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Category: Specials

  • IPL is the largest reached sports event in 2014: FICCI KPMG Report

    IPL is the largest reached sports event in 2014: FICCI KPMG Report

    The global sports industry is estimated be worth of $600 – $700 billion. Revenue generated from the industry is estimated at $80 billion globally and is growing at Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.5 per cent over 2009 to 2014, which includes revenues from media rights, sponsorships and ticketing.

    The market for advertising in sports in India was estimated at Rs 41 billion in 2013 growing at a CAGR of 14 per cent from Rs 21 billion in 2008. It consists of on ground advertising, team sponsorship, athlete sponsorship and media ad spends on sports. Licensing and merchandising contribute Rs 2 billion to the industry in India. Gate revenues make up another revenue stream but its contribution to the sports market in India is relatively low compared to media ad spends and sponsorship.

    Sporting events have been popular throughout history, and have gained greater viewership with bigger stadiums and TV broadcasting of domestic and global events. Annual sports viewership in India reached 276 million in 2014. But the sports genre accounts for only 2.4 per cent of total TV viewership and 4.3 per cent of AdEx (Advertisement Expenditure) revenue in the Indian TV industry, much smaller than the general entertainment genre.

    The median age in India is around 27 years and around 64 per cent of the population is expected to be in the working age group by 2020. This provides a large and growing target segment for sports in India. Moreover, an increase in percentage of middle class and rich households (households with annual income greater than Rs 2,00,000) from 6.1 per cent in 2001-02 to 14.5 per cent in 2009 -10 has increased the number of people with an appetite for sports consumption. The middle class alone is expected to increase to 41 per cent of the population by 2025. There has also been an increase in the average share of educational and recreational activities in the annual household consumption and it is estimated to increase from five per cent in 2005 to nine per cent by 2025.

    A good start to non cricket sports is one interesting to look at the growth of sports other than cricket in India. Many sports have grown well over the last half decade. A survey on the popularity of sports in the Indian online community reports that while 85 per cent of respondents followed cricket in some manner, an estimated 44 per cent followed tennis, 41 per cent followed football (soccer) and 32 per cent followed badminton. With economic development, sports viewership in a country usually moves from single sport to multi sport. Africa and the Indian subcontinent have been traditionally dominated by football and cricket respectively. However, with greater economic development, India is seeing a growth in other sports as well. 

    League formats have helped in increasing popularity of sports Globally

    The leagues system has served as an important way for companies to enter the sports sector. A sports league creates several opportunities for private companies in domains such as league management, franchisee, broadcasting and sports videos production houses, advertising, sports infrastructure such as multipurpose venues, player management, licensing and merchandising. One of India’s most successful leagues in terms of viewership and revenues has been the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is based on the English Premier League (EPL) format. The league was launched in 2008 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with eight city franchisees. Though it is still small in comparison to some of the biggest leagues of the world, it has been able to achieve success in a short span of time, which other mature leagues could not manage to do. The evolution of IPL as a brand is an example of successful product innovation, which effectively combined entertainment and sports. The Twenty20 (T20) format of IPL has made the sport more popular and convenient to watch for cricket enthusiasts. The success of the IPL, which is estimated to have had a viewership of 191 million people and ad revenue of Rs 8 billion in 2014 has led to the creation of several other league-format sporting events, such as the Indian Badminton League, Hockey India League and the recently launched Pro-Kabaddi League. The inaugural season of football’s Indian Super League has been fairly successful as well. Cumulative reach of Pro Kabaddi League was 435 million compared to 560 million for IPL in 2014. Football’s Indian Super League was close with 410 million cumulative reach. The new domestic sports leagues however require significant management efforts over a period of time to get established and be successful. 

    Viewership refers to sum of weekly GVTs, which is a factor of number of viewers and frequency.

    IPL leads the cumulative reach chart amongst sporting events held in 2014

    Cumulative reach refers to the number of individuals within the target group who viewed the tournament over a certain period of time, including duplication.

    Ecosystem to support sports development in India

    However, in order to sustain the growth in sports and sports-related businesses, a flexible regulatory and policy framework that is able to realise synergies between various segments of sports needs to be developed. This in turn requires the sports ecosystem and its stakeholders to be recognised under the purview of a dedicated industry of sports which can provide impetus to an organised and professional business environment for sports in India.

    Sports Broadcasting in India

    There has been a surge in the number of sporting events broadcast in the past few years. These events include tournaments and leagues played at state, national and international levels. Several international tournaments and leagues played at the regional or global level are now telecast in India bringing in a larger and much diverse audience. Males form around 60 to 65 per cent of viewers and are expected to continue to be the main target segment. However, the number of female viewers has been increasing. About 57 per cent of the viewership of ISL and 53 per cent of the viewership of Pro – Kabaddi League was made up of women and children. Broadcasters are supplementing the sports with other entertaining and informative pieces to make the program more inclusive.

    Getting to the right content mix

    With the rise in number of sporting events, sports channels are covering several sporting events in their annual calendar. It consists of a mix of marquee events from domestic and international leagues, major tournaments along with minor domestic leagues and tournaments.

    Star Sports has revamped itself with uniformly branded eight channels to showcase a variety of domestic and international sports both cricket and non – cricket and in English as well as Hindi. While international cricket matches featuring India will make up 65 per cent of Star Sports 1, Ranji matches, university and women’s cricket and international cricket matches not featuring India will form 50 to 60 per cent of content on Star Sports 2. This will enable Star to nearly double its cricket content, which is the major revenue driver for sports channels in India. Star Sports 4 will feature other sports, which include international football (soccer), European soccer leagues, badminton, tennis and Formula-1 racing.

    The new Indian leagues, which include hockey, badminton and soccer, will be telecast on Star Sports 1 to 3 to reach a larger audience. Such a strategy enables Star Sports to increase its cricket content as well as broadcast non – cricket sports, which are seeing increasing traction. There is also an increasing trend towards multi-sports channels, as the viewership of different sports are increasing and sports channels are vying for TV rights across sports. Star has seen a shift from having a cricket specific channel in its cluster to multi-sports channels. It enables Star to broadcast both international and domestic cricket content simultaneously as well as gives it flexibility to show different sports across different channels. This can be attributed to the large investments made by Star to purchase rights for domestic and international cricket, football, tennis, badminton etc.

    On the other hand, Neo has rebranded its cricket specific Neo Cricket to Neo Prime on account of reduced live cricket properties and surge in volume of several sports.

    Ten however, has sports specific channels with Ten Cricket for cricket, Ten Action for football and Ten Golf for Golf broadcasting. Availability of sufficient single sport media rights and a definite viewership base for that particular sport drives the presence of sports specific channels. This helps advertisers to target a specific audience, for example luxury products have tied up with Ten Golf. Although, digitization and lower costs of distribution make single – sport channels more viable than before, it can take some time to evolve in India and reach the popularity of golf and tennis channels in some developed countries.

    Regional language boost to broadcasting

    Another strategy to target a specific audience is the language of telecast. Hindi and other regional languages increase the audience reach for sports as English has a limited audience. Star Sports 3 replicates Star Sports 1 in Hindi. In 2014, it telecast the domestic football league – Indian Super League in five languages. Its regional TV channels were used to telecast the league in Bengali, Kannada and Malayalam apart from English and Hindi broadcasts. During FIFA World Cup 2014, Bengal accounted for half the country’s viewership mainly because of regional language feed by Multi Screen Media (MSM) on its Bengali general entertainment and film channel Sony Aath. Hindi broadcast of the Pro Kabaddi League on Star Gold also helped take the cumulative reach to 435 million for the event. Other than using regional sister channels for feed in local languages, sports channels may spin off separate regional language sports channels if the demand picks up.

    Revenue and Profitability model

    Sports industry is still an ad driven revenue model. Media spends on sports, most of which is on TV, increased from Rs 11.5 billion to Rs 22.5 billion over 2008 to 2013 at a CAGR of 14 per cent. In mature markets, subscription is the main revenue driver for sports channels, contributing nearly 60 to 90 per cent of the revenues. However in India, advertisements still account for nearly 60 per cent of the revenues of sports channels, mainly driven by cricket, which is the largest revenue spinner and accounts for nearly 80 to 85 per cent of the total television sports media revenue. Non-cricket sports provide live sports content around the year, which gives advertisers a regular touch-point to their target segments. Revenues from advertisements in any year vary depending on the tournaments and series held during the year. Cricket mostly forms the peaks whereas the troughs are being evened out with non–cricket sports and non-live cricket content. In 2011, ad spends on TV for cricket was estimated to have crossed Rs 20 billion. In 2015, ad spends from the ICC World Cup and IPL 8 alone are expected to be around Rs 22 – 25 billion. Ad revenues for non-cricket sports are only a small fraction of cricket revenues. In 2013, ad revenues from Indian Badminton League and Hockey India League were Rs 0.9 billion and Rs 0.7 billion respectively.

    Key challenges facing the spurt of non-cricket leagues in India includes:

    • Poor investor confidence

    For instance the Indian Badminton League (IBL) suffered a loss of Rs 25 crore in the opening season in 2013 owing to investors pulling out casting doubt on the return of IBL with its second season. However, despite no play in 2014, the IBL is set to return in 2015.

    • Lack of industry status

    Provision of industry status could lead to an organized sports industry leading to higher available capital, newer sports businesses, additional revenue streams for stakeholders making leagues commercially viable ventures.

    • Lack of a culture for sports

    Sporting leagues in India are designed to last just a couple months every year. However, many major sporting league seasons in the world last for longer durations every year. Sporting leagues need to become year round (or at least three – four months a year) ventures. Apart from the benefit of a longer engagement with viewers (allowing the building of a larger fan base and culture for the game), this also touts the idea of sport becoming a year round profession furthering the advent of sports businesses.

    Revenue model in leagues

    Major sources of revenue for any league come from media rights, sponsorships and revenue from franchisees. Share of franchisee consideration in IPL has increased from 30 per cent in 2010 -11 to 37 per cent in 2012- 13 with a corresponding decrease in the revenues from sponsorship rights. Income from media rights and other sources have nearly the same share in 2012-13 as in 2010- 11.

    Major Sources of revenue for a League Franchisee

    Major sources of revenue for any league franchisee are share of the central revenues, local revenue and performance revenue.

    • Share of central revenue

    This includes a percentage of the revenue to the league from media rights and central sponsors like Pepsi in the IPL. In India, media rights are a major revenue sources both for the league and the franchisees. Channels are expected to further increase the subscription revenue for sports channels.

    • Local revenue

    Local revenue for a franchise entails revenue from match day ticket sales (gate revenue) and commercial revenue that includes funds from franchise sponsors, merchandise sales and revenue generated from membership with the franchise club if any. However, revenue from franchise sponsors makes for a majority of the commercial revenue. Sports merchandise sales is a fast growing segment with Rs 2 billion in retail sales in 2013. Moreover, contribution of gate revenue to overall revenue of franchises is low due to inexpensive ticket pricing, especially in non-cricket leagues. This is in contrast to leagues abroad where gate revenues are a significant contributor to a franchisee’s revenue.

    How can leagues be further popularised/ monetized?

    Some of the critical success factors of a league in India are identified below:

    • Players

    Involvement of top players of the world creates interest in the viewers and increases the quality of the game. The IPL is a successful example of the same. On the other hand, I-League is struggling to attract top players resulting in poor viewership.

    • Marketing

    An effective marketing campaign is another critical factor in making the league popular. Again, the involvement of various celebrities as brand ambassadors or owners in the IPL contributed to generating larger viewer interest in the league. In fact, the marriage of the Indian entertainment industry and cricket has aided in making IPL a commercial success.

    • Governance framework

     It is seen that leagues, which are run with the support of the approved federation have been able to sustain. The ICL failed due to lack of support from BCCI and World Series Hockey (WSH) is facing similar troubles due to non-recognition of the founding federation as the official national sports federation of hockey itself.

    • Stadium Infrastructure

    Quality of stadium infrastructure improves the viewing experience, hence increases the level of interest in the sport. It is important to create supporting infrastructure like restaurants, bars, fast-food chains, merchandise, stores, books and music stores, etc. to develop stadiums into popular entertainment spots for the family. Hike in ticket prices subsequent to rise in viewership, organizing multiple sporting events and entertainment shows wherever possible can help monetise stadium infrastructure.

    • Fan base

    An effective strategy to increase a franchisee fan base is engagement of respective franchises with local community. This helps generate greater TV viewership, increase attendance of matches and sale of merchandise. Performance of national team or players at international level increases the interest in the game, hence the league.

    League timing

    The tournament should be held at a time when there is no clash with international tournaments that could divert a significant section of the viewers, many players are available and weather is suitable for holding matches. The length of games and timing of matches (conducive for family viewing) are also important factors to consider, both having further helped significant viewership of the IPL. Other factors may include spectator friendly broadcasting such as better viewing angles and broadcasting in Hindi and English.

  • Changing dynamics in consumption of kids content

    Changing dynamics in consumption of kids content

    MUMBAI: Producing content to consume for today’s kids is no child’s play. Data and trends on kids content consumption across media-electronic and print goes a long way in impacting decisions made by commissioning editors and TV programmers. A panel at the just concluded FICCI Frames 2015 titled “Decoding Kids’s Content Consumption” presented such data and trends.

     

    On the panel were Eurodata TV Worldwide International senior sales manager Eric Lentulo, Viacom 18 Media EVP and GM Sonic and Nickelodeon India Nina Jaipuria, BARC chief business officer Romil Ramgarhia, IMRB International group business director Ashish Karnad and Stratagem Media CEO Sundip Nagpal. The session was moderated by FICCI AVGC Forum chairman Ashish Kulkarni. 

     

    Lentulo shared some crucial insights from various reports of studies conducted by the company. He said that kids in Asia were viewing less amount of kids content as compared to their US and European counterparts with an average viewing daily time of 2:32 minutes. In Germany, sports worked best for kids with nearly 95 per cent of the kids under the research having watched the FIFA World Cup Final. In Canada, the Super Bowl brought in large traction kids viewers. “Kids are watching content on smart phones as well as tablets but television is the firsts screen for children,” Lentulo observed. 

     

    Providing an Indian perspective, Nagpal said, “Younger kids spend just 30 per cent of their time watching kids channels in India, 35 per cent of GEC content, and the remaining 30 per cent of other content.” He went on add that TAM data showed that young mothers spend just six per cent of their time watching the content viewed by their wards. “The kids genre is popular across metros and one million plus towns and even in towns with population less than one lakh people. While Maharashtra and Gujarat were well performing markets for the genre, Kerala is missing out on children’s content.”

     

    On the other hand, as per Karnard’s study in 2013, two out of three kids seek entertainment primarily to reduce stress and tension from studies. The second primary reason was to seek information. “Three out of the four kids prefer watching content in Hindi rather than in English, while they love animated characters that help others. When they are alone, they would use mobile phones and computer games, they would utilise television to watch music and shows. On the other hand, when in company of their friends and family, they would play outdoor sports and watch movies and sports on television,” Karnard stated.

     

    Having the last word on the subject, Jaipuria said, “While kids today are consuming content on various devices, TV is here to stay for a while.” According to her, kids latched on to television for two reasons: 1) They were terribly bored and seek it as a form of entertainment value. 2) They wanted an escape route where they are able to run from a competitive world to one of fantasy. “Animation is the only medium that can transform them to an imaginative world,” she added.

     

    Highlighting an important point from the perspective of a kid’s broadcaster, she said that they were a safe genre and hence parents trusted the network for its content. Storytelling too was crucial along with quality dubbing and environmental sounds that together made up for solid content. “The primary factor that drives this category is the element of fun and being mischievous and kids are looking for honest values,” she said.

     

    The other elements that children looked for in a character were looks (dressing, style and smile), fantasy (talking about gadgets) and values that the characters stood up for. Throwing light on whether language made a difference, Jaipuria said, “It is the character, bond and relationships which brings them to TV. Language only breed familiarity. Local content is currently edged out because we started off late.”

     

    For the category that is growing at nine per cent and sees under two per cent ad revenue, Jaipuria informed that with carriage fees going down and subscription going up, there was space for further segmentation.

     

    Ramgarhia added that with the coming of BARC, the audience measurement platform would cover everything that India watched including the rural markets. “As more segmentation takes place, a lot of thrust will be placed on kids channels. Nine is the new 14,” he said, adding that moving ahead it would be their endeavour to expand the panel that monitors channels.

     

  • M&E cos plead government for rationality in taxation

    M&E cos plead government for rationality in taxation

    MUMBAI: The Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector is one of the most highly taxed sectors in India. The rollout of the proposed GST (Goods and Service Tax) is expected to be a major game changer as it will simplify the tax regime by combining a multitude of national, state and local taxes. However, whether it will ease the M&E sector’s tax burden or not, remains to be seen.

     

    A detailed panel discussion on the same was held in FICCI Frames moderated by KPMG executive director Himanshu Parekh with Viacom 18 CFO Narayan Prabhat Ranjan, Disney UTV CFO Sujit Vaidya, Tata Sky CFO G Sambasivan and Hathway Datacom deputy CFO Vineet Garg on the panel.

     

    The financial officers put up the issue of multiple taxation policy in India and inconsistency of the government, which makes scenario less business friendly. Other major issues bothering industry is lack of clarification and the biggest sufferer of that is consumer. Speaking on what the government should do, Ranjan said, “Whenever an amalgamation takes place and there is a loss, the carry forward of losses is allowed and that is something that the government should address with immediate effect. Moreover the issue of service tax VAT and excise duties should also be paid attention at. Why should one product be taxed numerous occasions with various nomenclatures?”

     

    Echoing Ranjan’s point of view, Vaidya added, “In other countries, if a consumer pays 100, 50 is devoted to the content. Whereas in India, due to the multiple taxation system, only 30 per cent is devoted to content. Service tax has been another pain point and entertainment tax, which varies from state to state and ranged anywhere between 10 to 40 per cent approximately is something government should look after.”

     

    The government in numerous occasions came on record and accepted the irregularities when it comes to taxation and GST has been portrayed as a solution. But again GST is also in experimentation stage and concrete figures are yet to be displayed in public forum. Sambasivan asserted, “Things which we expected to change did not change and there is no reason to be buoyed by GST. There is no clarity on whether entertainment tax will be subsumed or not. There is a cap of 16 – 27 per cent between which the tax will fluctuate and hence no matter how much ever we plead for a rational uniform policy, nothing of that sort comes out. Now we get 30 when someone spends 100 and if this phenomenon keeps sustaining then share holders will stop putting money as all expect high return.”

     

    “With digitization phase III and IV to follow, the opportunity of growth increases but at the same time there is a huge requirement of a consistent regulatory body, which has the intention to make scenarios business friendly. All the time we are suppose to devote on improvising and innovating our business model we are devoting on managing tax complacencies. AOP is an unnecessary hassle and hugely unwanted, my request to the government is to come to a consensus and make rational policy which is a win win for both the parties” concluded Garg.

  • India will shape mobile innovation: Ajit Mohan

    India will shape mobile innovation: Ajit Mohan

    MUMBAI: The digital consumer is on his way to become the king of media and entertainment. It is he who will dictate future content trends, platform specifics and most importantly revenue flows. How can the vast media and entertainment ecosystem channelise its vision towards a sustainable revenue system reaping off the all encompassing digital landscape – overhauling payment gateways, broadband speed and consumer sensitisation?

     

    Seeking answers to these questions, a panel discussion was held in FICCI Frames 2015 moderated by BBC Global News presenter Matthew Amroliwala. The panel comprised Star India digital head Ajit Mohan, Yahoo India MD Gurmit Singh, UCWeb India MD Kenny Ye and Airtel global voice and data business CEO and director Srinivasan Gopalan.

     

    The digital platform is yet to have a concrete revenue model and most of the content available now is free content. Mohan said, “India is going to shape innovation in mobile and not the United States and hence we need to have our own model and cannot refer to any other. My observation is that consumers are underserved and they are absolutely ready for real and fresh content in the VOD platform. It is a mass market and quality content will find recognition and appreciation.”

     

    Yahoo’s Singh added, “Yahoo is a 20 years old company that has seen technological evolution. Every 10 years, we have a new technology, which shapes the processing and the same will happen when 4G and 5G comes in. All the existing devices will talk to each other, complement each other and advertisers will have a choice of platform. The advantage of digital is that proper analysis can be done, which makes reaching the target audience easy and accurate. This will also ensure higher returns.”

     

    Talking about the Indian circumstances, UCWeb India’s Ye said, “The government of India launched a digital India campaign, which is highly encouraging and mobile will play a very important role in making India digital. The revenue model is yet to be figured out and a lot of that will be decided by development in infrastructure in the near future. Better online payment infrastructure and more credit and debit card holders will make the revenue model easier.”

     

    The online ventures need communications and carriers to carry the signal from provider to consumer. Airtel’s Gopalan asserted, “About 93 per cent of internet usage is in mobile and it’s high time that content makers and service providers collaborate in order to make things more efficient and revenue generating. We should bundle content and put it in a package for the consumers. And data is not expensive in India and it’s mobile data, which is expensive and there are different reasons behind it.”

     

    Star India’s digital platform Hotstar was free and it got a lot of encouragement in terms of viewership. Commenting on the success of the venture, Mohan said, “Hotstar is not free. The content needs data and the consumers are paying premium rates to see content and hence the myth is baseless.”

     

    It remains to be seen what revenue model the digital platforms accept and if the formula of content is king is followed.

  • I&B Ministry open to discussion with M&E sector: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

    I&B Ministry open to discussion with M&E sector: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

    MUMBAI: The India media and entertainment (M&E) sector is undergoing rapid changes and has huge potential to take its content across the globe. However, in order to achieve this, the sector will need the support of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry.

     

    “The country has the power to become a super power in M&E and as government, we want to interact with the different sectors in the M&E industry. We want to hear about the bottlenecks and the suggestions. We are keen to iron them out to do business,” said Minister of State Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

     

    Rathore, who was talking at the just concluded FICCI Frames 2015, said that the Indian M&E sector had the ability to reach out to the world. “India is poised to be a global phenomena. We just need to come up with content that can create a foothold in any country,” said Rathore.

     

    He added that Indian content can be targeted at larger audiences and not just the Indian diaspora. “This we can learn from the US, which has been able to push across its culture across boundaries,” he said.

     

    The I&B Ministry, under the aegis of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, has been working hard towards improving the media unit. “The Prime Minister has been able to popularize radio, which is now expanding. In a year or so, close to 800-900 cities will have either one or multiple FM Radio stations,” he informed.

     

    Talking about film certification, Rathore said that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has be a certification board and not censorship body. “They need to give certification based on content,” he said, adding that the Ministry has decided to have a re-look at the Cinematography Act.

     

    The Ministry is also looking at improving the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). “Script is important for any movie and that is what is currently lacking. There is no structure. This facility needs to be improved. Film and TV industry should partner with FTII,” he said.

     

    Talking about the other initiatives, which the Ministry is undertaking, Rathore said that a National Centre of Excellence for the Animation, Visual, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) is being set up. “We want this centre to be a benchmark for all centres that come later. But to do this, the government will need the support of the industry. It is the industry, which can give life to this project. Become a partner with us,” urged Rathore.

     

    The MoS is of the view that the country’s culture can be promoted though the films. “The content that is being put out should carry our culture,” he said.

     

    Speaking on how the M&E sector could become a ‘Soft Power’ of the 21st century, Rathore said, “Currently, the M&E sector is working on individual efforts. We need to join forces and interact more to understand the strengths and move in a certain direction.”

     

    Rathore concluded by assuring the sector that the Ministry will, with open arms, help the M&E sector grow. “We need to develop a degree of trust to grow,” he concluded.

     

  • Gaming apps, YouTube, publishing can boost revenue for kids content producers

    Gaming apps, YouTube, publishing can boost revenue for kids content producers

    MUMBAI: Kids content is being developed worldwide primarily through satellite or public broadcasting or a combination of both. In the absence of a strong public broadcasting model, content creators can become completely dependent on satellite broadcasting only. Thus it becomes a challenge to build larger than life character brands from which alternate sources of revenue can be milked for higher returns. However, can Indian children’s programming develop towards embracing emerging alternate revenue sources in the digital age?

     

    At a FICCI Frames 2015 discussion titled, “Emerging alternate revenue sources for kid’s content,” panelists shared their experiences. On the panel were, Dream Theatre founder and CEO Jiggy George, Disney India VP and head consumer products Abhishek Maheshwari, Aditya Horizons founders GD Bakshi and Aditya Bakshi, Yaboho New Media founder and CEO Hitendra Merchant and Reliance Entertainment Digital CEO Manish Agarwal. 

     

    Panelists shared their views on how alternate sources of revenue for kid’s content can be monetized.

     

    Yaboho New Media founder and CEO Hitendra Merchant

    According to Merchant, when the multi-channel network started off it realised that it did not have to be a multi-national company (MNC) based in North America to create strong digital content. “We create pre-school content and we are one of the largest preschool content creators on YouTube.”

     

    He also said that a digital multi-channel network content provider did not have to rush towards a broadcast network to put forth their content. The changing dynamic of the media space, according to him, presented two opportunities. One was through YouTube, which could help monetize kid’s content and secondly through gaming apps that kids were increasingly using today. “Both are driven by storytelling, for example Angry Birds,” he explained.

     

    Disney India VP and head consumer products Abhishek Maheshwari

    Explaining about a large brand like Disney, Maheshwari informed that the revenue potential created through merchandising across categories like stationary and toys were a bigger source of revenue than the content itself (i.e films produced by the studio). “Publishing of our content both on print through books and on digital platforms are also value added propositions for us,” he said.

     

    He then went on to speak of the brand’s iconic journey so far the world over. The fundamental aspect to the success of Disney’s characters was that consumers were able to relate to the story and that later on translated towards revenue streams. “About 75 per cent of our focus is on storytelling. Mickey Mouse is a big gift that continues giving us maximum revenue across networks. ESPN as a sports brand is also a large contributor towards our overall revenues,” Maheshwari highlighted, adding that the brand was launching its next big theme park in Shanghai and the Marvel franchise was a big growth booster in India.

     

    Reliance Entertainment Digital CEO Manish Agarwal

    For Agarwal, gaming was going to become the next big reality in monetization of kids content. Illustrating his point through an example, he said that when parents today reached their respective homes, their smart phones were taken over by their kids in order to play games. Raising two key points, he said, “High speed internet without buffering issues was still a roadblock and secondly, propensity to pay for gaming apps is no longer a major issue as audiences don’t mind paying for the same.”

     

    He also remarked that the psychological roots of a gaming app pushed users towards purchasing items in the real world, which boosted additional revenues. Throwing in some vital statistics, he said that while a popular gaming app would easily see close to five to ten million downloads in a month, a newly created gaming app would receive a million downloads easily in a country like India because of a large market. Ads via these apps were revenue boosters too.

     

    Aditya Horizons founders GD Bakshi and Aditya Bakshi

    The father son duo are pioneers behind the brand called Indian War Comics. While GD Bakshi hails from a military background as he is a retired major general, his son Aditya is from a merchant navy background. “None of our educational systems today have values,” the former army man began. He said that the comics created by them were based on real life stories of Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra real war heroes, who had laid down their lives for the country. “Values are not thought but caught,” he added. The target audience was sixth and seventh class upwards and the comics strive to propagate “national values.”

     

    Aditya, on the other hand, went on to explain that the comic company had tied up with institutions like schools, NGOs and self-help groups to distribute their comics as they found the traditional distribution systems daunting. The company’s step will be towards digital apps and toys in order to monetize.

     

    Dream Theatre founder and CEO Jiggy George

    George’s company is mainly into merchandising and licensing of content on three mediums i.e films, digital apps/games and television. For George, two trump cards that could help a lot in gaining from the licensing market in India were the size of the entertainment market and a rising consuming class that had strong and bigger pockets to purchase items. “In addition, local content on TV, like Chotta Bheem, will always perform better.”

     

    Towards the end, entrepreneurs were guided that they should explore the art of telling great stories for kids, while other monetizing options would follow. Catch them while they are young they concluded.

  • Brands on its way to digital success

    Brands on its way to digital success

    MUMBAI: As digital advertising and online presence gains ground for brands, they are increasingly realising that the digital world differs greatly from traditional media. A one size fits all strategy is unlikely to help brands leverage the full strength of the digital platform.

     

    Additionally, user engagement in real time and dynamic digital environment is a challenge. To add credibility to visibility, marketers need to continue to make full use of online by listening and engaging-not just showcasing.

     

    Discussing the same were panelists namely Dentsu Aegis CEO Ashish Bhasin, GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas, Producers Guild of America CEO, Bunnygraph and VP, new media John Heinsen, Culture Machine CEO Sameer Pitalwalla and Viacom18 Media MTV EVP and business head Aditya Swamy.

     

    The panelist discussed the ingredients required to build a successful online brand presence. The session was moderated by film-maker Rohan Sippy.

     

    According to Srinivas, the world is moving towards programmatic buying and advertising. “Most of the advertising media is getting automated on digital. It has huge implications on the brands,” he said.

     

    Talking about brand’s engagement on the digital world, Bhasin feels that there is nothing different in the digital world earlier than the digital brands. He believes that many brands in today’s time are going wrong. “The principle of any brand is to identify the consumer’s needs and fulfil them,” he said adding that today many brands are getting caught between digital and technology.

     

    He believes that the key to success will be to retain factors like – maintaining the principles of brand building and secondly speed of response accelerated to deliver a lot more basis on the consumer’s needs.

     

    Heinsen opined that brands on digital platforms are the best combination. It gives visibility to brands even more. A successful brand building is the convergence of three things – traditional media, advertising and technology. According to him, integrating these things are needed to build a brand. “As content creators and story-tellers, if we have all these factors only then can you entertain, engage and influence the audiences.”

     

    According to Pitalwalla, brands face two challenges on the digital platforms. One, there are multiple platforms and each of them comes with their own rules and have a lot more content than traditional media. Second, there is a fragmentation of content. He believes that TV commercials have become just one format in a way people are interacting with the brand.

     

    Swamy has a different story to tell. He asserted that if people are not talking about your brand, it is considered that your brand has not made it to the heart and minds of consumers. He feels that brand management has now become a 24×7 and 365 days activity.

     

    As a broadcaster and content creator, Swamy believes that everyone is messing with the format. “People are just playing with all kinds of formats. There is not one fixed formula to it, but people are just experimenting and waiting for it to hit the right chord.”

     

    Swamy added that dialogue conversation with the digital audiences is very important to keep the brand healthy and live. He stated the example of Roadies. “When Roadies was launched, we noticed that there was buzz only for that time of the period till it was on-air. Offline, there were no conversations at all. To keep the brand alive, we launched a digital series, which is accessible throughout the year and now the digital has become a base and TV show just compliments it. That is the power of digital,” he informs.

     

    Bhasin believes that today’s consumers have matured. Earlier, people consumed whatever was shown on television. “Now the consumers are telling us what to do. They are dictating the tonality to which we can pass message through our brand,” he said.

     

    Heinsen believes in the power of conversations. “As a content creator, you should be able to create a content that can spark off conversations. And that’s where social media platforms come into play.”

  • Digital: A complement or challenge for existing platforms?

    Digital: A complement or challenge for existing platforms?

    MUMBAI: FICCI Frames 2015 laid the stage for a open discussion on the 360 degree disruption, which the digital ecosystem has effected upon the entertainment sector. The session also had panelists analysing future and current trends in the digital business in order for these platforms to become growth drivers in truest sense. The emergence of the digital platform can become a threat to the other established platforms as all the platforms share the same source of revenue.

     

    The session was moderated by Filmkaravan founder Pooja Kohli and the panel comprised producer and actor Abhay Deol, Tata Sky chief content and business developing officer Paolo Matteo Agosstinelli, Facebook Wallla president Eric St. Anthony Pence and LA digital media advisor James Veraldi.

     

    Supporting the theory that content is king, Agostinelli said, “The emergence of the digital platform is not a threat but an opportunity for the enterprises willing to serve creative content. We are here to deliver content and sensible content in any platform will find relevance and generate revenue. We have to put efforts in understanding the change in behaviour and nature of our target audience and adapt as per need. The millennium youth in India is an encouragement for content makers and we have to utilise that by providing captivating content.”

     

    Technology is evolving with time and the existing platforms are challenged by the new ones. The battle for the old ones is to still be relevant. Commenting on the evolution, Veraldi said, “DVD came into existence in 1999 and saw huge success till 2005. Now the digital platform is growing and is poised to grow even bigger. There are various platforms that enable creators to deliver content and the challenge is in finding a way to monetise those platforms. If we keep earning money and devote it on quality content and the demand of consumer is taken care of, the new revolutions won’t make a difference. The biggest challenge is not how you adapt with the emerging challenge but is to keep meeting the demand of audience.”

     

    Digital has given unconventional content makers a platform to exhibit their excellence and offer new options to the audience. Traditional content finds producers easily, while the out of the box or breaking stereotype concepts are portrayed as risky. Hence financiers more often avoid such risks. Moreover global distribution of content is another tough challenge, which finds digital as a big solution.

     

    Deol produced movie One By Two was released on the internet for global audience the same day as it was released in Indian theatres. “I was sure of the fact that I won’t manage to get screens abroad but at the same time I also wanted the audience to have the option of watching the content and that’s when I took the decision of launching it online. The other reason was that whenever I have been to United States, I saw the willingness in people to see the unconventional but the option was not available for them. They used to ask me why we can’t make more unconventional content. When a theatre is three hours away and the pirated DVD seller is nearby, people opt for the pirated version but when we gave the same person option of watching it online by paying certain premium, they opted for it. That’s the beauty of the digital platform,” said Deol.

     

    While Pence was of the opinion that change complements other existing platforms. “The digital platform will complement the existing ones and the biggest beneficiary of that will be consumers. Every platform will try to provide as high quality content as possible and that’s the best part. With development of bandwidth and online payment infrastructure digital will grow but the traditional platforms will co-exist.”

     

    While the number of smartphone user is an encouragement for the digital platforms, low bandwidth and high tariffs are the major challenges that the venture has to tackle.

  • Freedom of press under danger in India

    Freedom of press under danger in India

    MUMBAI: While the fourth estate is known both as a conscience keeper of society as well as shaper of public opinion, is the freedom of speech for the media under pressure in recent times? Speaking on the same were BBC Global News presenter Matthew Amroliwala, NDTV managing editor Manika Raikwar, Equus founder and Counselage India managing partner Suhel Seth, and FICCI entertainment committee co-chair Ramesh Sippy at a panel discussion at the ongoing FICCI Frames 2015. The session was moderated by Association of International Broadcasters UK CEO Simon Spanswick.

     

    The witty Seth had the audience in constant applauding mode. He began saying that the current Censor Board chief in India was an idiot. “If words like Bombay are banned in a film, why don’t the jokers also approach the High Court of Bombay? Again, we have some very good judges and some very bad judges. Society must mirror the varied aspirations of society,” Seth said.

     

    He was of the strong opinion that the press in India had abused its power for far too long. “Most channels today are on sale and are driven by commercial interests. Times Now is clean but is a noise factory. We are in very troubled times and there is grave danger to the freedom of press in India. We are ruled by a right wing party and fringe elements have arisen. Instead of discourse and debate, people are resorting to violence,” he opined.

     

    When questioned by Spanswick on ethics being compromised because of revenue, Raikwar posed a counter question, “How do you get revenue for a costly business medium?” She was of the opinion that transparency was the key by informing the masses about which news packages were sponsored and which were not. “Mint, for example and NDTV too, clearly mention to viewers if there is a conflict of interest in their stories either in a box or a scroll,” she informed. It was upto the audiences then to make a choice in believing what stories were true or were planted.

     

    Agreeing with her, Amroliwala opined that if indeed audiences knew what they were reading and watching, then they would be able to pin point closely what the news factor was in a story. “The BBC is all about trust and we don’t deviate from it, which is our USP,” he remarked.

     

    Seth at this point said that increasingly today TV editors were writing newspaper columns and newspaper editors vice versa appeared on television. “These editors appear on television because they can’t write. They are supposed to inform people through their writing about strong opinions of current events,” he said. He then went on to attack the Badal family of Punjab. “The Badals own the biggest channel in Punjab and also control the distribution system,” he added.

     

    Spanswick queried if people trusted these channels, to which Seth implored, “What else will people watch? They don’t have a choice.”

     

    As the talk revolved around journalistic ethics, Sippy commented that unparliamentary language was become parliamentary language across the world and everyone was in a race to grab eyeballs. Raikwar felt that the edit page of a newspaper was largely important as it is today becoming the main news page. “There is space for opinion but it has to be clearly narrated and spaced,” she voiced. She also noted that there would be times when journalists would commit unintentional errors in their stories. In such a scenario, the best way forward was to issue to apology and move on. “It is all about trust,” she stressed upon.  

     

    Spanswick then quizzed the panel if the media in India was able to reflect society well enough through their creative products? Seth was of the opinion that every film reflected a certain section of society. “While the film Haider was dedicated to Kashmiri pundits, the narrative of the film had nothing to do with them. We have to evolve through self-restraint. It’s also sad to note how religion today is being used as a political weapon whereas people of feeble intellect are running the censor board,” he said.

     

    “How can one counter this?” asked Spanswick. Seth said that Sippy and Inc. could come up with movies that spoke of such phenomenons without going overboard. Sippy replied that in recent times two films, Oh My God and PK touched upon religion. “They were using restraint through humour,” the filmmaker highlighted. Raikwar said that the attitude of ‘sab kuch chalta hai’ (anything goes) should stop and the consumer being the key would be the ultimate judge of a news item.

     

    Amroliwala in conclusion stated that the pictures the BBC used for a particular story, the content and the language used was very important to the pubcaster. “This is absolutely crucial in our news reporting,” he highlighted.

  • Live events in India need huge impetus from government

    Live events in India need huge impetus from government

    MUMBAI: In order to discuss the long road ahead in making India a productive profit centre in the global live event landscape, a session dedicated to the same was conducted on the final day of FICCI Frames 2015 held in Mumbai.

     

    With a vision to wash away the red tape and enable business environment, the discussion was led by a panel comprising entrepreneurs like Cineyug director Mohammad Morani, OML CEO and founder Vijay Nair, Ice Global owner Sushma Gaekwad, Viacom18 INS Jaideep Singh, Coca Cola India VP – marketing Debu Mukherjee and Percept joint MD Shailendra Singh. The session was moderated by anchor Mini Mathur.

     

    Gaekwad kick-started the discussion by saying that issues relating to licensing norms and taxation policies amongst others needed to be sorted out. “We have to sort out these issues. There is a lot of work ahead of us but yet the industry has the potential to grow,” she said.

     

    Gaekwad believes that the industry has taken the first step in sorting everything out and like-minded bunch of entrepreneurs have started coming together as an association. “Earlier each business was of its own, but now as an association, we can sort issues that each of us bring to the table.”

     

    Percept’s Singh went on to add that almost 58 per cent of India’s population was below the age of 25 years and the young population is extremely restless and has tremendous amount of energy. “What young people need in today’s time is entertainment. Live entertainment is a very serious business, but the government has never understood the industry and has not taken it seriously. One can’t even imagine that how much business the industry can bring, how many job opportunities it can create and how well it can entertain. We are deprived as a country for live entertainment just because the Government doesn’t believe that this industry should be taken seriously,” he opined.

     

    For Festival curator Nikhil Chinappa, making the sense of 1.25 million population in the country is the biggest concern. He believes that in the space, the numbers are vast and so are the opportunities. “Even though we are talking about the opportunities, but we need to know whether there are more people buying tickets or are the same people trying to buy different tickets again and again?”

     

    Answering his own question, he replied saying that research indicated that there are no new people, who buy tickets but the same ones who are interested in buying always.

     

    Agreeing with Chinappa, Singh continued to say that in this sector, it has not been able to harness new members in the industry. “We can only grab eyeballs of the newbies by our strong business models and that is going to lead the success path,” he said.

     

    Picking up to what Gaekwad pinpointed on the licensing part, Nair feels that Maharashtra has been left behind when it comes to licensing policies. “If an artist is performing at the same venue for 10 times in a year, he has to apply for licenses all the time, which is not needed. Moreover, the situation is going to get worse with the new laws coming in. For example, 14 per cent of service tax has been added to buy tickets.”

     

    Percept’s Singh believes that everything in the society happens from top down. “If there is a ministry sitting at the top to look at these issues at the forefront, then why are we begging in front of them? They have to understand that this is the need of the new Indian. Young India wants entertainment. Why should we pay the price or suffer?” he questioned.

     

    He further said that it is impossible to make money in live entertainment today. “The opportunity that live events provide is massive. When will the government understand this?” he further lamented.

     

    On the other hand, Viacom18’s Singh believes that the government alone cannot be blamed alone because the onus lies on the entrepreneurs, who are working in this space too. “I believe that this should come from top, but we are also equally responsible for it maybe because we are not pushing it or fighting enough for it. We need to put our business propositions together and fight for it right up there. We need to prove our might with numbers, which they are not seeing right now.”

     

    Mathur questions, “Are we doing enough as an industry?” To which, Gaekwad responded that the fraternity has taken the first step by coming together and working towards it and is confident that by next year it will be talking a different language. But she also believed that currently there is a lack of vision, which needs to be improved. “It is not only about the local spender but also about the international spender.”

     

    Talking about the industry’s future, Chinappa stated that to him vision is accessibility. “If you want the music and dance industry to grow, one needs to ensure that it is easily accessible for people and that can happen best through social media platforms. Digital platforms are the best mediums where people can share and exchange ideas,” he said.

     

    Viacom18’s Singh further revealed that brands too have been taking the industry very seriously. Where there is reach, there are brands. According to him, in the first year it got close to 10 – 12 brands on board, whereas the second year saw some improvement with close to 25 brands. What’s more, the third year saw a fantastic response with about 60 brands coming on-board.

     

    Throwing light on the solutions to make the industry more profitable, Percept’s Singh said that the market will grow where there is a sense of security. To top it all, the three E-formulas will always work wonders – educate the market, empower and entertain the consumers.

     

    The session concluded with each of them focusing on issues like making music more available and accessible to people, strong compelling business to generate numbers, collaborate and work together as an association for faster progress and yet be competitive by focusing on the consumer’s need.