ITV

Tag: Bollywood

  • ‘The Merrill Lynch deal has given us a Rs 5 billion valuation’ : MK Anand – Zoom business head

    ‘The Merrill Lynch deal has given us a Rs 5 billion valuation’ : MK Anand – Zoom business head

    After selling 25 per cent stake to Merrril Lynch for Rs 1.25 billion, Zoom is gearing up for more programme launches to race ahead of competition that has arrived in the form Showbiz and E24.

     

    Targeting upscale audiences, the channel from the Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) Group has increased its dosage of Bollywood-centric prime time content with a slate of new shows. Aided by a rise in ratings, Zoom is eyeing a revenue of Rs 1 billion this fiscal.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Richa Dubey, Zoom business head MK Anand discusses the growth track of the channel and the need to push the Bollywood genre of content across different markets through the syndication route.

     

    Excerpts:

    Has Zoom Entertainment Network (ZEN) diluted 25 per cent stake to Merrill Lynch for Rs 1.25 billion?
    We got a valuation of Rs 5 billion when Merrill Lynch bought this stake in around May-June. We are utilising this amount to develop stronger content for the channel. Some of the new shows are already launched and we will gradually unveil a few more.

    Will you also not spend more on distribution as channels are finding it difficult to find space on choked analogue cable networks?
    We are content with our present distribution. We will be utilising the money only for new programmes.

    Why has Zoom shifted gear to Bollywood-centric shows?
    Getting viewers closer to celebrity life was the whole idea on which Zoom was launched. The metamorphosis happened when we realised that ‘celebrity’ as a word in India is congruent with Bollywood.

     

    Originally when we started, we were showing programmes based on popular influential people from all walks of life (corporate, sports, page 3). As we went along, we had to change and make it a Bollywood-centric channel because that is what people whom we target want to see. We tried to make the channel more holistic from the Bollywood point of view by showing many related things.

     

    Even our lifestyle shows are centred arround Bollywood. We will, for instance, not have a cookery show. But if a Bollywood actor likes some particular food, then we will show him cooking something. So we will always look for a Bollywood element in whatever we show.

    Was this metamorphosis dictated by the generic revenue limitations of a lifestyle channel?
    The lifestyle content on Zoom was always negligible compared to the glamour factor.

     

    Our programming budgets have definitely doubled over last year as our offerings have increased. Other than short form of content, we are now getting into longer formats which cost more.

     

    But it is also important to note that we operationally broken even last year. This has happened in just three years of our existence!

    Have advertisers been more supportive after Zoom shifted to a Bollywood-centric channel?
    When we launched, an advertiser could not classify us in any category because we were the first ones in the space. But now we have been substantially increasing our rates even while other channels were dropping theirs. This has been possible because we have an ad sales team which is bigger than what a channel of this size would normally have. As a group we are very ad-focussed.

     

    Our inventory is sold out. Some 300 clients must be active every year. We would be having 15-20 exclusive deals.
    ‘When we started, we were showing programmes based on popular people from all walks of life. As we went along, we made it a Bollywood-centric channel because that is what people whom we target want to see‘

    What is your revenue target this year?
    We are targeting Rs 1 billion this fiscal (August-July period). This is after taking into account revenues through ads, video ads and content syndication that we do with other broadcasters.

    Whom does Zoom compare with when you pitch to clients?
    We normally compare ourselves with Star Movies, MTV, HBO and 9XM.

     

    These are the players focussed on this TG (target group) – SEC AB 1 million+ in the age group 15-34.

    What are the positioning changes Zoom has undergone ever since its launch?
    The Times of India Group as a whole has affinity with the urban upscale English speaking audiences. That has always been the Group’s focus. Similarly when it came to TV, we decided not to go for a mass channel and invest heavily in it. Instead, we thought of launching something for the particular audience we have affinity with.

     

    So we launched a channel catering to 1 million+ cities of India. Our weekly reach has gone up from 15-20 per cent in mid-2006 to 36 per cent this year.

     

    As a brand we promised to deliver glamour and we have done that successfully. In terms of brand proposition, we have evolved in terms of our offerings.

    How do you see Bollywoood evolving as a genre?
    Bollywood shows are still evolving as a genre. It is the most popular content, after fiction shows and movies. Even news channels have special shows centred arround Bollywood.

     

    We position ourselves as a generic channel for Bollywood.

    How does Zoom source content?
    We have a reporting team of about 40 people. They continuously shoot and get stories on Bollywood related stuff which is archived. That is the main store for us and we take footage from there and develop shows.

     

    Our in house team uses them to produce shows like Zabar 10, Planet Bollywood. Besides, we also have external production houses which make shows for us. Bollywood Club is done by Optimystix, Bollywood Case Files is done by Moving Pictures Company. We give our archived stuff to them as well.

    What is the movie acquisition strategy?
    For the movies that we telecast, we acquire them from other channels or producers for limited airings.

    What is the prime time on Zoom?
    Advertisers identify prime time from 5 pm in the evening till 1 am. But from the viewers point of view, it lasts from 7 pm – 9:30 pm, the time band where we have launched our new shows. Our core prime time would be 8-9 pm where we will launch stronger shows.

    Zoom also provides shows to other channels. How strong is this business?
    Yes, we do shows for other channels. We have realised that the bank that we have is more than what we can use. So why not commercially exploit our content further?

     

    We have not approached any Hindi channel, but we have some channels in the regional space who use our content. We have given our shows to ETV and Sun Network.

     

    We also have two deals in Pakistan. We are doing a one-hour show for Safron TV in South Africa.
    Will this not kill the exclusivity element on your channel?
    Zoom enjoys more channel loyality as far as Bollywood content is concerned. We have a first mover advantage in the genre. We also have exclusive coverage. Besides, we can leverage exclusive tie ups which Bombay Times has with others.

    What are the digital initiatives Zoom has undertaken?
    We are looking at opportunities in the digital space. Our channel is made up of short form of content. Say three stories of four minutes each are clubbed in a half-hour episode. If we unstring these episodes and put these videos on internet, they become easy to download.

     

    These small videos are more popular than the longer format due to lower streaming capacity in India. We unbundle the entire episode and put these videos on our site.

     

    For further promoting them, we have started putting these videos on other websites. We realised that there was an opportunity in syndicating Bollywood content. This has, in fact, increased traffic on our video online content.

     

    Realising the importance of this, we are looking at synergies now. We have an ad sales deal with these websites. We also promote our other shows through these videos. This makes the marketing of our shows easier and consumption increases.

    Which are these websites?
    Rediff iShare, Yahoo, Youtube and Nautanki TV. They have good traffic and for us they become a platform to share our shows.

     

    We have an ad sales contract with all of them.
    How big a challenge is distribution?
    Distribution is key to the business. But since we also have the consumer pull factor, cable operators will find it difficult to dislodge us from their networks. The Bollywood genre is also expanding with other channel launches. In another 18 months, we can expect the genre to develop and be widely accepted.
  • Is Bollywood taking over TV news?

    Is Bollywood taking over TV news?

     As the world’s largest television news bazaar – with over 40 dedicated news channels, unrivalled by any other country – India offers exciting possibilities for broadcast journalism. At the same time, just as elsewhere in the world, television news in India shows a clear trend towards infotainment – soft news, lifestyle and celebrities – and a decline in journalism for the public interest.

    While news outlets have proliferated globally, the growing competition for audiences and, crucially, advertising revenue, has intensified at a time when interest in news is waning. Audiences for network television peak-time news bulletins have declined in the US from 85 per cent in1969 to 29 per cent in 2005 (though in India news audience has grown).

    With the growing commercialisation of television news, the need to make it entertaining has therefore become a priority for broadcasters. They borrow and adapt ideas from entertainment and adopt an informal style with an emphasis on personalities, storytelling and spectacle.


    This has been reinforced by the take-over of news networks by huge media corporations whose primary interest is in the entertainment business: Viacom-Paramount (CBS News); Disney (ABC News); AOL-Time-Warner (CNN) and News Corporation (Fox News/Sky News and Star News Asia). This shift in ownership is reflected in the type of stories – about celebrities from the world of entertainment, for example – that get prominence on news, thus strengthening corporate synergies.

    In the process, symbiotic relationships between the news and new forms of current affairs and factual entertainment genres, such as reality TV have developed, blurring the boundaries between news, documentary and entertainment. Such hybrid programming feeds into and benefits from the 24/7 news cycle: providing a feast of visually arresting, emotionally charged infotainment which sustains ratings and keeps production costs low. The growing global popularity of such infotainment-driven programming indicates the success of this formula.

    Infotainment – a term that emerged in the late 1980s to become a buzzword – refers to an explicit genre-mix of ‘information’ and ‘entertainment’ in news and current affairs programming. This new news cannibalises visual forms and styles borrowed from TV commercials and a MTV-style visual aesthetics, including fast-paced action, in a post-modern studio, computer-animated logos, eye-catching visuals and rhetorical headlines from an, often glamorous, anchor person. This style of presentation, with its origins in the ratings-driven commercial television news culture of the US, is becoming increasingly global, as news channels attempt to reach more viewers and keep their target audiences from switching over.

    As I demonstrate in my new book News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment, such type of journalism has been very successful: in Italy, infotainment-driven private television catapulted Silvio Berlusconi from a businessman to the office of the Prime Minister. A study of journalism in post-Soviet Russia found that the media were ‘paying huge attention to the entertainment genre’, while in the Chinese news world, Phoenix channel regularly runs such soft news programmes as ‘Easy Time, Easy News.’

    In the world’s largest democracy, what I have described as – the three Cs – cinema, crime and cricket – encapsulate most of the content on television news. Here global influences are important: As in many other countries, the greatest contributor to infotainment in India has been Rupert Murdoch, whose pan-Asian network Star, launched in 1991, pioneered satellite television in Asia, transforming TV news and entertainment. Murdoch was responsible, among other things, for introducing the first music channel in India (Channel V); the first 24/7 news network (Star News) and the first adaptation of an international game show (Who Wants to be a Millionaire).

    Murdoch was also the first transnational operator to recognise the selling power of Bollywood, its glamour and glitz. The obsession of almost all news channels with Bollywood-centred celebrity culture today dominates coverage. Crime is big too: as the ratings battle has intensified, news networks have moved towards reporting sensational stories, which are becoming progressively gruesome: murder, gore and rape are recurring themes. The paradox is stark: although crime coverage has spiralled, especially on more populist Hindi channels, in the real India the crime rate has in fact fallen dramatically in the last decade.

    A third obsession is to be seen in the coverage of cricket: cricket-related stories appear almost daily on all networks – and not just on sports news. And as Bollywood stars start bidding for cricketers, the ‘Bollywoodisation‘ of news is likely to continue.

    These three Cs are indicative of a television news culture that is increasingly becoming hostage to infotainment. The lack of coverage of rural India, of regular suicides by peasants (more than 170,000, in the last 15 years, according to government figures), and the negligible reporting of health and hygiene, educational and employment equality (India has the world’s largest population of child labour at the same time as having vast pool of unemployed young people), demonstrates that such stories do not translate into ratings for urban, Westernized viewers and are displaced by the diversion of infotainment.

    The lack of concern among television news networks for India’s majority population is ironic in a country that was the first in the world to use satellite television for educational and developmental purposes, through its 1975 SITE (Satellite Instructional Television Experiment) programme. The interest in broader questions of global equality and social justice appear to have been replaced among many journalists by an admiration for charismatic and smooth-talking CEOs and American or Americanized celebrities.

    Should we worry about this perceived dilution and debasing of news? In the early 1980s, years before media globalization and rampant commercialization of the airwaves, Neil Postman, in his influential book Amusing Ourselves to Death, argued that television militated against deeper knowledge and understanding since it promoted ‘incoherence and triviality,’ and spoke in only one persistent voice – ‘the voice of entertainment.’

    A quarter century later, looking at the Bollywoodization of news in India, Postman’s words ring truer than ever.

    (Daya Kishan Thussu is Professor of International Communication at the University of Westminster in London. His latest book is News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment – the first book-length study of this phenomenon, published by Sage.)

  • Multiplex owners demand uniform entertainment tax

     
    Multiplex owners demand uniform entertainment tax
     

    MUMBAI: The multiplex owners in India are looking forward to uniformity of entertainment tax in the union budget 2008-09. The other things they are insisting on are decrease in service tax on lease rentals.

    “The rates of entertainment tax are amongst the highest in the world. Most states levy an entertainment tax ranging from 30 to 50 per cent of ticket sales. The average rate of entertainment tax across the world is around 10 per cent of ticket sales,” said E City Ventures (Fun Republic) MD Atul Goel.

    Multiplex owners are awaiting abatement of 67 per cent for service tax on rent so that effective tax rate reduces to 4 per cent.

    They feel as the high rate of entertainment tax still exists, the domestic cinema exhibition industry also pays sales tax on food and beverage. Multiplex owners say that they are forced to pay multiple taxes which include property tax on real estate that it occupies, service tax on advertising revenues, show tax on the number of shows held and income tax on net profits.

    Cinemax India CFO Jitendra Mehta says, “We await abatement of 67 per cent for service tax on rent so that effective tax rate reduces to 4 per cent.”

    Echoing Mehta, Goel adds that the service tax introduced on lease rentals for cinema exhibitions will virtually kill this industry, and, in turn, the entire film industry. He thinks that the entertainment tax structure needs to be re-looked to benefit the overall cinema infrastructure.

    Multiplex owners are demanding a one indirect tax regime. They insist that indirect taxation of goods and services should be integrated into the Goods and Service Tax (GST). Besides entertainment tax on cinema tickets should be integrated into GST.
  • ‘US, Europe and Canada are growing markets for Indian content’ : Adris Chakraborty – Globosat Entertainment director

    ‘US, Europe and Canada are growing markets for Indian content’ : Adris Chakraborty – Globosat Entertainment director

    With the Indian television market booming and the NRI community becoming more affluent, platforms in the UK and US are looking to service this community better. Hoping to take advantage of this is ethnic content aggregator Globosat Entertainment. Formed three years back, the company hatched a deal with Sahara to distribute its channels in the US, UK and Europe. It also markets the religious channel Aastha and works with various platforms.

     

    Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto caught up with Globosat Entertainment director Adris Chakraborty to find out more about the company’s future plans.

     

    Excerpts:

    What are the changing trends for demand of Indian content overseas?
    Bollywood and cricket are the dominant forms of entertainment. Soaps fare less well as the connect is not there; dubbing or subtitling is needed, or else language becomes an issue. News works but to a much lesser extent, as a lot of the diaspora gets that from the internet. To get people to pay for a news service is difficult. People are to an extent also interested in Indian subjects like alternative healing systems, the investment climate, etc.

    How is Globosat positioning itself to take advantage of this?
    We want to leverage the appeal of Bollywood through video-on-demand service offerings. We are talking with production houses to make their content available on VoD through DTH (direct-to-home) and cable platforms. There are entertainment and movie channels.

     

    We are also talking with recently launched Indian broadcasters who want to have a presence abroad. We are also talking with FM radio stations to figure out opportunities to distribute their content on a national scale in the US, UK and Europe, under a subscription-based service model.

    Which are the Indian and South Asian channels that Globosat is currently distributing?
    We distribute the Sahara channels in the US, UK and Europe. We also market NDTV News and promote Aastha channel in the US.

     

    Besides, we are looking at value-added services like ring tones. We are in discussions with a technology service provider to offer subscription-based Bollywood ringback tone services for the South Asian diaspora. We want to work with them to also offer an SMS-based revenue service. The SMS based-revenue, which is big in India, is not being exploited for the South Asian audience. So an NRI watching an Indian Idol on Sony cannot participate through the SMS route. We want to create these kinds of alternative revenue opportunities for our broadcast partners.

    Is interest in Indian content also spreading among mainstream TV viewers in the US and other countries?
    Bollywood is doing that. It is appealing not just to Indians but also to Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and the Hispanic population. They have subtitles or dubbed content.

    What are the services that Globosat offers?
    We work in the ethnic content aggregation and distribution business with focus markets in the US, Canada and UK. Since we understand the South Asian market, we started off in this space.

     

    With a full-fledged marketing team, we help content owners promote and distribute their offerings under different platforms on a subscription basis. We work with multiple platforms and with multiple markets to get the best possible distribution and revenue for broadcast partners. Content distribution could be in the form of VoD for Bollywood movies. We work with DTH platforms and cable networks to help aggregate their VoD content. We have a 60,000-square-foot playout and broadcast facility in New York with five studios. We also have studios in San Francisco and in Toronto.
    ‘Demand overseas for Indian content is more dominant in the areas of Bollywood and cricket. Soaps fare less well as the connect is not there. News works but to a much lesser extent, as a lot of the South Asian diaspora gets that from the internet‘

    What are the platforms you have relationships with?
    Our partners include DirecTV, Dish, Rogers, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and BSkyB in the UK. As the platforms deal with many genres, it is important for us to help them give a marketing push to our offerings. The platforms, after all, do not have the time and energy to market our channels. We offer a value add as we understand the community.

    What is the scene for Indian regional channels in the US, UK?
    They have their own viewing pockets. They are mostly a-la-carte offerings on different platforms. However, there are three Bengali channels which are offered as a package and as a la carte as well.

    Do you use Soundview Broadcasting to create innovative content for South Asian audience in the US?
    We have a couple of shows. There is a show called Green Card about the process of getting one. Then we have Astro Guide and we also do a community news programme Your Voice where we cover the US. We do all this for Sahara. We provide NGOs an opportunity to come and discuss issues on a show called Centrestage.

     

    We produce some content for Aastha in the US. This includes religious festivities. We do some local programming and plug it on the feed to build up better connection with the subscribers. We also shoot film premieres, interviews and give it to our partners.

     

    Viewers want to know the reaction to a latest film, for instance. We do this from the point of view of building the subscriber base for our partners. Local production helps build an emotional connect.

    What is the strategy Globosat follows in terms of marketing its offerings?
    Our marketing mechanism is such that we participate in the major media, cultural and trade events in the US, UK, Canada and Europe which are relevant for South Asians. Sometimes we are allowed to put up a booth and run promos of our broadcast partners. We do a lot of cross promotions with print publications. In addition, we do direct mails, dealer network promotions, etc. We also sponsor events like Miss India USA.

     

    We work with platforms to create new offerings. In Europe, in conjunction with a few channels, we created a DTH platform in partnership with a technology playout called GlobeCast. We partnered with Sony in the UK and created a bouquet to be a compelling subscription-based service. This caters to the Indian and Pakistani diaspora. We also have a major Pakistani channel in that bouquet.

    Do you also do ad sales for channels?
    We have started a full-fledged media agency called Media Morphosis. We help clients with media and print placements. It could be PR or cross- promotion strategies. We are connected with large advertisers, and this helps our broadcast partners. We also use this to market the Globosat channels.

     

    We are in the process of launching Media Morphosis in India. The aim is to offer our services to Indian channels that are abroad and want help attracting advertisers. We will also help companies who want to reach the South Asian community in the US, UK and Europe. We are talking with Star to do their ad sales in the US.

     

    Mainstream travel agencies, insurance and money transfer companies in the US and UK find us useful if they want to reach out to the affluent South Asian community. These advertisers also want to partner with broadcasters. We help them leverage relationships in the most cost-effective manner.

     

    We also organise below-the-line activities, road shows, etc. From a media-buying point of view, we work with a lot of channels. The agency is two years old and we did a gross billing of $2 million with a 30 per cent margin.

    Will you be expanding your footprint to Africa, Australia and Europe?
    We would like to. However, at the moment the bandwith in Australia and Africa is limited. We want to maximise our distribution in the US and Europe which is a large exercise. Canada is a growing market for Indian content.

     

    South America, unfortunately, is fragmented on the distribution front. Piracy is rampant and the Indian population is also too small to justify going there and marketing our offerings.
    New media platforms like mobile, net, etc. are growing through platforms like JumpTV. How is this impacting the channel distribution business?
    It is a good thing for us and our broadcast partners. We have room to do more effective deals. Earlier, it was mostly DTH. If a broadcaster comes to us, we can now take him to all the platforms. One thing, though, is that mobile technology is very primitive in the US. So it will take time to develop as a broadcast medium there.

     

    In terms of revenue, what targets does Globosat have?
    With a turnover of $9 million, we are experiencing steady growth.

     

    What plans do you have for other ethnic content?
    We have tied up with an IPTV platform. They have created a bouquet of Chinese channels. They want us to help them promote and distribute that bouquet in Europe. Our affiliate Soundview also has an Afro-French channel, a Caribbean channel and a Punjabi channel which we distribute in the US and Canada.
  • ‘Any attempt to gag freedom of media in garb of regulation has to be resisted’

    ‘Any attempt to gag freedom of media in garb of regulation has to be resisted’

    But, television viewer has only one option, to change the channel, if he/she doesn’t find the content interesting. Because TV viewers don’t have the option of skipping the news report and watching something else, as they might do with a newspaper. Therefore, at any given time television will have to put the best possible visuals on air. And it has been observed that if the viewer finds the story interesting, he stays on – else he shifts to another channel. So to stay in the rating game a TV channel has to give such content that makes the viewers stick with it.

    Therefore, the point to be noted is that the content on TV is not being controlled by the content maker, i.e, the journalist, but someone else who has the remote control in his hand. Basically the channel surfers, today decides the content and not an avid news watcher.

    Another observation is that news channels behaved like typical Bollywood producers in 2007. That is, if a certain formula was a hit, it was copied and you had a wave of that formula. Likewise in TV news, first came a wave of family drama, matrimonial discord, violence, divorce… People lapped it up. Once the novelty factor was gone, the audience got bored.

    Then came, ghost stories. So one after another channels started showing horror stories. While this content was very short lived, it was also alleged that some of the news reports were concocted. There might be some truth in these allegations, too. Just as it was proved in the Uma Khurana case (where a school teacher from Delhi was made a victim of a fake sting operation). Stories such as these do dent the credibility of the media, but the damage is limited.

    After ghost stories, came the Baba wave. Followed by amazing videos. This was a completely new phenomenon. In these videos, channels showed people doing crazy things. But finally this too seems to be nearing its end.

    Hence I believe that classical news will perhaps never die. Because, it is truly “new”, everyday. It’s unique and touches society. So amazing videos, Baba syndrome, ghost stories are fading in comparison to real news.

    This realisation is both internally generated and induced. Induced, as the government is considering a Broadcast Bill. Yet the handling of the bill raises many questions.

    I have stated earlier – freedom of press comes with some responsibilities. This freedom is critical for nation building. But freedom does not mean anarchy. It is necessary to give deep thought to what impact certain news will have on society. Then why are we opposing the Broadcast Bill? Because when the draft bill was brought out, it became very clear that the government wanted to bring in such a mechanism which can gag the media.

    Amazing videos, Baba syndrome, ghost stories are fading in comparison to real news
    _____****_____

    I strongly feel that self regulation is the need of the hour and to achieve this, we need a truly independent and free media body, with a transparent method of electing its members, which is funded by the media, runs its own independent office, and has some powers to deal with channels that flout guidelines. Currently this responsibility has been undertaken by the News Broadcasters Association, which has brought together editors of all news networks to work on the industry’s content code.

    But one thing is clear. Government can’t gag the media and any ‘regulation mechanism’ which is in the hands of bureaucrats or any such body which is directly or indirectly controlled by the government in any way is not acceptable to us.

    Coming to the issue of the media concentrating on the urban scenario and not doing ‘real’ stories – the rural stories… I do not think this will change vastly. Media will naturally give content that is relevant to the market it addresses. And it is that market which will assess its success or failure. Similarly, the channels will also modify their content as per the market’s needs and response, for instance, it would have been noticed that business content has vanished from most general news channels. While stock market has been hitting the roof, audiences prefer to watch business news channels for this news rather than general news channels. Hence most Hindi news networks did away with their business news bulletins.

    The changed economic reality has tremendously impacted the middle class psyche. Therefore the middle class does not relate to issues that they used to be concerned with a few years ago. So the content mix today cannot be the same as it was a decade ago. The viewer today is different. Plus, we have more than 50 per cent of our population below the age group of 25. Needless to say their taste and psyche is different and this changed reality today dictates the media’s content mix. We found this change quite apparent when Headlines Today showed the wedding of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. Though it may be termed routine coverage, during these two or three hours, Headlines Today reigned supreme, all other English news channels paled in comparison.

    This changed content mix has dominated Hindi news for a while and we should accept the fact that it is here to stay. Similar will be the scene among English language news channels also, with the growth in audience base. So now we have to cast a new dye for moulding this new content. In today’s world, both technology and market are driving content – just as mobile phones have changed telephony, and sms has changed English.

    As for our channels, it is extremely satisfying that we have retained the number one position despite a virtual dogfight in the TV news market. We are proud to present balanced news content. Though this is a remarkable achievement for Aaj Tak, we are aware of the challenges ahead. A number of new channels coming in the fray and with a growing audience base, it will be our effort to retain our number one position – both in terms of content perfection and market share.

  • ‘In India, we want games to be the prime reason why people buy PCs’ : Quentin Staes-Polet – Kreeda Games CEO and co-founder

    ‘In India, we want games to be the prime reason why people buy PCs’ : Quentin Staes-Polet – Kreeda Games CEO and co-founder

    Quentin Staes-Polet is the CEO and co-founder of Kreeda Games, one of the first Indian internet companies dedicated to massively multiplayer online gaming (MMOG). The company received its first round of funding in March 2007 from US based IDG Ventures and Japan’s Softbank.

    Kreeda’s flagship Bollywood music and dance game Dance Mela (The Carnival of Dance) recently made it to the Changemakers gaming honours and according to Quentin, it managed to do so because it successfully merged fitness and entertainment into a deeply localized game for India.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Arcopol Chaudhuri, Quentin talks about the opportunities, challenges and gives his perspective on the larger gaming industry in India, which is beginning to gradually stand-up on its own feet.

    Excerpts:

    Your first round of funding took place in March. When is the next round likely to take place?
    Well, I cannot share that with you, but it’s not anytime soon. We’re quite satisfied with the way things are going at the moment. Corporate interest in the gaming business is increasing, not just in India, but globally as well.

    The gaming industry in India is still at a nascent stage. How is Kreeda combating alternate entertainment options like TV and cinema in this phase?
    Gaming is the TV of the future. And there’s online gaming as well. With the bandwidth increasing, we see a lot of interactivity coming in. Although India is still a couple of years away from where we can get healthy bandwidths, we see the combat happening slowly and surely.

    What’s the current size of the current gaming industry in India?
    The Indian gaming market is very very small. Currently it is evaluated at about $5 million. Nobody really knows the exact size and there are various numbers floating around. It is estimated to reach $200 million by 2010.

    But frankly, I wouldn’t bet on any of the numbers. Because a lot of these numbers are part of revenues paid to companies outside India.

    Has the gaming industry woken up to in-game advertising?
    We’re one of the first few companies to have deployed in-game advertising. I can’t tell you which brands are advertising, but the good news is we have the necessary technology to incorporate it into our games.

    What are the advantages it offers to advertisers compared to conventional mediums?
    In-game advertising is a much better media for advertising than TV because the user involvement is so high and it allows for content integration. It’s not interruptive nor is it intrusive. Customization features are high and I can even make it the sole reason why the user is playing it.

    What about measurability? How is Dance Mela a valuable proposition for an advertiser?
    Indeed, the best part is the measurability it offers. For online and mobile games at least, the advertiser comes to know exactly how many users are interacting with his brand and what demographic do they comprise. Being an immersive medium, it offers much more promise to the advertiser.

    There’s a notion that a gamer is too immersed in the game to actually notice brands in the background?
    Well, I’d beg to differ on that. Ad avoidance is high on TV too. Unless of course, you customize the branding to the gamer. The idea is to create intelligent clickable opportunities for the advertiser. For example, I create a shop inside my game where the user can buy branded accessories which helps him improvise his gameplay.

    What revenue model is likely to work in a market like India?
    For us, I think subscription model is a little early in India. A game where there is no entry level fee, can be monetized at whatever the gamer is willing to give – his disposable income, in this case.

    What offerings has Kreeda lined up, post Dance Mela?
    We are looking to release 3-4 games a year. Dance Mela will be our flagship product for the next few months. The strategy is to pick up successful games from abroad and localize them for India. We’ll be looking at sports games, adventure games and games which are easily adaptable to Indian cultural milieu.

    How challenging was it to localize Dance Mela?
    Bollywood and dance are two themes that are very strong in India. This helped us get in new gamers, especially females. Dance is a strong theme – we couldn’t have had Korean dancing, Chinese – dance has its own identity and Dance Mela is, therefore, the most localized game in this world. It is the deepest example of localization in any country. We devoted about eight months putting into place the characters, dance steps, clothes, sets and music for Dance Mela.

    So is that what your strategy going to be from now on? Licensing them from abroad or developing games in-house?
    Actually a high-end game takes about two years to launch. But we licensed the game from China and then localized it for India, fine tuning several aspects of the game for the Indian gaming audience. It’s easier and more sensible to do this, for a market like India and the returns involved.

    Why aren’t you developing games in-house?
    As long as the gaming market crystallizes in India, we don’t see developing games ourselves. The costs are anything between $3 million-$15 million, which makes no sense in a market that is emerging. As the market matures, we would look at developing our own games. India is a unique market and there is vast potential for developing games specifically targeted towards Indian gamers. We will do it eventually, but only when the market justifies the cost and effort involved.
    ‘Our strategy is to pick up successful games from abroad and localize them for India‘
    How much are existing international gaming majors like EA a challenge to your business in India?
    The gaming majors are not a challenge at all. They cater to a hardcore gaming audience – people whom we at Kreeda are not after. Of course, we would love it if they played Dance mela as well, but then to be a successful gaming company in India, you need to think 100 times that number. You compare that to the projected $200 million and you think it’s not going to happen.

    Look at China – the country jumped from zero to $1.5 billion in a period of seven years. In 1999-2000, China was no different than India in terms of internet connectivity and PC penetration, amongst other things.

    So what according to you is going to be a compelling reason for people to take up gaming?
    In US and China, the reason for PC penetration has been the perks it offers in the form of broadband connectivity, softwares and games. In India, as a gaming company, we want games to be the prime reason why people buy PCs. Gaming should be the driver of PC penetration in India.

    What’s the audience strategy for Kreeda right now – converting existing gaming population to Dance Mela or wooing a fresh audience base?
    We would be looking to convert them of course, but that’s not an audience we’ll be banking on in the long term. Currently there is a gaming population of 50,000 to 60,000 in India today, we look to expanding that to 2-4 million in the next few years.

    Which genre is going to be the catalyst for growth in this sector – mobile, console, PC, online gaming?
    Well, I think its going to be across genres. Console gaming will offer premium experience and will contribute a larger share to the gaming revenue. Meanwhile, mobile gaming already has the advantage of a huge user base which is waiting to be aggressively tapped once connectivity issues are resolved. But the PC and online gaming scene is most promising since penetration in both broadband and PCs is showing rapid growth.

    How much have perceptions towards gaming been a challenge in India? Violent actions packed games are a strict no-no, if academic opinion is to be believed?
    Perceptions, of course, matter but as of now that’s not a cause for concern for us, since Dance Mela is not a violent game. There is moderation involved and we make sure that there is no abuse in any form. For the gaming industry right now, there are many more issues much more than perception that are worrying.

    What are these issues?
    Distribution, PC penetration, marketing channels. There is still no entity yet, that takes care of the distribution requirements of the entire country.

    And how is Kreeda addressing these issues?
    We’re tying up with retailers who are embracing box-game distribution for the first time. We are setting up our own sales force who visit internet cafes and take our games over there.

    What hurdles are you facing while you do this?
    The biggest hurdle we are facing is that the retail scene in India is undergoing a huge churn in terms of nature of operations, infrastructure and monies involved. It’s great in a way since it gives us many more outlets, but the scene is slightly messy right now.
    Is the market too fragmented right now?
    The scene is very fragmented. In India, to reach your game to all the malls in the country there is no single channel distributor. Plus there are transaction issues involved like octroi and transportation which add to the costs of an emerging retail distribution scene for gaming. However, we are hopeful that it will stabilize very soon.

    It’s not just our problem, even majors like Sony, Microsoft and Apple are facing similar issues for selling their boxes and iPods in India.
    What is Kreeda’s presence across shelves in India?
    Currently we are in about 4,000 retail stores and 2000 internet cafes across the country.

    What payment mechanisms are you offering users?
    The current crop of payment options include credit cards for transactions over the internet and prepaid cards. We are also introducing our own gaming cards which can be used at internet cafes where our games are present.

    How are you promoting Dance Mela?
    We are planning to associate with college festivals where we can give students a full-demo of Dance Mela and our company profile. Soon we will also be looking at associating with a TV programme where the game will be integrated into the show’s proceedings. Our objective is to reach 1 million users by March 2008 and we’re working aggressively on our sales strategy to reach that target.

    How does a start-up company like Kreeda see the inroads of Reliance’s Zapak in the gaming market? Are they creating an over-powering presence?
    I think Zapak’s entry is great for the gaming industry. We’re all grateful to Reliance for taking so much interest in this market. Thanks to Zapak, curiosity and following has increased dramatically in the country. The sector is just emerging – there are 4-5 players when there is space for about 50. We’re right now creating a pie and then we will work together in growing it. When it’s grown big enough, we can fight for market share.

    If you were to do a SWOT analysis, how would the gaming sector look like?
    The strengths would include interactivity, demand, business models and high profit margins in India. The weaknesses are distribution, perception and novelty while the opportunities comprise cafes distribution, Indian retail boom, advertising and educational gaming

    As for threats, fragmentation is definitely there. The government might also come up with a regulatory policy when the industry scales up.
  • Excel Home Videos wins 2 Fox Marketing Awards

    Excel Home Videos wins 2 Fox Marketing Awards

    MUMBAI: Home entertainment major Excel Home Videos earned two Awards for India at the Twentieth Century Fox Awards for Excellence in Home Entertainment.

     

    This is the first time that an Indian company has received honours from Fox for the home entertainment segment. The company swept two of the four awards for India, including ‘Highest Growth’ and ‘Best Theatrical Synergy”.

     

    The other two awards were won by Hong Kong. The award ceremony held at Bali, Indonesia witnessed nine countries, including South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, among others, competing for top honours.

    The award for ‘highest growth’ was for the 67 per cent growth the company achieved in the last fiscal. Excel Home Videos, which owns the largest DVD catalogue in the country and enjoys a retail penetration of over 12,000 retail outlets, attributes the success to its product quality, technical brilliance and innovative marketing. Apart from Fox, Excel also represents other entertainment majors like Walt Disney, MGM, Merchant Ivory, HIT, Shringar, and EA amongst others in India.

    The award of ‘Best Theatrical Synergy’ was conferred for the pioneering efforts of the company in successfully using theatrical synergy to promote Home Video Products. Says MN Kapasi, MD, Excel Home Videos, “Merely coinciding the release hasn’t achieved us the feat. The entire effort has been well coordinated with effective pricing, DVD visibility in stores, innovative advertising, among other aspects”. The experiment began with the DVD re-release of the Brad Pitt starrer ‘Fight Club‘ last February. The English DVD did roaring business with the pre-launch hype of the Sohail Khan starrer. The success was later duplicated with a string of Marvel titles including X – Men 1, X – Men 2, X – Men 3, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Elektra, and Daredevil, among others.”

     

    The Awards, in its third year, were presented by Richard Crook, vice president, International Licensees, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

  • DVD market on the cusp of change

    The DVD market in India is witnessing major change. The prices of both hardware and software has become highly competitive and a host of online rental players have emerged. But what impact will low prices have on the rental business and what pricing strategies are home video firms employing? This story offers a look at the current situation of the home video market in the country.

     

    First off, there is no denying that the DVD revolution is possibly the biggest thing that could have ever happened to movie buffs.

    Today, six cities including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata account for 70 per cent of the DVD player penetration in the market.

    According to Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci ), a PWC report states that there is a huge upspring in plasma TVs and home theatre surround sound systems, which has boosted the demand for home video products like DVDs and VCDs.

    The home video market in India – largely the rental market – was estimated to be about Rs 4 billion in 2005. Over the past two years, it has grown by about 15-18 per cent per year. The share of the home video market is estimated to be six per cent of the total film-based entertainment business. This is expected to grow to about 14 per cent by 2010, driven by the shorter-release windows in the theatrical business.

    India has approximately 15 million DVD players and this figure is expected to touch 70 million by 2010, which translates into a vastly untapped video rental market.

     

    The present market scenario

    The global broadcast technology market is worth $11 billion and is set to grow at 11 per cent with the pace being set in Europe, Middle East and Africa. This fact was highlighted at Broadcast Asia 2007, which is Asia’s biggest industry event held in Singapore from 19 -22 June 2007.

    The country has over five million home video and DVD subscribers and current penetration levels are expected to grow 31 per cent, according to the PWC report.

    The home video market is going to almost double from Rs 830 crore in 2007 to Rs 1,700 crore in 2010. The drastic cut in the price of DVDs has allowed DVDs to be sold through supermarkets as well. In the international scene, the total market has grown to an estimated 8.8 million subscribers at the end of 2006, with total estimated rental revenue of over $1.2 billion.

     

    Adams Media Research and Netflix internal estimates project that the total market will have more than 20 million online subscribers in the next four to six years. The DVD rental business is in the season of mergers, the latest to happen is the biggest fund raiser in the rental space Seventymm has acquired 100 per cent equity of the oldest rental service agency Madhouse.

     

    Moser Baer in the entertainment basket

    One player that is looking to change the dynamics of the home video market is Moser Baer. Its entry into the home entertainment market was marked by its move to slash the prices of DVDs and offer regional titles. This positioned the company among the top contenders and the biggest guns of retailers entering this market.

    Its set to change all the dynamics of the entertainment market and the problems conflicting the industry like high prices of DVDs which had given the rise of steadily flowing of piracy and high fragmentation in this business.

    Companies are releasing video content in DVD and VCD formats to ensure the highest quality standards, but also to significantly reduce costs. Moser Baer‘s fully licensed titles will be available at Rs 28 for an Indian film VCD and Rs 34 for an Indian film DVD – price points that we said before, will not just redefine the Rs 650 crore ($150 million) home entertainment business in the country, but also put it on the path to a four- to five-fold growth in the next three years. Of this, Moser Baer aims to have at least 50 per cent market share.

     

    One of Moser Baer‘s recent releases

    Pricing strategies: Moser Baer will also be releasing non-film titles in the following areas at different price points, including VCDs at Rs 49 and DVDs at Rs 69. Two VCDs will be priced at Rs 89. All English movie titles will be marketed (VCDs at market price of 49 and DVD of Rs 69). The company is also planning to launch single VCDs of songs in the range of prices starting from Rs 20 in all key languages.

     

    Distribution: Moser Baer is also setting up exclusive branded outlets (owned or through franchise) at about 300 locations, in addition to alliances with large format stores established by various retail ventures in the country. They have established a network of carrying and forwarding agents in all the states of India.

    Other players slashing prices: Shemaroo & Eros

     

    Other players in the market include the veteran Shemaroo. The firm recently introduced three new pricing categories for some products starting at Rs 66. Shemaroo VP Hiren Gada says that the last time DVD prices were reviewed was in 2004. He adds that the firm anticipated the competition in terms of prices and more players a few years back which is why it has sought to diversify itself.

    More price cutting has come from Eros International which has slashed its entry price on DVDs, cutting it down from around Rs 150 to Rs 99 to keep in tune with the dynamics of the market.

    One of the films in Shemaroo‘s low price catalogue

    Eyeing the potential of this sector, Reliance Entertainment, Nimbus and Percept are among the other players looking to enter the home video space with competitively priced products. Reliance is investing $ 100 million in its home video division Bigflicks. This has both an online and an offline component.

    The online component will mainly target NRIs. The offline component will consist of retail stores across the country. By the end of this financial year there will be 100 stores in 10 cities. In three years there will be around 500 stores in 50 cities. They will function as neighbourhood stores. They will offer DVDs for rental and sale. While the pricing strategy has not been decided upon Bigflicks COO Kamal Gianchandani says that it will be competitive.

     

    No drastic price reduction: Excel Home Video

    This animation film has done well for Excel

    For some of the other existing firms it is still a ‘wait and watch‘ strategy on the pricing front. Excel Home Video which focusses on Hollywood is not going in for huge price reduction anytime soon. Excel Home Video MD M N Kapasi says that it is not a question of high price or low prices.

    “So far the introduction of low price discs has not affected our business. We will reduce the price of our products marginally to push up volumes but it will not be a drastic reduction.

    “Demand is a function of content. You can have cheap hardware but if the software is not there a firm will not find takers. At the current price level of our DVDs and VCDs we are satisfied with the volume of business. We will be doing a study now to find out what the consumer expects. Is it a low price or is it quality they seek? Depending on that we will take a decision on how we go ahead.”

    No need to plunge prices: Sony Pictures

     

    Sony Pictures which has a home video unit is also adopting a wait and watch strategy. The firm feels that its price points are reasonable and with that price point it claims to compete successfully and at the same time make profits.

    A spokesperson says that there is no sudden need to plunge the prices when consumers are willing to make a price value comparison on a particular film. At a super low price one will bleed. It is worth noting that Moser Baer has an advantage. Since it is a disc manufacturer it can bring prices down more effectively than the competition.

     

    The webslinger has proven to be a winner for Sony Pictures on the home video front as well

    It is expected by the industry that the advent of low priced DVD players and some software at a reasonable price will help convert VCD buyers to DVD buyers thus helping to educate the consumer about the better quality and features of DVDs over VCDs. VCDs are still likely to sell in large volumes for some time though, as DVD hardware penetration in rural India is still not very high.

     

    Moreover, with the advent of lower cost DVDs, new distribution channels are likely to open up, thereby expanding the availability of DVDs more than they currently are. Several players are betting on home videos becoming a FMCG product being sold through multiple retail points like super markets and departmental stores apart from traditional music and video stores. Also, with the expansion of organised retailing in India, over the next few years, home videos are likely to get wider distribution reach.

    However, the key issue is what impact will low pricing of DVDs have on the rental business?

    As of now the rental business whether online or offline is yet to see the full impact of the low cost DVDs. It might not get affected in the short term as most of the renting happens for new Hindi and international releases mostly priced between Rs 299 – Rs 599 for DVD and Rs 149 – Rs 299 for VCD. The price reductions are usually introduced for older movies, classic titles. However, if prices for international and newer Hindi products also fall drastically in the next three years, as has been predicted by Moser Baer, then the rental business will certainly get affected.

     

    Industry players however don’t feel that low cost DVDs will have a major impact on cinema revenues. That is because theatre viewing is a different experience with the family as an outing. Video cannot replace that experience. Further, several films have a great impact on the big screen, compared to the small screen.

     

    Theatrical business will generally not be hit as there is a hold back period of 2-10 weeks before the original home video can be launched legally by the home video rights owner. Normally, the film completes its theatrical run by then.

     

    The Online DVD rental markets

     

    Coming to the fast expanding online DVD rental business that poses competition to the DVD market, include players such as Madhouse, Seventymm and Clixflix among others.

    Reasons for splurge in the Online DVD market

     

    • Internet penetration in India is growing not only in the urban areas but also in B and C class cities which has made possible the entry of this market in rural and small areas. The number of individuals who accessed the internet has increased marginally from 10.8 million to 13.0 million in 2006.

    • Local rental stores provided the customers with only limited editions of popular bollywood flicks, nothing besides that.

    • Cheap content and poor quality makes it hard for the consumer to get good quality DVDs at rental stores.

    • The organised movie rental business has checked the rampant problems of pirated versions.

    The leading players include:

     

    Madhouse (www.madhouse.in)

    Madhouse, which rents out original and legal disks, is among the earliest players in the sector. It claims to be the first rental service Indian company to offer movie rental services accessible via a multi-channel model. This includes customer interactions through the web, SMS, phone and kiosks. Founded in December 2004, Madhouse is headquartered in Delhi. The rental service was launched in the tri-city region of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali in May 2005.

    Madhouse was acquired by Seventymm this year.

    Seventymm (www.seventymm.com)

    With a funding of Rs 100 million from US based Draper Fisher Jurveston and 32 crore funding from Matrix Partners Seventymm is currently based in Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Mumbai. It was launched in 2005.

     

    Cinesprite (www.cinesprite.com)

    Cinesprite.com, which was launched in 2006 with nearly 10,000 titles, is a DVD rental site that offers subscription plans ranging from one to 12 months with an activation fee of Rs 150 and Rs 250 depending upon the package the viewer chooses.

     

    Moviemart (www.moviemart.in)

    Movie Mart, a new comer in this space was launched this year. The website is also a subscription based DVD movie rental service providing its members access to a library of motion picture, television and other film entertainment. The member can choose from their subscription packages and also offers unlimited validity period for four DVDs at a time at a price of Rs 999. These prices are key in combating the falling prices of software.

     

     

    Catchflix (www.catchflix.com)

    Catchflix online rental service was launched in may 2006. It covers Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi- NCR, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad. It offers a 50 DVD package at a cost of Rs 2899.

     

    Clixflix (www.clixflix.com)

    Launched in October 2004, Clixflix plans to expand nationally. It offers a package of six DVDs a month at Rs 399 and unlimited DVDs at Rs 799. This is a Mumbai based rental agency.

    Bigflicks (www.bigflicks.com)
    This is Reliance‘s online video service and will mainly target the NRI market. It has launched its on-demand movie download service. It offers films in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and Kannada that will be available for either download to own at a fee or for free streaming. The firm says that its USP is that it is the first and only online movie library with the largest regional content. The download price ranges from $2 – $15.

    BigFlicks.com will offer 2000 titles in the first year and there will be revenue sharing arrangements with the content owners. The site is also looking at acquiring Indian television content apart from looking to connect with subscribers in America, UK, Canada, Middle East, Australia and South East Asia. The site aims to have an easy interface and navigability. It offers downloading speed with bit rates of 1500 kbps.

     

    Conclusion

    Thus, it is not surprising to see why online DVD rental chains and retail majors have forayed into sales and distribution tie-ups apart from acquiring copyrights from content DVD manufacturers. The market is booming and online DVD rental companies are looking to expand through tie-ups with retail chains.

    The Indian entertainment industry is worth about $5.2 billion out of which the film industry alone is worth about $1.5 billion. Even though the online DVD rental players have a tiny market share presently, they are planning to grow rapidly and expect to reach $100 million within the next five years. DVD content owners are experimenting more with packaging to make the product more attractive as well as providing added value features.

  • Cinema activation gets active, brands cash-in

    A giggling gang of girls queues up at the popcorn counter at a plush multiplex, discussing a high-profile celebrity split.Cash in hand, they also have their eyes glued to the LCD screen above the counter which is looping a TVC of the show ‘Popcorn News‘ on Zoom. While the girls decide on caramel, salted and spicy flavours for popcorn, the TVC announces a new flavour of popcorn – ‘Bollywood Masala,‘ a show which gives the latest gossip on the glamour circuit.

    Call it smart positioning or an imaginative touchpoint with the target audiences, brands today are using the multiplex foyer for a array of activities. From kiosks to LCD displays, promotional leaflets to opinion polls, cine advertisers are slowly creating communication points in line with a film‘s release.

    The Trend

    The growth in the number of multiplexes across the urban landscape, coupled with hoards of consumers flocking to these destinations for their weekend dose of entertainment gives brands the advantage of interacting with their target audiences. This trend is gradually taking shape across the country and media experts are bullish about its prospects.

    “Brands are trying to coincide their promotional activities with the release of films just to cash in on the footfalls. It is typically centred around the weekend, when the occupancy levels are higher at the multiplexes,” says P9 Integrated CEO Navin Shah.

    Says DGM cinema activation Abhijeet Thakar, who created multiplex activation during the recent Yashraj Films release Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, “People spend an entire day at malls and cineplexes on weekends, since it‘s a great place to hang-out. Under cinema activation, direct interaction is possible between the brand and the consumer through a touch-and-feel experience. A lot of merchandise can also be given away in the process to our consumers.”

    ICI Paints had promoted its Velvet touch range of paints during the release of big-budget releases like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Salaam-e-Ishq wherein along with distributing promotional merchandise, a contest was also run. Winners had the opportunity to get their homes painted in ICI Deluxe Velvet touch paints.

    “The on ground activities at multiplexes have helped us in getting additional branding for products through sampling and converting customers into using our product. Post the activity, we‘ve experienced about 30 per cent growth in Gujarat and 55 per cent growth in Delhi both of which are our cream markets,” says ICI Paints marketing manager Rajat Johri.

    Adds Zoom Television head marketing Shiv Kumar, “Multiplex activation is part of the media today, which is allowing us to create an engagement model with the consumer. Compared to the traditional medium, here we are tailormaking the brand communication message in tune with our target audience.”

    Non-traditional media on the rise

    A natural spin-off in the increase of cinema activation has been due to the clutter for advertising on television. Lintertainment communications director Harshad Bhagwat states, “On television, ad avoidance levels have gone up as high as 70 per cent since audiences generally tend to switch channels during an ad. Brands are therefore looking at alternate mediums for gaining more visibility.”

    The platform for associating with films at multiplexes comes hardly as a surprise considering the popularity of cinema in the country. Multiplex activation is on the rise with the mushrooming of malls and multiplexes all over the country. “We have slowly reduced our dependency on other mediums like television and radio in our marketing plan. We‘re currently devoting about 7.5 per cent of our marketing budget on cinema activation,” says Johri.

    Kumar says that Zoom is currently devoting about 15 per cent of its marketing budget for cinema activation and the numbers are expected to rise.

    Why cinema?

    Part of this trend can be attributed to the growth of cinema into a more organized sector than it was before. “Producers are now seeing results. It‘s becoming a more legitimate business with more accountability coming in through multiplexes on aspects like occupancy and footfalls amongst others,” offers Shah.

    Agrees Johri, “Earlier, monitoring the degree of visibility that the brand garnered through cinema activation was difficult. But now we have a count of the number of footfalls and we receive reports of auditorium occupancy. Things have become more professional.”

    It also offers certain ‘spikes‘ during the year, wherein brands can plan in advance. “The Diwali season is a peak period when we see big-budget releases and occupancy levels are higher. We are looking to invest in such big releases of the year,” says Johri, whose range of paints will cash in on Karan Johar‘s and Kareena Kapoor‘s releases this year. Both the stars incidentally are their brand ambassadors.

    Largely though, brands building up activation models around a film‘s release are often treated as an event. “Cinema is a religion in India and the footfalls during big releases are extremely high during the weekends. We‘re trying to use their presence in the multiplex foyer to take the brand communication forward,” says Thakar.

    CalvinKare‘s Spinz range of deodarants are positioned around the theme of dance and youth. In their recent activation, patrons for Jhoom Barabar Jhoom were asked to match steps with two dancers dancing to the title of songs from the film. P9 Integrated, which executed the campaign, says the response was excellent. CalvinKare product manager Sanghamitra Rath agrees, “We‘ve used cinema activation for the first time and the response has been very good. We‘re using this campaign in different metros across the country.”

    Range of brands investing

    The genre of brands using cinema activation has seen a sea change over the last few years. “Earlier you had the liquor, colas and two-wheelers using the activation very effectively – both on-screen and off-screen. Now we have a range of products right from FMCG goods and consumer durables that undertake sampling and merchandising exercises at multiplexes,” says Shah. Lately, however, a lot of media brands are entering the foray as well. “Radio stations, TV channels, news channels and even satellite radio like Worldspace are increasingly making use of the medium,” he adds.

    Furniture line Godrej Interio recently involved themselves in multiplex activation, wherein the complete range of Godrej Interio office and kitchen furniture was put up on display. An official from Godrej Interio stated, “We‘ve tried to make the best out of a big film‘s release. Our target audiences are present here in the multiplex and they would be interested in checking out our new range of furnitures.”

    Measuring results

    But how do agencies really measure the effectiveness of cinema activation? Is there a recording medium which is reliable to ensure the number of people that have seen the communication message of the brand ?

    Thakar says, “There is no defined measuring medium as with television. Statistics are measured by the reports of the occupancy of the auditorium. Multiplex owners are a main source of information on strategic placements in the multiplex. We also send our independent teams who conduct a research on high-traffic areas in the multiplex.”

    Bhagwat, however, states, “Advertisers are still hesitant to use this medium because unlike television, there is no reliable measuring medium. Therefore we‘ve set up our own team at Lintas, called Intellect, which will study how strategically we can place brands under cinema activation.”

    Shah has a different point of view. He says, “Cinema activation is more of experiental medium, hence conventional forms like eyeballs, reach frequency and cost per thousands would not be the correct yardstick to measure the medium. However, I believe tangible results are still available and efficacy of the medium is high.”

    Engagement and experience with target audiences

    Brands however agree on getting a direct interactive platform with their target audiences, thanks to cinema activation. Rath says, “We‘re doing a lot of sampling activities wherein our main Sec A 15+ audiences are regular patrons at the movies.”

    Multiplexes are also high catchment areas for the product sampling. “Audience profiles are such who are more open to trying out new products, giving feedback and information on user preferences and telling us about their consumption habits. Moreover they have the purchasing power,” says Thakar. “Therefore extensive database collection is done due to our interaction, which further adds on the measurability of the medium,” he adds.

    The marketability factor

    But what determines a marketer‘s inclination towards a particular film? “It‘s the marketability,” says Shah. Elaborating, he adds, “Star cast is another crucial factor but the legacy of the producers to use brand activations is also important. Cinema activation offers an alternate revenue stream for them as well, apart from the box office collections and a host of movie rights.”

    Bhagwat says that multiplex owners have also benefited from cinema activation since, it offers them a revenue source just in case the film‘s collections are not impressive. “At the multiplex, fortunes change every Friday. Through cinema activation, exhibitors have a back-up just in case the film‘s collections are not up-to-the mark,” he says.

    A recent example of smart activation was for the film Cheeni Kum wherein samples and an information booklet of Sugar Free was distributed along with the movie tickets. “It was a smart move, considering that during the interval patrons in the auditorium can look into the booklet and read about the product,” says an analyst. “Due to the sampling, people looked forward to seeing the product placement in the film as well,” he says.

    The future

    Cinema activation is among the several marketing opportunities that that producers are willing to engage in. “Producers are keen to pocket the table profit before a film‘s release. This includes marketing, theatrical, overseas and music rights. This helps marketers bring in a number of brands like it happened for Krissh, wherein over 10 brands were brought on-board for the film,” says an industry observer.

    Marketers, therefore, are expected to bank on the marketability of the film to help brands benefit out of it. The reason why brands are likely to invest more in the medium is the cost-efficiency of the medium. Group M general manager content and entertainment Rajeev Berry says, “Brands are looking at reaching the consumer in a cost-efficient and impactful manner. With big budgets and big stars, cinema is getting bigger in this country and brands would want to establish a synergy with these films.”

    Even cine advertisers who are involved in on-screen activation are looking to involve themselves in off-screen activation in the coming days. QMedia business group manager Ashish Mathur for QCine advertising which worked on blockbuster Sivaji says, “I feel that a combination of activation and on-screen activity can work wonders for a brand. A great example is the award winning HSBC activation clubbed with the on-screen advertising done by Ogilvy Action.”

    By the scheme of things, multiplex activation seems to be a new entry into the media plan for marketers. With the growth in retail and burgeoning size of the movie business, footfalls are likely to increase in multiplexes. However, what remains to be seen is whether brands and advertisers can make cinema activation more engaging and experiential through innovative activities rather than mere kiosks or displays in showcasing promotional material.

    Moreover, with stringent measuring techniques more inroads are expected into analysing whether cinema activation helps translate into sales and branding growth, rather than mere sampling. The customer‘s activity will determine the success of cinema activation.

  • Moser Baer entertainment business CEO Harish Dayani : Harish Dayani- Moser Baer entertainment business CEO

    Moser Baer entertainment business CEO Harish Dayani : Harish Dayani- Moser Baer entertainment business CEO

    Moser Baer is shaking up the home video market with its low pricing. While VCDs are available at Rs 28, DVDs are priced at Rs 34.

     

    Will the market dynamics change as new players like Adlabs hatch plans to enter the business?

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Sibabrata Das and Ashwin Pinto, Moser Baer entertainment business CEO Harish Dayani elaborates on how the home video market will never be the same.

     

    Excerpts:

    Why did Moser Baer decide to get into the entertainment and home video market?
    Moser Baer is the world’s second largest optical storage manufacturer. As we make 10 million discs a day, we have economies of scale. We can manufacture a disc at a price that not too many people in the world can match. Having such a strong backend in this form of business, we were somewhere in the commodity space. The obvious forward integration for us was to add content. In India, there is nothing like entertainment as far as replication on a product like a disc is concerned. This is where the whole thing started around a year ago – and we had the money to do it.

    When several home video players like Time have folded up, what made you think that Moser Baer could fix it right?
    We felt there were gaps in the industry which we could fill. The home video market is fragmented and has local players. We saw an opportunity in this to have a pan India presence. Distribution is another area that needed attention. Also, consumer branding is important.

    How did you take care of the content?
    We realized that if we were to be a major player, we needed to own content on a large scale. We acquired 7000 movie titles and have become the largest content owner, controlling one-third of the entire film production chain. We picked up content from different sources (including from Time). We decided to be the first company that deals with home video in all languages.

    Isn’t regional films a significant component of this?
    We have close to 1800 Hindi titles. The rest is regional – Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, etc. Besides, we have around 600 international titles sourced mainly from independent producers.

    But how do you source top content when the big Bollywood studios like Yash Raj Films have set up their own home video labels?
    We simply can’t. But there are many who don’t have their home video labels. And we ourselves will be in the film production business.

    Pricing seems to be an important strategy for Moser Baer. How much volumes do you have to reach to make this a profitable business model?
    People say that Moser Baer sells products at a low price. For us, price was the outcome of other factors; it definitely was not the starting point. Surely, we wanted to have a pricing that the masses would find attractive. So we priced DVDs at Rs 34 and VCDs at Rs 28. And it is not that we are operating under negative margins.

    When you start buying big Bollywood movies and have to pay a high content cost, will your operating margins not puncture?
    We have all kinds of movies. For me, a 1950 film is as important as Munnabhai as it will generate a certain amount of interest among a certain section of audience and be commercially viable. The concept of old and new movies are irrelevant. In terms of recent titles, we have films like Life Mein Kabhie Kabhie, Ek Chalis Ki Last Local. Apne has yet to come. We also have two films of Venus.

    How do you align with the international studios as they are already having exclusive distribution deals with the other home video players?
    We will be busy for a year with the amount of titles that we have. Even if we release 30 titles a day, it will take me over a year and I am not a magician. In terms of tying up with big international studios, the question is in terms of adding value. We are setting up our business. When we have established ourselves, then we can talk to other players with confidence and authority. We have to demonstrate how our business model works.

    How are you sprucing up your distribution network?
    When we were toying with the idea of entering into the home video market, we realized that we could have a strong backend but that does not necessarily make for a business model. Home video distribution, or for that matter the entire entertainment distribution, is wholesale-oriented. Entertainment firms have a few select group of wholesalers; what the wholesalers do after they get the product, nobody knows. We felt the need for a distribution network that is similar to an FMCG system. We wanted to have our own distributors spread across the country.

     

    Most home video businesses have 20-40 distributors across the country. We have 500. We feel that every town must have a distributor. We do not want to depend on a wholesaler in a large town who will cater to a small town. We tell distributors to give the product to retailers in their area. Entertainment product in this country is available in some 20,000 stores. Our product is available in 100,000 shops and we are just two months old. The aim is to take this to a chain of 300,000.

    What are the margins you are offering to the distributors?
    The wholesale distributor has a five per cent margin while the retailer enjoys a 25 per cent margin.
    ‘Home video market is fragmented and has local players. We saw an opportunity in this to have a pan India presence. We decided to be the first company that deals with home video in all languages‘

    How crucial is branding as part of Moser Baer’s strategy?
    The myth in the entertainment industry is that people just go and buy titles at any price and it does not matter who is selling them. We want to break that myth. Our message is that Moser Baer is adding a lot of value in terms of the quality of manufacture. We have a certain image. It is not just Munnabhai MBBS; it is Moser Baer Munabhai MBBS. It is important that we reinforce faith in our product in the mind of the consumers.

    Will you have your own stores as part of the branding exercise?
    We have two – one in Pondicherry and the other in Ahmedabad. We will have 50 by the end of the year and 250 by the end of 2008.

    How has the deal with Pyramid Saimira helped expand your reach?
    Pyramid Saimira makes and distributes films. We have the first right of refusal for home video rights. They also have a chain of theatres and have deals with malls. We are looking at opening Moser Baer franchisee stalls there. Our products will be available in the vicinity where people come. We are also talking to tie up with other theatre and mall owners.

    Are you looking at entering the rental market?
    Firstly, this is an unauthorised business. If someone buys a Moser Baer disc for commercial exploitation, then it is against the law. We do not have plans to enter the rental business. However, we are not trying to discourage this. If somebody approaches us to do business with them, we would consider licensing our content.

    How about getting into alliances with broadcasters so that you can acquire wholesome rights?
    We look at satellite content only if we find that we are not getting the home video rights. Do I need to align with other players? If I have 7000 titles and another firm comes up to me and says that he also has 7000 titles, then we might join hands to tackle the market together. This way we can take our own decisions that would be best for us.

    What are the plans on the film production front?
    We have signed a co-production deal with filmmaker Anubhav Sinha for a basket of 12 movies. We have also signed up with Anthony D’Souza (Ishaan) and Priyadarshan. We are also negotiating with four big filmmakers. The first movie to kick off, though, is Shaurya.

     

    We will also produce movies that we will release for the home video market. This should happen sooner than later. We also plan to get into the film distribution business but at a later stage.
    Are you looking at producing regional language movies?
    We have signed with Prakash Raj for three films in Tamil and are also looking at other languages. Our eventual aim is to make films in all languages.

    How much are you pumping in for your entertainment business?
    We intend to invest Rs 5 billion over three years. A major chunk of this, of course, will be towards the home video business.
    With low pricing, what growth can we expect in the home video sector?
    Our estimate is that it would grow at four to five times the current size in three years. We want to have a 50 per cent share of this.

    Is the home video market dynamics up for total change?
    Will consumers look at our price and wonder why other titles from other firms are priced much higher? Possibly. That is for them to decide. Some players may charge higher but eventually the price will come down from where it is now for everybody. I don’t believe premium or popular content can command a three figure price. The home video business model will be viable for those who are able to stay around in it.

    You have moved into HD DVD. Won’t the conflict between the two incompatible formats Blu Ray and HD DVD prevent quick uptake of the technology?
    This is still five years away from happening in India. VCD players still dominate, though the number of DVD homes is growing.

    Does Moser Baer nurture ambitions of eventually becoming a studio?
    Consolidation is happening in the entertainment space across the globe. This will also happen in India. Corporates are entering into the movie business and aggregation is taking place. We are also trying to be in the different entertainment value chains.