thing was not there in the original script. We had to go through a lot of head scratching before we gave in to the director’s proposal. This is how we inserted the hit song Laila O Laila of Feroz Khan’s film Qurbani,” he said.

Mishra said that research may be an interesting tool for a studio but not for a “filmmaker like me”. When a studio decides to make a film of a particular genre, they should go in for a director who would be apt in handling such a film. A director goes by his creative talent and not one related to research.

Talking about the positives and negatives of research, Kapur said: “Way back in the 70s, Raj Kapoor used to call over his friends to find out how his film has turned out and the same thing is being practiced even today by Aamir Khan.”

Turning to the other side, Kapur averred: “If we had to ask people that we are going to make a modernized version of Devdas in Dev D, probably we would have got a “No No” sign or probably if we had asked views on Rang De Basanti, the film inspired by Bhagat Singh, we would be discouraged. It was our gut feeling that made us go ahead with the films and they turned out to be successful.”

Kapur summed up by saying, “Creations go with passion and gut.”

MUMBAI: Greater attention should be paid to the script that is actually the ‘paying proposition’ for any film, experts said.

The session on ‘Making Cinema with Global appeal: A Session with Stalwarts’ had participants that

included the veteran Kamal Haasan, Fox Star CEO Vijay Singh, and Hollywood writer-producer-director Bill Bennet.

Airing his views, Haasan said Rajkamal Studios was investing more in scripts than in script writers. Bennet said he knew of a film director who, in the quest of wanting his film to go global, traveled miles along with his producer to get hold of a good story.

Talking on how Indian films should be promoted to reach out to global audiences, Singh explained that an Indian film has to be packaged differently as the narration that helped the film work in India may not work outside India. To this, Haasan quipped, “Toddy is a good drink but you need to bottle it well to get the best result”.

A couple of Indian films like Bandit Queen, Lagaan and My Name Is Khan did well globally because of their content and global appeal.

“Another kind of films that will definitely do well is the kind that Pushpak was. A dialogue-less film is most suited for global viewing”, quipped Haasan in jest.

MUMBAI: The advent of digital cinema has helped technology companies as well as film producers a great deal in terms of having their films get a bigger reach.

Niche Indian films for instance can get to 600 to 700 screens which would not have been possible earlier. As a result, revenue has doubled in some cases in comparison to films released in the pre-digital era.
 
At the same time, digitalisation can be a boon and a bane. Systems like Cube and UFO Moviez can detect piracy. However other systems might not be as secure. This is something that the Indian film industry has to guard against.

Increasing revenue while trying to control costs is another issue that has to be grappled with.

These were some of the points that emerged in a session at Ficci Frames on ‘Digital Cinema: The Way Ahead for the Indian Box Office’.

UFO Moviez Joint MD Kapil Aggarwal said going digital was the way to move ahead. “We work with DLP and Texas Instruments and it has worked well for us. Today thanks to digital, there is no under reporting of the number of shows screened. Today a Bhojpuri film can go to 120 screens. Robot went to 2200 screens”. He noted that his company has rolled out 60 3D screens recently.
 
Imax Executive VP Theatre Development Larry O’Reilly said the upfront cost structures for a theatre owner wishing to deploy its system had gone down dramatically after Imax deployed its digital platform. Due to this, the company is looking to set up around 60 Imax zones across the country within five years. “Right now we are in three locations and we work on a licensing fee. Our new digital platform makes us economically compelling. For Avatar we delivered seven per cent of its box office in India. As we get comfortable in India, we might go in for a revenue sharing model. Globally, from 518 screens in 2009 we went to 655 screens last year.”
The Imax box office has been doubling year on year. 3D has been a big game changer for it and 82 per cent of clients globally who have taken its digital platform are existing clients. ”This shows that they see value.”

In China, the company is present in 30 locations. Aftershock was a local film that was converted to the Imax format and it has become the most successful Chinese film ever. That is also something he also wants to do in India once Imax gets comfortable with this market and has established a base.

O’Reilly said Imax works with filmmakers like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg during post production to see their vision get realised. This would include work like remixing sound and using the Imax geometry to bring images closer to viewers.

A total of 497 parts comprise the Imax digital system and so it is complex. This year, 20 films will be released in Imax including Mission Impossible 4and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Earlier, ten films used to be released in a year. However as global demand grew, Imax increased its offerings. In fact, some films will be released only in Imax globally and not just in the US.

Texas Instruments senior VP DLP Products Kent Novak said there is large opportunity in the metros for digital screens using DLP. The content could be opera, sports, family weddings (which has been done in China), multi-location gaming etc. In the first quarter of this year, 35,000 DLP systems have been deployed globally. Globally, 150,000 screens need to be converted to digital. By the end of the year, he said 65,000 would have been converted through DLP. China, he said, is adding four digital screens a day. He noted that introducing a DCI compliant product in India is a challenge.

From 2000 to 2009, around 20,000 DLP Cinema projection technology were installed. In 2010 another 20,000 screens were added. The key for screens going digital is to pick the right technology upfront in terms of brightness and picture quality. Novak said the cost of a projector will be significant, which is why Texas Instruments has focused on reliable products.

He noted that 2k will be the industry standard for digital cinema, though some bigger chains may go in for 4k.While there has been talk of laser illumination, he said it will be four years before it becomes a reality as laser costs are high. But when it comes in, it could provide benefits of brightness and longevity.
 

MUMBAI: Spreadsheet capitalism is over and no more is it viable for media companies to chase valuations but to build models that are profitable.

The broadcasting industry has sunk into losses as it gets Rs 40 billion of pay revenues while the payout towards carriage fees is Rs 180 billion.

“It is a lopsided equation,” said India Today Group chairman and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie. “The media and entertainment industry reaps a revenue of Rs 320 billion, out of which Rs 120 billion is advertising income. While the cable subscription revenue is Rs 200 billion, the broadcasters get a meagre 20 per cent share. This is destroying the whole economics of the broadcasting industry.”

The medicine to this ailing industry is digitisation. “The government should mandate digitisation. There is no other way that the industry can turn profitable,” said Purie, while delivering the keynote at the 12th edition of Ficci-Frames, the annual convention on the business of entertainment.

Purie backs his logic with pure statistics. “The average cable bill in the US is $100 per month. Even if you take the purchasing parity into account, India‘s cable bill is one-third that of the US. It is the cheapest in the world,” said Purie.

Stating that so far government has been “deaf, dumb and blind,” Poorie demanded that it should at least now make digitisation mandatory.

“Digitisation will bring addressability and it will become viable for all to do business. It will make the content king again. Advertisers also undervalue the medium. On top of that, we have a perverse business model,” Purie said.

Purie, in his strongly worded address, said that the broadcasters have created a mess in broadcasting and sadly, the fundamental of the “mess” has not been changed.
With valuations evaporating, the need of the hour is to look at profitability. “There are only a handful of channels in every genre that are profitable. On the whole, the industry is losing money,” Purie said.

He said that before talking about unlocking profitability, it is important to look at what is locking profitability. There are four locks that affect profitability.

These are:

Cable Clogging: The distribution scenario in India is similar to that of traffic jams in metros.

There are over 550 channels, out of which 400 are active. Analogue cable can support only 106 channels. After a must carry clause for the Doordarshan channels, there are 400 channels fighting for space on cable networks which can accommodate 100 channels.

“It is a skewed demand-supply equation. There are four channels fighting for one bandwidth. Worse, there are 300 more channels waiting for licence,” said Purie.

Cheating broadcasters: The business model for broadcasters is distorted, said purie. “The industry pays around Rs 180 billion as carriage fee. The broadcasters, however, capture only 20 per cent of the total cable TV subscription pie.”

Broadcasters need to rely heavily on advertising revenue, but the value is not increasing in proportion to the reach of homes.

“Fortunately, because of meltdown, the “foolish money which was coming in has dried up,” Purie said.

Government is deaf, dumb and blind: Purie was critical of the government, stating that piece meal solutions couldn‘t be the answer to the ails of the industry. The government has failed in its duty of being a facilitator and has, instead, acted as a stumbling block.

Government has no right to decide the price of the channel. Price fixing has killed niche channels. On the DTH front, the ‘must carry‘ clause has made every player a clone of the other,” he said.

Industry itself is the biggest enemy: Purie said that the first step is to unite and bring clarity to the business. He said that within the industry there is a lot of competition, rivalry and no unity.

“The government should do what is right for the industry and not bend down before lobbies. The answer is simple and the government can easily learn from the developed markets. Give the industry the profitability that it deserves,” said Purie.

Should there be an independent regulator to clear the mess that the broadcasting industry is in today? “A regulator like Ofcom can only look into issues such as monopolies. For digitisation, you don‘t need a regulator but a government mandate. Only that can salvage the industry from sinking into losses,” said Purie.

MUMBAI: India‘s television industry is on the fast growth track again, after slowing down in 2009. The segment has seen a 15.56 per cent rise to Rs 297 billion in 2010, accounting for 45.5 per cent of the overall media and entertainment pie, with strong growth engines from DTH and cable digitisation to guide its pace in the future.

The sector is poised for a 16 per cent CAGR through 2015 to touch Rs 630 billion, according to a Ficci-KPMG forecast.

India is the world’s third largest TV market with almost 138 million TV households, next to China and USA. Cable and Satellite (C&S) penetration has reached close to 80 per cent, fuelled by rapid growth in the DTH sector. New technologies like High Definition (HD), STBs (Set Top Boxes) with inbuilt recorders and delivery platforms like mobiles are rapidly evolving, creating further opportunities for innovation and growth.

Led by FMCG, auto and services, ad sales grew 17 per cent in 2010. Traditional spenders like banking and finance are still among the top ad categories for television, according to the report.

The top 10 categories accounted for 60 per cent of TV ad spend in 2010. 42 per cent of the television industry’s volume share came from FMCG. Ad volumes increased by 24 per cent last year but rates remained flat or fell.

Interestingly, 80 per cent of a channel‘s revenue came from advertising apart from Zee. Ad inventory went up with new channels being launched and increase in the ads per hour. The industry was boosted by product launches and brand extensions, which had been delayed in 2009.

Certain sectors like real estate which were slow in 2009 bounced back in 2010. Advertising by the entertainment sector like films and TV channels also returned into the scene. Travel and tourism has a 10 per cent share and is second to FMCG in terms of TV spends. A new category opened in the handset business.

What also helped was the fact that categories like auto and consumer durables advertised across the year and not just during the festive season.

The share of broadcasters in the subscription pie is expected to touch 30 per cent in 2015, up from 21 per cent in 2010, improving with addressability. For top line broadcasters, the share in subscription revenue is expected to increase from 28 to 36 per cent in 2015.

The Indian television industry added 100 million viewers in 2010 to reach 600 million viewers. The number of channels reached 550 up from 460 in 2009. The numbers of players is growing in the English entertainment space. Over 250 channels are awaiting approval for launch

In terms of genres, cricket commands 80 per cent of ad revenue in sports. For 2011, sports will have a 10-15 per cent share of the total television ad revenue. Hindi GECs will remain the main revenue source for broadcasters due to the reach. Consolidation is expected here as it is investment heavy.
 

MUMBAI: If piracy is the biggest impediment in distributing Indian movies internationally, online innovations could be very effective in dealing with the problem, emphasised Google Japan and Asia Pacific media and platform head Shailesh Rao.

Speaking at the Ficci-Frames summit, Rao said: “When an Indian movie is released in the US, it is not available in every major metropolitan city. If the South Asian population wants to watch the movie, they have to go to a local shop to buy a DVD, which is in most of the cases pirated, or the ask someone from India to send a copy over.” Rao cited the example of Dabangg that was released on Youtube along with its television release, as one of the most effective ways to deal with this problem. Adding to which he said, the other ways to distribute movies on the net would include tools like pay-per-click for those seeking it, which would generate fair amount of revenue.

UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said that in the current times of social networking, the best way to promote a movie would be through word of mouth publicity and very effective Public Relations activities.

The second most talked about topic was low-budget movies. Film producer from UK Michael E Ward said, “No One Killed Jessica made half a million dollars in the US, which would have been unthinkable some years back.”

Amplifying the importance of Indian movies abroad, he said Rajneeti made $1 million in the US.

Kapur added, “The South Asian movie is the biggest after the local British movies—and its very important to make sure that this market is tapped into.”

The panel agreed that low-budget movies are not taken seriously by major distributors.

Kapur clarified, “It might be unaffordable for an Indian living in the US to watch every Indian movie release, and so he would choose to watch a film that gives him a complete Indian experience—which would mean a movie with major stars and all the masala that a usual Hindi movie offers.”

On being questioned about Google’s indifference towards various websites that distribute illegal content on the net, Rao said: “Google is merely a channel that gives content to those seeking it, if one has objections against any specific site, on grounds of copyright infringement, they can always notify us.” On the role of various researches in making movies and distributing it, Kapur said: “Research plays an important role when it comes to distributing the movie and marketing it; they shouldn’t, however, be contributing to the creation of movies. The concept of the movie or a serial is mostly driven by gut and not through any research. An audience might like something after they watch it and would have never imagined about it. Albeit when it comes to marketing and distributing the content, researches can be used strategically.”

On this Rao made a point that trailers released on YouTube create a lot of curiosity.

In India, broadband speeds are a major roadblock towards legal digitisation of movies, the panel concluded.

MUMBAI: After de-growing for two straight years, India‘s film industry is expected to swing into positive action in 2011 due to a strong string of releases in the second half of the year.

The sector, which fell 6.7 per cent to Rs 83 billion in 2010, is poised to grow at 9.64 per cent to close 2011 at Rs 91 billion despite a choked release window during the cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The industry is projected to grow at CAGR of 9.6 per cent to touch Rs 133.5 billion by 2015, according to the latest report by KPMG released at Ficci-Frames.

The contribution of domestic theatrical revenue to the overall industry pie is expected to reduce slightly, while the revenue share from cable and satellite rights is expected to rise and account for 13 per cent.

2010 was a challenging year as most films failed to create a mark at the box office. This, in spite of there being no multiplex-producer standoff or prolonged black window for theatrical release.

Though big-budget films with superstars managed strong opening week collections, most did not succeed to sustain footfalls across cinema halls in the weeks that followed, the report said.

However, small-medium films with original storylines and content gave film-loving audience a reason to smile. Success of films like Udaan, Love Sex Aur Dhoka, Tere Bin Laden, Phas Gaya Re Obama and Peepli Live indicate an increasing audience demand for strong content.

The year also saw the release of big-budget films like Kites, Raavan, Action Replayy, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se and Guzaarish among others. While most of the films met with limited success at the box office, the opening weekend collections and presale of cable and satellite rights ensured moderate recovery for the filmmakers.

The year gone by was also a year when Indian films managed to get into yet untapped markets. As of March 2011, Fox Star Studios had distributed My Name Is Khan in as many as 64 countries with the film releasing in Korea today.

The year also saw the Rajnikant-starrer Robot emerging as the highest grosser breaking the previous record set by 3 Idiots.
 

 

MUMBAI: With voice revenues having matured and tapered off, the next step in the evolution of the Indian telecom sector will be the focus of data with more content available through advancements in technology.

Speaking at the 12th edition of Ficci-Frames, Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology Sachin Pilot said consumers will increasingly want data-intensive content. Data through means like movie downloads will grow. This can also reach the tier three and tier four towns and villages and help spread literacy. For this to happen, the entertainment industry must partner with the local industry – the telecom operators – to create content.
 
He noted that the country was now at an inflection point in technology. “Through developments in science, technologies have converged. We are moving towards a digital era.”

He gave the example of optical discs and micro-processors. He said advancements in miniaturisation were the key to the growth of the sector. What was earlier a roomful of hardware equipment was now software on a computer. He said software allowed for media compression and so it is easier and faster to download material like movies.

A youngster can now make a digital movie and distribute it online. Mobile phones allow one to upload and download videos. This will dissolve the divide between producers and consumers of content, he added.

However, he noted that the challenge of Intellectual Property Rights and piracy grew with the digital medium and could prove to be a disincentive. One must look at doing things like cloud sourcing and being able to give consumers content on the fly. “As the IT industry grows, we must all work together to address challenges.” 
 
Stewart Beck, the Canadian High Commissioner to India and Bhutan, also referred to the importance of digital technology at the inaugural session of Ficci-Frames He noted that the digital arena is the one that will attract investments between India and Canada. “Canada offers digital media enterprises an attractive environment.” Canada is the partner country at Frames.

However, the digital environment offers challenges and content producers often struggle for an audience. Changes are happening at breakneck speed. Companies that want to take advantage of digital technology have the dual challenge of servicing their audience needs while creating business opportunities for tomorrow, he said.

He noted that eight of the top 10 video game publishers worldwide are Canadian. In terms of companies using Canada as a hub to develop software for games, Canada is the third largest market after the United States and Japan. Companies go to Canadian companies like Autodesk and Softimage for their requirements.

He said Canada in the recent past has been at an advantage as it has not suffered the effects of a downturn, primarily because of 11 years of a surplus budget. The government has been able to invest in research chairs and funding development for digital media.

He said Ontario generated $1 billion in revenue for digital media. Vancouver has publishers like Activision and Vivendi.
 

MUMBAI: The film industry and its problems were unfortunately not being taken seriously by the Central Government, particularly at this present juncture when it is passing through a crisis, FICCI Entertainment Committee Chairman Yash Chopra said here.

Addressing the inaugural session of FICCI Frames 2011, Chopra said however that the emergence of new talent of writers, directors, actors or technicians augured well for the industry. “Our future is in safe hands. They have passion, confidence, style and technique.”

FICCI President Harsh Mariwala said films give the young generation a voice. He offered the example of ‘No one Killed Jessica’. The level of technology being used in films has improved vastly, as films like ‘Robot’ had shown. 

The FICCI KPMG report notes that box office collections were poor due to lack of quality content. Movies with original storylines and content which kept in mind an audience that was constantly evolving gained wider acknowledgment even if they were small or medium budget films. This year proved that there was a market for films without stars.

The report further added: ‘You could also bank on new talent for success. The home video market saw a big decline in revenues. Revenues for a film from cable and satellite area grew by 33 per cent. On a more positive note 2010 was a year when film companies explored previously untapped markets. A good example was the strategy Fox Star adopted for My Name Is Khan. It is expected to open in markets like Korea. The key challenges for the film industry include escalating rental costs, coming to a healthy revenue sharing arrangement, and competition from cricket. This has created an eight-week black window for multiplexes.’

Single screens will also face a tough time, says KPMG. On a more positive note, the growth drivers include urbanization and a growing middle class. A better viewing experience will also help, the report says.

Mariwala added that FICCI was engaging in a dialogue with the government for things like a Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the entertainment industry without having a separate tax at a local level. They are also pushing for a favourable tax on DTH which is high at 30 to 40 per cent. As far as the print medium is concerned, he said that unlike other countries, the print medium here grew last year by 10 per cent. “Regulation has helped foreign investment in print.”

Chopra noted FICCI FRAMES had grown over the past 12 years from an idea to a movement. “It is a platform where like-minded people share views, problems.”