Tag: TCH 2022

  • TCH 2022: Experts discuss the secret sauce of OTT storytelling to keep the audience engaged

    TCH 2022: Experts discuss the secret sauce of OTT storytelling to keep the audience engaged

    Mumbai: The craft is constantly changing in OTT space. Every few months, the rules keep changing. The business players are still looking for the secret sauce. They are still trying to figure out and grapple with what kind of content works. How are the tastes of the audience changing? It’s highly dynamic, and to decipher this unique situation, on the sixth edition of Indiantelevision.com’s ‘The Content Hub Summit 2022,’ held in Mumbai, the media and entertainment industry experts shared their insights on the topic, “The legion of OTT content creators: Storytelling has never been on such an exciting journey.”

    The session had the presence of Pratilipi Studios business head Ambesh Tiwari, Sony Pictures Entertainment head – StudioNext Indranil Chakraborty, Roy Kapur Films head-originals Jinesh Shah, ZEE5 chief content officer, Hindi Originals Nimisha Pandey, Warner Bros Discovery head of original content – South Asia Sai Abishek and Juggernaut Productions (OTT) chief executive officer Samar Khan.

    The panel was moderated by Bodhitree Multimedia managing director Mautik Tolia.

    The summit was presented by Viacom18, and co-powered by Applause Entertainment & IN10 Media Network. Aaj Tak Connected Stream was the association partner. Industry partners were Fremantle India, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, One Take Media, Pratilipi, Pocket FM and The Viral Fever. The Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) was our community partner.

    The discussion began with an awareness of these experts’ attempts to break into the mainstream content market. Is it through design that has been attempted to build a specialisation, or any secret sauce, or is it just an accident?

    Khan noted that it was by design; “There is no secret sauce. The sauce is essentially that you really have to work hard and you have to go out there and find new stories because everybody will agree to the fact that it’s becoming difficult to find new stories because so many shows are being made, so you have to go out there and find people and say, “Give me something that is going to be a little different from what is already there, so it’s just the search for new stories that keeps me going.”

    When asked for the insights and secrets of some interesting products coming out like the Swami Nithyananda Show (My Daughter Joined a Cult) and Secrets Of Sinauli, the experts said that we’re maturing in the non-fiction space. 

    Speaking in this context, Abishek commented that viewers are generally looking at consuming good content but also focusing on the storytelling to make it slightly more cinematic than people are used to generally consuming. “We’re attempting to marry entertainment, which has previously been considered niche, and documentary, which has, unfortunately, not been the most popular genre. Oh, it’s boring or it’s too niche or things like that!”

    Continuing the conversation, Pandey expressed her thoughts when asked if there are any unique elements in a show that she looks for as the secret sauce. What are the essential ingredients required to commission a show?

    She mentioned there is no secret sauce available but the four main recipes that must be followed in order to stand out from the crowd are, first and foremost, a realistic real-world setting. Second, a fascinating story without any shortcuts. Third, a real character with different shades, and finally, a strong passion to create the show.

    Discussing ahead with Shah, Tolia highlighted the different formats of story-telling and its dynamics. He asked Shah, What are the lessons learned and challenges encountered during the transition to the long-form format (web-series) from the movie format?

    The process started from an organic place, so the challenge was different from the television writers & film writers. As an OTT writer, we took some training sessions from experienced writers, show runners, and creators from across the world to help put a process together. It is the alignment of all the cooks (writers, show runners, and creators) that helped us in making this sauce, said Shah.

    Watch the complete session on the link below: 

  • TCH 2022: Language no barrier to consume South content, only quality

    TCH 2022: Language no barrier to consume South content, only quality

    Mumbai: The unending reservoir of talent emerging from the South across languages like Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada indicates that language is no longer a barrier in the consumption of content, only quality. Experts discuss the implications of the South content market boom at Viacom18 presents The Content Hub Summit 2022 organised by Indiantelevision.com.

    What genres and stories are directors and producers from the South working on? The answer to this lies in a panel discussion that brought together the prominent creators of south-based content.

    The Content Hub Summit 2022 is co-powered by Applause Entertainment and IN10 Media Network. Aaj Tak Connected Stream is the association partner. Industry partners are Fremantle India, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, One Take Media, Pratilipi, Pocket FM and The Viral Fever. The Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) is our community partner.

    The session was on the topic ‘The South Content Mantra: Regionalization at its Best’ and was chaired by 91 Film Studios founder and CEO Naveen Chandra. He was joined by Indian film producer and Guru Films founder and CEO Sunitha Tati, MMTV CEO P.R. Satheesh and AHA head-non-subscription Nitin Burman.

    The session moderator, Naveen Chandra opened with the question, “how can a 3.5 crore audience-Malayalam film industry make a 100-crore film? For that we need to find out how consumer habits transformed and what changes happened during the pandemic.”

    Panellists think that pandemic has changed the consumption habits dramatically and the growth of OTT platforms has bridged the gap between the masses and South India content.

    AHA head-non-subscription Nitin Burman opined that the craze for South movies is not recent. It has been there for a long time but it’s the numbers which have notably spiked now. “Earlier, access to this content was not there for the general audience,” he added.

    Indian film producer and Guru Films’ Sunitha Tati said that the way we look at the content is changing. “Post-pandemic, we distinguish between stories on whether it’ll draw audiences to the theatres or do we need to take it to the people on OTTs,” she said. Talking about the unique marketing strategy she remarked, “we actually learnt marketing from Bollywood, but we took it to the next level.”

    Talking about the growth of the South content industry MMTV CEO P.R. Satheesh said that people are now very particular about the quality of content. He noted, “it’s no longer about language. Language is no longer a barrier- it’s the quality of content that matters. And as we talk about the quality of content, the South industry is in its best stage right now,” he added.

    Watch the complete video of the discussion below.

  • TCH 2022: Will the 2020s decade drive an insatiable demand for content?

    TCH 2022: Will the 2020s decade drive an insatiable demand for content?

    Mumbai: The world is undergoing a fierce transformation courtesy the pandemic, streaming services, new content forms and formats and changing work and entertainment consumption habits. The excitement and expectation are palpable amongst those in content creation and distribution – TV, film, streaming, short format, audio series, games, metaverses and what have been to serve those emerging needs.

    The transformation leads to a lot of questions such as will the 2020s see a further revolution and exploitation of the opportunities the decade offers? Or will there be a cooling off? Will Indian content follow the trajectory of the Korean Wave? And how? Will the 2020s prove to be India’s roaring twenties?

    Finding and discussing the answers to these questions, the first panel of the sixth edition of Viacom18 presents Indiantelevision.com’s The Content Hub Summit 2022 saw an insightful debate on the theme ‘The Roaring Twenties: Repeating The Successful Era Of Content Explosion.’

    Moderated by Indiantelevision.com Group founder & CEO, the panel included Indian screenwriter, director and producer Alankrita Shrivastava, Indian Film Director Arif Ali, Pratilipi  head, IVM Podcasts Amit Doshi, Neela Films Productions founder and managing director Asit Kumarr Modi, Balaji Motion Pictures creative producer and executive vice president Ruchikaa Kapoor and Zee Studios chief business officer Shariq Patel.

    The industry event is co-powered by Applause Entertainment and IN10 Media Network. Aaj Tak Connected Stream is the association partner. Industry partners are Fremantle India, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, One Take Media, Pratilipi, Pocket FM and The Viral Fever. The Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) is our community partner.

    A century ago, after the global pandemic known as the Spanish flu, much of the world enjoyed a boom period, later immortalised as the ‘Roaring Twenties’.Opening the discussion, ITV founder, CEO & editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari asked the panel, “Are we about to experience another Roaring Twenties?”

     Pratilipi head, IVM Podcasts Amit Doshi said, “we’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of what exactly kinds of content we’re going to see in future.”

    “Technological transformation over the last ten years has already unleashed creativity in this country and it is going to continue,” he added.

    Further, Wanvari asked Neela Films Productions founder and managing director Asit Kumarr Modi, who has successfully run over thirty-five hundred episodes of ‘Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma’, how he sees this remarkable show in the 2020s?

    “We started back in 2008 where technology was way behind than where we are today and we have seen it all changing over the years. Now, things are developing rapidly, it might be more challenging but we are more excited to create stories in the new age of technology,” answered Modi.

    Taking the discussion further, Zee Studios chief business officer Shariq Pate said, “pandemic has shown that all of us have this insatiable amount of content that all of us could consume and this prompted platforms to step up on investments.”

    “We can expect a roaring 2020s with huge amounts of content to be created which is definitely far more than what the existing platforms can digest at present,” he added.

    Sharing her outlook for the roaring 2020s, Balaji Motion Pictures creative producer and executive vice president Ruchikaa Kapoor said, “the big realization about this changing content landscape is that there’s an audience for every genre, however the size of the audience differs.”

    She added, “the content consumption has increased dramatically over the last three years. But as far as movies are concerned, the urgency of going to the theatres has come down drastically due to the growth of OTT.” Talking about the future, she said, “we expect exponential growth in the 2020s too.”

    Agreeing with what his co-panellists had said, Indian film director Arif Ali said, “being behind the doors for so many months during the pandemic has actually opened a lot of doors for content creators.”

    “Pre-pandemic there was more focus on making money, but now content creators want to have a legacy and it is going to lead to a thrilling 2020s,” he asserted.

    Further, highlighting the challenges that the transformation in the content space brings, screenwriter, director and producer Alankrita Shrivastava said, “today the major challenge is to go back to the core of storytelling and not get overwhelmed.”

    Watch the complete video of this insightful session here.