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Tag: APOS 2016

  • APOS 2016: Netflix’s Hastings and Sarandos talk Asia and India

    APOS 2016: Netflix’s Hastings and Sarandos talk Asia and India

    BALI: How many subscribers has Netflix managed to get in India after its launch a 100 days ago? Netflix co-founder and CEO  Reed Hastings and chief content officer Ted Sarandos were unwilling to give out any numbers during the opening session at APOS in Bali yesterday. “It’s too early in the day,” they said. “But we have had a great start. Out of the new 6.7 million (67 lakh) members in the latest quarter, 4.51  million  (45.1 lakh) are from international. We have a long term strategy for the region.” 

    Estimates are that more than half a million (5 lakh) of that came from India during the free trial period and of that about 50,000 have gone ahead and subscribed to the service.

    Hastings and Sarandos were interviewed by Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto. 

    Hastings admitted the streaming service was just about beginning in its Asian and Indian journey. “Netflix has barely been optimized. It’s an ongoing process of delivery to Asia. We are far below the number of languages we need to support. We support 21 languages; YouTube is over 50. We’re building out partnerships, the network infrastructure and in particular the content. We are just continuing to learn as we go along.”

    He pointed out to how Netflix worked it out in Brazil. “We didn’t do very well in the beginning there. We spoke with our members, corrected the issues one by one. Now we are doing well in Brazil.”

    Sarandos highlighted that Netflix has learned its lessons and “we are doing originals faster in Asia than in earlier markets. We are doing a film in Korea called Okja under director Joon Ho Bong, a film in Cambodia by Angelina Jolie and original TV series in Japan.” The Bong film according to iMDB is slated to be completed by 2017 and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton and Lilly Collins, apart from a Korean cast.

    Sarandos added that Netflix was making content for Asia, which would then travel around the world on its various country services. “Bollywood movies is also what we are looking to do, but they are a couple of years down the line,” said Sarandos. “ We will do movies the world watches. We will work with local producers. Imagine the traction it would get with our 81 million and expanding global members.”

    Hastings stressed the way forward for the company was to get global rights to all the originals that Netflix produced and also those it licensed from third party suppliers. “We did that with How to Get away with Murder. And we will do it with what ever we produce from now onwards. I regret not having the global rights to the House of Cards,”

    Great content and its easy delivery with a great user experience was what Netflix was consistently focused on,  both Sarandos and Hastings emphasised. Said Hastings: “We have 1,700 engineers who do nothing but ensure Netflix works. Our goal is that it becomes a must-have purchase just like the iPhone is, ” he explained. “Offer a great service at a consistent price.”

    Regulating or censoring Netflix content was something that both Sarandos and Hastings were not in favour of. “We offer greater freedom for story tellers,” said Sarandos. “The art is finding that balance with local authorities. For the most part the internet is not as highly regulated as broadcast. There’s no passive viewing on Netflix. Regulators have found that to be a differentiating factor between broadcast and Netflix. There are pins in place to ensure that adults are watching. Children are protected. For the most part, governments are okay otherwise they know that viewers will go for pirated content.”

    Hastings pointed that Netflix was going to persist with China where it does not yet have a presence. “Apple took six years to get in there. We are going to continue our attempts and discussions,” he added. “Great rewards can follow great patience.”

    He was pretty confident of Netflix’s continuous march forward, despite competition from Amazon and other local players in various countries it has launched. “Our focus is on streaming perfectly without any buffering, not competition,”  he said. “The loss of  pay TV is understated. Pay TV is steady at 100 million (10 crore) . We are in over half US households and growing. HBO  has grown. What is understated is that consumers are willing to pay for content.”

  • APOS 2016: Netflix’s Hastings and Sarandos talk Asia and India

    APOS 2016: Netflix’s Hastings and Sarandos talk Asia and India

    BALI: How many subscribers has Netflix managed to get in India after its launch a 100 days ago? Netflix co-founder and CEO  Reed Hastings and chief content officer Ted Sarandos were unwilling to give out any numbers during the opening session at APOS in Bali yesterday. “It’s too early in the day,” they said. “But we have had a great start. Out of the new 6.7 million (67 lakh) members in the latest quarter, 4.51  million  (45.1 lakh) are from international. We have a long term strategy for the region.” 

    Estimates are that more than half a million (5 lakh) of that came from India during the free trial period and of that about 50,000 have gone ahead and subscribed to the service.

    Hastings and Sarandos were interviewed by Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto. 

    Hastings admitted the streaming service was just about beginning in its Asian and Indian journey. “Netflix has barely been optimized. It’s an ongoing process of delivery to Asia. We are far below the number of languages we need to support. We support 21 languages; YouTube is over 50. We’re building out partnerships, the network infrastructure and in particular the content. We are just continuing to learn as we go along.”

    He pointed out to how Netflix worked it out in Brazil. “We didn’t do very well in the beginning there. We spoke with our members, corrected the issues one by one. Now we are doing well in Brazil.”

    Sarandos highlighted that Netflix has learned its lessons and “we are doing originals faster in Asia than in earlier markets. We are doing a film in Korea called Okja under director Joon Ho Bong, a film in Cambodia by Angelina Jolie and original TV series in Japan.” The Bong film according to iMDB is slated to be completed by 2017 and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton and Lilly Collins, apart from a Korean cast.

    Sarandos added that Netflix was making content for Asia, which would then travel around the world on its various country services. “Bollywood movies is also what we are looking to do, but they are a couple of years down the line,” said Sarandos. “ We will do movies the world watches. We will work with local producers. Imagine the traction it would get with our 81 million and expanding global members.”

    Hastings stressed the way forward for the company was to get global rights to all the originals that Netflix produced and also those it licensed from third party suppliers. “We did that with How to Get away with Murder. And we will do it with what ever we produce from now onwards. I regret not having the global rights to the House of Cards,”

    Great content and its easy delivery with a great user experience was what Netflix was consistently focused on,  both Sarandos and Hastings emphasised. Said Hastings: “We have 1,700 engineers who do nothing but ensure Netflix works. Our goal is that it becomes a must-have purchase just like the iPhone is, ” he explained. “Offer a great service at a consistent price.”

    Regulating or censoring Netflix content was something that both Sarandos and Hastings were not in favour of. “We offer greater freedom for story tellers,” said Sarandos. “The art is finding that balance with local authorities. For the most part the internet is not as highly regulated as broadcast. There’s no passive viewing on Netflix. Regulators have found that to be a differentiating factor between broadcast and Netflix. There are pins in place to ensure that adults are watching. Children are protected. For the most part, governments are okay otherwise they know that viewers will go for pirated content.”

    Hastings pointed that Netflix was going to persist with China where it does not yet have a presence. “Apple took six years to get in there. We are going to continue our attempts and discussions,” he added. “Great rewards can follow great patience.”

    He was pretty confident of Netflix’s continuous march forward, despite competition from Amazon and other local players in various countries it has launched. “Our focus is on streaming perfectly without any buffering, not competition,”  he said. “The loss of  pay TV is understated. Pay TV is steady at 100 million (10 crore) . We are in over half US households and growing. HBO  has grown. What is understated is that consumers are willing to pay for content.”

  • APOS 2016: Reliance Industries’ Adil Zainulbhai & the Jio launch

    APOS 2016: Reliance Industries’ Adil Zainulbhai & the Jio launch

    BALI: For all those who have been speculating about the commercial launch dates of Reliance Industries Jio services – whether wireless broadband and 4G or wired broadband – in India, here’s  the final word from the Network 18 Media & Investments chairman and Reliance Industries independent director Adil Zainulbhai.

    Speaking at APOS2016 in Bali, Zainulbhai admitted even he does not know it. “There is probably one person who knows when the launch date is: that is the chairman. And the chairman of the board will decide one day when it will launch and I don’t think even he knows today what that date is. He will let us know when that is to happen.”

    Zainulbhai stated that Jio was very close to being ready in terms of infrastructure for broadband wireless. He pointed out that the company was currently looking at what all was required from the marketing and processes perspectives.

    He revealed that close to 250,000 km fibre has been laid for wired broadband. These services will follow only after the launch of wireless broadband.

    “In the next 18-24 months, a large proportion of the high net worth homes in India will have the potential to have a fibre connection. And then they will have to choose when they want it or not,” he expounded. “Today an average data user on wireless broadband uses 0.18 GB a month. We have 500,000 users on our network testing it –they are using on an average 20GB. This is going to be a disruption. We don’t know how things will roll out when you give people an opportunity to consume as much as they want for a very reasonable price.”

    Zainulbhai stated the Reliance group has never looked at any project business case wise. “The thought has always been how can we disrupt the existing scenario, improve lives of people and  in the process make money,” he disclosed.  “Right from the founder Dhirubhai Ambani’s time. And this has worked well for it with every project paying off.”

    He directed the attendees attention to benefits like health and education which will be the other services the group will provide under Jio. “There’s a shortage of doctors and teachers in India. We want to help plug that gap through our broadband digital infrastructure. Entertainment services will pay for the laying of the fibre. The biggest change will happen in other fields.”

  • APOS 2016: Reliance Industries’ Adil Zainulbhai & the Jio launch

    APOS 2016: Reliance Industries’ Adil Zainulbhai & the Jio launch

    BALI: For all those who have been speculating about the commercial launch dates of Reliance Industries Jio services – whether wireless broadband and 4G or wired broadband – in India, here’s  the final word from the Network 18 Media & Investments chairman and Reliance Industries independent director Adil Zainulbhai.

    Speaking at APOS2016 in Bali, Zainulbhai admitted even he does not know it. “There is probably one person who knows when the launch date is: that is the chairman. And the chairman of the board will decide one day when it will launch and I don’t think even he knows today what that date is. He will let us know when that is to happen.”

    Zainulbhai stated that Jio was very close to being ready in terms of infrastructure for broadband wireless. He pointed out that the company was currently looking at what all was required from the marketing and processes perspectives.

    He revealed that close to 250,000 km fibre has been laid for wired broadband. These services will follow only after the launch of wireless broadband.

    “In the next 18-24 months, a large proportion of the high net worth homes in India will have the potential to have a fibre connection. And then they will have to choose when they want it or not,” he expounded. “Today an average data user on wireless broadband uses 0.18 GB a month. We have 500,000 users on our network testing it –they are using on an average 20GB. This is going to be a disruption. We don’t know how things will roll out when you give people an opportunity to consume as much as they want for a very reasonable price.”

    Zainulbhai stated the Reliance group has never looked at any project business case wise. “The thought has always been how can we disrupt the existing scenario, improve lives of people and  in the process make money,” he disclosed.  “Right from the founder Dhirubhai Ambani’s time. And this has worked well for it with every project paying off.”

    He directed the attendees attention to benefits like health and education which will be the other services the group will provide under Jio. “There’s a shortage of doctors and teachers in India. We want to help plug that gap through our broadband digital infrastructure. Entertainment services will pay for the laying of the fibre. The biggest change will happen in other fields.”

  • APOS 2016: Shane Smith, Viceland and ageing down networks

    APOS 2016: Shane Smith, Viceland and ageing down networks

    BALI: “Don’t hire traditional TV people.”  With those closing remarks during his keynote conversation at APOS 2016 with MPA executive director and  co-founder Vivek Couto , Vice Media co-founder and CEO Shane Smith set the tone for what his company stands for.

    Smith stated that the media today  is changing. “The Baby boomers have run media for the past 40 years. Gen Y – which is companies like us – will run it for the next many years,” he stated with absolute confidence.

    Like at a Mipcom a couple of years ago, Smith – dressed in shorts with a tattoo on his leg – reiterated that Vice hires interns and gives them money  to produce content for his network which includes news, food, music and lifestyle channels. “Yes, you give them $10 million. Sometimes you win, sometimes you get a law suit as the intern runs away to Mexico,” he said with a wry smile.

    Smith was clear that he will extend his brand to all screens and he will extend his networks to other territories with local partnerships. Earlier this year, his company launched Viceland in both Canada (with Rogers Cable) and US (in partnership with A+E Networks and Disney).  Something which got sniggers from traditional TV execs that Vice was going the traditional way. But Smith has his point of view on this.

    “Our extension to TV is helping ageing down the networks,” he stated. “We are bringing back the younger demographic to TV. We will produce anywhere there is a younger audience.”

    His belief is that the younger audiences had no programming for them, which is what has helped Vice.com succeed.  “Whether it is in China, India, Indonesia, we will move in there to serve our key demo,” he said.

    “OTT and mobile are very important for us,” he added. “But so is delivery across television but with content which is of a quality that appeals to our audience.”

    Viceland is a multinational television channel brand owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland’s programming consists primarily of lifestyle-oriented documentaries and reality series aimed towards millennials, directed in Vice’s trademark style of ‘character-driven documentaries’ 

  • APOS 2016: Shane Smith, Viceland and ageing down networks

    APOS 2016: Shane Smith, Viceland and ageing down networks

    BALI: “Don’t hire traditional TV people.”  With those closing remarks during his keynote conversation at APOS 2016 with MPA executive director and  co-founder Vivek Couto , Vice Media co-founder and CEO Shane Smith set the tone for what his company stands for.

    Smith stated that the media today  is changing. “The Baby boomers have run media for the past 40 years. Gen Y – which is companies like us – will run it for the next many years,” he stated with absolute confidence.

    Like at a Mipcom a couple of years ago, Smith – dressed in shorts with a tattoo on his leg – reiterated that Vice hires interns and gives them money  to produce content for his network which includes news, food, music and lifestyle channels. “Yes, you give them $10 million. Sometimes you win, sometimes you get a law suit as the intern runs away to Mexico,” he said with a wry smile.

    Smith was clear that he will extend his brand to all screens and he will extend his networks to other territories with local partnerships. Earlier this year, his company launched Viceland in both Canada (with Rogers Cable) and US (in partnership with A+E Networks and Disney).  Something which got sniggers from traditional TV execs that Vice was going the traditional way. But Smith has his point of view on this.

    “Our extension to TV is helping ageing down the networks,” he stated. “We are bringing back the younger demographic to TV. We will produce anywhere there is a younger audience.”

    His belief is that the younger audiences had no programming for them, which is what has helped Vice.com succeed.  “Whether it is in China, India, Indonesia, we will move in there to serve our key demo,” he said.

    “OTT and mobile are very important for us,” he added. “But so is delivery across television but with content which is of a quality that appeals to our audience.”

    Viceland is a multinational television channel brand owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland’s programming consists primarily of lifestyle-oriented documentaries and reality series aimed towards millennials, directed in Vice’s trademark style of ‘character-driven documentaries’ 

  • APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    BALI: The stage is set for a crackling APOS 2016 in Bali. The annual do organized by Vivek Couto’s Media Partners Asia got off to a flying start this evening with the opening and welcome reception hosted by Disney.

    It was held on the lawns of the Ayana Resort in the Jimbaran district of Bali. The mood was perfect: the skies perfectly clear and the breeze gentle, unlike one of the years earlier when rain disrupted the proceedings. The beer, fruit juices and cocktails flowed freely as Asia Pacific’s TV and digital industry professionals hobnobbed with each other.

    The attendance was stellar: distribution executives, owners & promoters, CEOs, APAC heads,  from the broadcast, cable, satellite sides of the business were all there. HBO Asia head Jonathan Spinks, the new Netflix vice president business development Asia Tony Zameczkwoski, Vice’s iconoclast co-founder & CEO Shane Smith, Walt Disney Co SEVP and chief strategy officer Kevin Mayer, Fox Networks Group Asia President Zubin Gandevia, SES Asia senior VP commercial Deepak Mathur, TV5 Asia director Alexandre Muller,  were among the familiar faces from the APAC region. and elsewhere.

    Among the Indian big names who showed up included: Zee Entertainment international head Amit Goenka was seen with his international team of Rajeev Kheror and Mukund Cairae. Videocon d2h deputy CEO Rohit Jain, COO Himanshu Patil were seen chatting with partners. Indiacast’s Anuj Gandhi was seen hobnobbing with executives from the region. Times Network was represented by international business head Naveen Chandra. For some the festivities continued late into the night as they headed to various restaurants and warungs  across Bali for some of the delicious Balinese food.

    APOS 2016 is markedly different this time because of the focus on different countries. Australia, China, India, Korea and Japan have special sessions that will look at unraveling the opportunity in each of these markets.  

    Global media leaders have sessions on their own. Whether it is Shine Endemol’s Sophie Turner Laing, or Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Kevin Mayer or A&E Networks EVP & CFO David Granville-Smith or Kudelski Group chairman & CEO Andre Kudelski or Viacom International Media Networks President & CEO Bob Bakish, or Emerald Media CEO Paul Aiello – they have all turned up to attend, hear, network and speak. One noteworthy absence is Dreamworks’ Jeffery Katzenberg who has not been able to make it for personal reasons.

    Of course, as most of MPA’s gigs are vaunt to be, APOS 2016 has oodles of investment banks, private equity firm executives all lined up to give their perspective on video distribution opportunities in the Asia Pacific market and in which territories and businesses they are willing to invest in. Among the notable names here: Evolution Media Capital’s founder & co managing partner Rick Hess, CAA head of global client strategy Brian Weinstein, CMC Capital Partners chairman & founding partner Li Ruigang and MD Alex Chen, Providence Equity Partners Head of Asia Bis Subramanian, and senior advisor Tony Ball, Jungle Ventures managing partner David Gowdey, Paul Aiello, iflix group advisor David Goldstein, and Raine Ventures managing partner Godron Rubenstein.

    Several operational heads from the US, Europe and Asia who have their teeth in the business are also speaking. Among these: Discovery Networks Asia Pacific president & CEO Arthur Bastings, PCCW Media group MD Janice Lee, A+E Networks president international & digital media Sean Cohan, Optus CEO Allen Lew, Cartoon Network president & general manager Christina Miller, Taiwan Broadband executive vice-chairman Thomas EE, CJ E&M media content business president DJ Lee,

    Additionally,  the two days of the conference are peppered with digital video discussions considering that OTT and digital VOD services are exploding in the region, including in India.

    The India session looks appealing especially considering the rollout of digitization in India cable and satellite TV. Star India managing director Sanjay Gupta, Reliance Industries’ independent director o the board Adil Zainulbhai, Tata Sky MD Harit Nagpal and Viacom18 Media Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats slated to give their perspectives.

    Indiantelevision.com will be reporting from Bali to give you updates that are relevant to the Indian distribution ecosystem – right from cable TV to DTH to OTT platforms to content creation. So stay tuned

  • APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    BALI: The stage is set for a crackling APOS 2016 in Bali. The annual do organized by Vivek Couto’s Media Partners Asia got off to a flying start this evening with the opening and welcome reception hosted by Disney.

    It was held on the lawns of the Ayana Resort in the Jimbaran district of Bali. The mood was perfect: the skies perfectly clear and the breeze gentle, unlike one of the years earlier when rain disrupted the proceedings. The beer, fruit juices and cocktails flowed freely as Asia Pacific’s TV and digital industry professionals hobnobbed with each other.

    The attendance was stellar: distribution executives, owners & promoters, CEOs, APAC heads,  from the broadcast, cable, satellite sides of the business were all there. HBO Asia head Jonathan Spinks, the new Netflix vice president business development Asia Tony Zameczkwoski, Vice’s iconoclast co-founder & CEO Shane Smith, Walt Disney Co SEVP and chief strategy officer Kevin Mayer, Fox Networks Group Asia President Zubin Gandevia, SES Asia senior VP commercial Deepak Mathur, TV5 Asia director Alexandre Muller,  were among the familiar faces from the APAC region. and elsewhere.

    Among the Indian big names who showed up included: Zee Entertainment international head Amit Goenka was seen with his international team of Rajeev Kheror and Mukund Cairae. Videocon d2h deputy CEO Rohit Jain, COO Himanshu Patil were seen chatting with partners. Indiacast’s Anuj Gandhi was seen hobnobbing with executives from the region. Times Network was represented by international business head Naveen Chandra. For some the festivities continued late into the night as they headed to various restaurants and warungs  across Bali for some of the delicious Balinese food.

    APOS 2016 is markedly different this time because of the focus on different countries. Australia, China, India, Korea and Japan have special sessions that will look at unraveling the opportunity in each of these markets.  

    Global media leaders have sessions on their own. Whether it is Shine Endemol’s Sophie Turner Laing, or Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Kevin Mayer or A&E Networks EVP & CFO David Granville-Smith or Kudelski Group chairman & CEO Andre Kudelski or Viacom International Media Networks President & CEO Bob Bakish, or Emerald Media CEO Paul Aiello – they have all turned up to attend, hear, network and speak. One noteworthy absence is Dreamworks’ Jeffery Katzenberg who has not been able to make it for personal reasons.

    Of course, as most of MPA’s gigs are vaunt to be, APOS 2016 has oodles of investment banks, private equity firm executives all lined up to give their perspective on video distribution opportunities in the Asia Pacific market and in which territories and businesses they are willing to invest in. Among the notable names here: Evolution Media Capital’s founder & co managing partner Rick Hess, CAA head of global client strategy Brian Weinstein, CMC Capital Partners chairman & founding partner Li Ruigang and MD Alex Chen, Providence Equity Partners Head of Asia Bis Subramanian, and senior advisor Tony Ball, Jungle Ventures managing partner David Gowdey, Paul Aiello, iflix group advisor David Goldstein, and Raine Ventures managing partner Godron Rubenstein.

    Several operational heads from the US, Europe and Asia who have their teeth in the business are also speaking. Among these: Discovery Networks Asia Pacific president & CEO Arthur Bastings, PCCW Media group MD Janice Lee, A+E Networks president international & digital media Sean Cohan, Optus CEO Allen Lew, Cartoon Network president & general manager Christina Miller, Taiwan Broadband executive vice-chairman Thomas EE, CJ E&M media content business president DJ Lee,

    Additionally,  the two days of the conference are peppered with digital video discussions considering that OTT and digital VOD services are exploding in the region, including in India.

    The India session looks appealing especially considering the rollout of digitization in India cable and satellite TV. Star India managing director Sanjay Gupta, Reliance Industries’ independent director o the board Adil Zainulbhai, Tata Sky MD Harit Nagpal and Viacom18 Media Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats slated to give their perspectives.

    Indiantelevision.com will be reporting from Bali to give you updates that are relevant to the Indian distribution ecosystem – right from cable TV to DTH to OTT platforms to content creation. So stay tuned