Category: Event Coverage

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.”
 

MUMBAI: The success of Star in India has not tamed James Murdoch’s anger nine years since he last addressed Ficci-Frames in 2002. The wrath against cable TV operators for not giving broadcasters their fair share of revenue still resides but the tone is subdued.

“India’s creative force is still a sleeping tiger waiting to be awakened. That is why the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry is at $15 billion instead of $120 billion,” said Murdoch who is News Corp chairman Asia and Europe.

Speaking at the 12th edition of Ficci-Frames here today, the junior Murdoch said digitisation of infrastructure is key to unlocking the potential of the creative sector. While India has 250 million homes out of which 120 million have some form of multichannel television, only 30 million are digital.

” With the cautious liberalisation of DTH broadcasting, the cork on the bottle was removed. Thirty million Indian families have responded. So today India boasts not one, or two, but a whole sector of 21st century digital TV companies. We all would do well to note that when it comes to first movers and innovators in this sector, none come from the cable fraternity. They all come from this new class. Grappling with the challenge of incumbency, the cable sector has too often failed to take into account the only constituency that matters: the customer.” 

India’s moment of greatest opportunity has arrived, believes the man who would love skiing the Himalayas.

“ When I spoke at Frames a decade ago, the government of the day was busily readying plans for the imposition of Conditional Access Systems. I argued then that it was hard to see how a top-down approach would achieve the desired effect. Today the market is showing the better way. We should embrace that – and step on the gas. The best way is to accelerate the liberalisation of digital broadcasting. This would allow greater investment as well as greater latitude for innovation … including vertical integration of content companies and satellite distributors,” said Murdoch.

He accused vested interests of resisting digiisation. “If it stays analogue, then those companies can keep their customers as captives. Indians are the poorer for this. They are denied access to content of their choice. The digital homes present on the other hand demand better services. That means companies have to act and you are seeing shopping channels coming in, high definition, content in local languages. You are also seeing the advent of 3D. In a digital environent the boundaries between verticals slides, be it print, television, movies. This offers the incentive to content creator to develop and sell products.”

The truth is that the industry today is moving faster than the politics. “Unfortunately, the analogue infrastructure is proving a drag. When competition is stifled by infrastructure, the scarcity of bandwidth drives the operator to price channel placement instead of investing in greater capacity. This makes things more expensive for the channel operator who has to recoup that higher cost out of advertising, spread ever so thinly across a fragmenting audience.”

He reminisced about Star in 1999 and 2000, when they made a choice to triple down here, in a marketplace they were sure had the potential to change all of their lives. “Not that it’s been an easy ride. We have had fierce competitors in the past and we have them today, and I anticipate even more in the future. I hope we have met them in the marketplace fairly – and a little fiercely too. To our rivals as well as our partners, I have only admiration for your work. And I believe that we are together at a time and place in history that offers us the chance to raise up something that the Indian people have not yet seen: a media sector that will be the envy of the world – and all the benefits that flow from that.

Murdoch said the status quo is also restricting innovation in the news sector. “This is unfortunate as Indians are an engaged audience. There are investment restrictions in the news space. So the Indian voice in global affairs is diminished.”

As digitisation needs funding, Murdoch pushed for a relaxation in investment and ownership regulations. Digitisation, he believed, would unleash a content revolution in India.

The second area Murdoch stressed on is the need to bring Indian creators, storytellers, and journalists to the world’s conversations. This can only be done by ensuring that India’s creative market is competitive at home.

“My father says that no country has a monopoly on creative content. “Allow the new generation of Indians to reap the rewards of their success and enterprise. Encourage them as they build a creative sector that reflects the passions and energies and beauty of this incredible nation. If we do, we will find not only that India will have changed, but India will be changing the world,” said Murdoch.

Indian entrepreneurs, riding on a KPMG report that forecast the media and entertainment industry to almost double its revenues to Rs 1275 billion by 2015, should feel encouraged as Murdoch described global media firms to have grown “grey and tired” while their Indian counterparts were “young and eager”.

MUMBAI: The Indian advertising industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 14.1 per cent to touch Rs 426.9 billion in 2014, says a recently released Ficci-KPMG report.

The report notes that amidst an uncertain economic environment and low industry sentiment that prevailed in 2009, the Indian advertising industry managed to almost sustain its media spend levels of 2008, falling marginally by 0.4 per cent to stay at Rs 220.3 billion (Rs 221.2 billion in 2008) for the calendar year.
 
With the market picking up in the second half of 2009, the advertising industry is expected to grow by 12 per cent in 2010 to reach Rs 246.9 billion.

“While the worldwide advertising forecast for 2009 was estimated to fall by 5.5 per cent, Indian advertising revenues were not subjected to similar reductions. The marginal fall of 0.4 per cent was not pervasive across media platforms,” the report notes.
 
Television and Internet advertising managed a growth of 7 per cent and 25 per cent respectively, whereas other platforms registered a de-growth of over 5 per cent.

The year 2009 brought in focus on the bottom line margins and greater consciousness on discretionary spend amongst advertisers.

In segment wise distribution, television is expected to garner a greater percentage of the total advertising revenues and constitute the largest share of the overall media spend eventually.

While print continued to dominate advertising spend in 2009, it lost a fraction of its overall market share to other mediums. Despite a 4.6 per cent fall in advertising revenues, agencies continue to be bullish on print advertising in 2010 and 2011, the report states.

In 2009, with declining spot rates and an increased focus on market expansion, the total number of advertisers increased by 7 per cent on print and 11 per cent on television. Compared to 2008, both regional print and television gained a larger share of advertising volumes while national players marginally lost their hold.
Some interesting points in the report are that the advertising spends by Real Estate, InfoTech, Financial Services, Retail and Apparel sectors fell significantly in 2009 while that by FMCG, Telecom and Education are believed to have increased over 2008. However, the distribution of advertising spends across categories saw some shift. Several FMCG brands including Coke and Pepsi joined the online advertising platform.

Also, IT and Telecom players continued their digital spend while the share of BFSI sector in online advertising volumes declined. Education, which largely dominates advertising on print media, found coverage on national television and radio. The luxury segment which had until recently restricted advertisements to English newspapers and magazines, saw television and OOH campaigns for niche brands such as Mont Blanc.

For other Asian markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan and Philippines, advertising spend over the last few years has accounted for approximately 1.2 to 3.5 per cent of the GDP. However the share of advertising spends in India remained in the low range of 0.4 to 0.47 per cent. So, with India’s GDP expected to grow at nearly 7 to 8 per cent in 2010, the outlook for the year looks to be more promising with advertising growth returning to double-digit levels.

MUMBAI: There is a worldwide shift towards broadcasting on advanced, addressable and interactive platforms. While the session Transforming Television: from HDTV, Interactive TV, PVRS, VOD and Beyond brought points and counterpoints on to the table, there was clearly one theme emerging: that adoption of technology, particularly digitalisation in the Indian context, was beneficial for all.

The panel consisted of Bharti Telemedia Director and CEO Ajai Puri, South Asia Turner International India VP and Deputy GM (Distribution and Business operations) Siddharth Jain, NDS VP and Chief Marketing Officer Nigel Smith, Bridge Consulting founder and CEO Aline Rutily, Quantel director of sales (Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, South Africa and India) Richard Craig, Dolby Laboratories country head Pankaj Kedia and Intel Corporation global media and standards strategist Ravi Velhal. 
 
Smith started off the session with a presentation touching on how new platforms like High Definition (HD) and Digital Video Recording (DVR) had changed dynamics of the business particularly in the US and UK. According to him, a major push is expected in DVR penetration to the tune of 100 per cent of US households and 70 per cent of UK/European households.

Smith remarked, ”Companies that adopted HD in the US grew, while those who delayed in doing so were left behind in the growth path”, proving his point with figures, particularly citing the example of Comcast that lost 575,000 subscribers in one year due to delay in introducing HD TV. In the Indian context, he said, ”DTH will change advertising in India”.

Commenting on future market changes, Smith named addressable advertising (sending adverts targeted to the viewer group), advanced user interfaces and interactivity as game changers.

Demonstrating how technological advances may change TV watching and online interaction, Velhal quipped, “Computing, communication and content are converging”.
Rutily provided the French example, saying that IPTV had caught on quickly in France and that presently one out of four households in France have IPTV after its launch on 2002.  
 
The Indian digitalisation push found a strong voice in Ajai Puri. According to him, ”Digitalization is the buzzword for India. DTH will make people buy TVs”.

Puri said that the main hurdles currently were high tax and high cost of content. He pointed out the benefits of DTH saying that the medium gives “over 50 per cent revenue to broadcasters even though it (DTH) covers only 15 per cent of the households. If the system becomes addressable, broadcasters will make a lot more money.”

A fine balance was introduced into the discussion by Jain. He pointed out that broadcasters needed to spend significantly to bring forth the technological changes, christening the latest mediums “beyond television”.

MUMBAI: As the global economy eases, the recruitment and retention of good employees will become a primary concern for the media and entertainment sector.

Employees with flexible or multiple skills (within different sectors of media) as well as in-depth knowledge of each sector will have a cutting edge. The rise of new media will also lead to niche and entrepreneurial skills.

The scope of convergence of two or more media into one entity is gradually increasing. The changing complexion is evident from the growth of podcasts to IPTV, Wi-Max and newspapers with online editions. When the line separating the boundaries of each media becomes invisible, media organisations and their existing organisational structure are likely to undergo a massive change, depending on the need of the hour.

The quality of talent especially at the entry levels requires much focus. What industry players can come together to do is to help hone young talent by aligning with major media schools and providing specialised courses sensitive to the actual needs of the industry.

Furthermore, it is likely to help develop a better talent pool from which new candidates can be recruited, thus reducing the need for hiring people from other industries, particularly for managerial, sales and administrative positions. Media players could well afford to learn to
identify staff with a high potential and retain them.

Managing emotionally-charged talent and keeping them engaged with the overall organisation priorites requires that the talent management initiatives are customised to individual employees, a KPMG report said.

In an industry where the talent pool remains relatively small, hiring from other industries is also being followed by many media players. Whether it is such talent coming from other industries or new hires from media schools or lateral hires from competitors organisations, the companies who have met with success in customising talent and retaining them over a period of time have focused strongly on ensuring detailed and customised induction programmes for new hires.

Active participation in supporting different media schools and hiring from them is increasingly growing. The practice is starting to pick up but more media houses can afford to participate in it and make this a stronger custom by which the right talent for the right job gets effectively recruited.

Many of the top media players do have some kind of an HR Information System in place although the extent to which their HR practices are followed online or are standardised is still disparate. Appraisals usually do not take place online.

The development of HR policies and practices leaves much to be desired and it is likely to take sometime before the industry can have a fully automated system in place for all their HR functions and processes. There is a clear consensus among media organisations on following a well-structured HR policy framework and more importantly sharing that transparently with employees.

The talent management needs for the creative and sales teams have proven to be very different with both working with completely different career anchors and motivations. The nature of their work being opposite ends of the spectrum, many of the HR departments try to maintain a fine line between the creative vs. the sales teams. Showing too much inclination towards any one team could result in difficult situations. This is especially true while dealing with a dynamic and spontaneous industry like media, where creativity stems from thinking “out-of-the-box”. The HR heads of media organisations are increasingly developing talent management and retention programmes customised to the varied orientations of different employee groups.

The other issue regarding compensation in the M&E industry is the compensation benchmarking issues. Barring a few specific sectors like broadcasting, the M&E industry has still not adopted formal benchmarking of compensation and benefits which is a standard practice across other industries. By and large, there is a general tendency to be hesitant about sharing information, especially regarding compensation, so the salary structure setting comes from a general understanding of the industry and the informal ways of sharing information, the KPMG report said.