An Indian entertainment super session was conducted at NAB, the world‘s largest broadcast and content technology show produced by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce. The discussion was moderated by E&Y National Sector Leader Farokh Balsara and panelists included ENIL‘s AP Parigi, Star India‘s Jagdish Kumar, Alva Brothers Group CEO Sunil Lulla, Eros Americas President Ken Naz, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, India, Zohra Chaterjee and exchange4media group founder and editor in chief Anurag Batra.
The session took place on 16th April at 3.30 pm at the LVCC in Las Vegas where the NAB show is underway.
That the Indian entertainment economy is surging is known to all within the industry in India, the purpose of such sessions, therefore, is to bring the same facts to the attention of the global markets and players who are potential collaborators as Indian entertainment surges yet again to its next level of growth. With that objective in mind, the session was bang on target. The only hindrance perhaps, was the lack of time devoted to audience Q&A.
Interesting facts that were emphasized upon included things such as:
India‘s status as one of the most unregulated television markets in the world.
India being one of the countries in which media enjoys the most freedom.
The fact that Indian broadcast and advertising is still under penetrated and under served – which spells opportunity.
The growing global market for Indian cinema including countries like Russia, Germany, Caribbean, the Middle East etc.
Government‘s priority on digitalization.
Radio and its growth potential.
66 Magazines launched in past 18 months.
Media companies launching various internet ventures.
Indeed, every segment in media is full of opportunity and International companies do stand to gain from participation.
Farokh Balsara unveiling an E&Y report on the occasion shared, “The GDP of India‘s entertainment economy is at USD 12.5 Billion and is growing at twice the speed of the rest of the world. More than 52% of the country‘s population is below 25 years of age and more than 60% of the population is in the working age group. By 2010, India will have the largest English speaking population in the world and the Indian media and entertainment sector has been and will continue to be one of the largest beneficiaries of these macro economic and demographic factors.”
He added that “More than 1100 films are released annually and 3.7 Billion movie tickets were sold every year. There are almost 75 Million cable and satellite homes and a majority of the content consumed in India is being indigenously produced.”
Star India‘s Jagdish Kumar pointed out that the Indian television space was underserved and under penetrated with only 55% homes having access to TV and the opportunity lies in the remaining populace. He also pointed out that India was the only country in Asia where anyone could come in and set up a General Entertainment Channel.
Talking about programming trends, Alva Brothers Group CEO Sunil Lulla stated that programming formats were in and that formats reduced risk as well as brought in other kinds of revenues.
The extremely passionate, AP Parigi spoke with great enthusiasm about how he thought Radio was amongst the most effective local media and was great value for money at the price points that exist. An interesting figure he threw up during the conversation was that in Mumbai 40% of their station consumption is through FM on mobile telephony.
“FM Radio in India has been the best example of PPP (Public Private Partnership) anywhere in the world what with 250 stations rolled out in the past 14 months. The first wave was slightly non synchronous, but this time around we have a robust framework policy and the permission to bring in FDI. I see a great future for Radio in the country. It is a ‘Must Have‘ carry medium for media planners.” he added.
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, India, Jt. Secretary Zohra Chaterjee added,” Another 700 radio stations are to be put up for auction over the next 6-7 months in phase 3, FDI norms will be loosened up a little bit, we are conservative about news on radio and are conservative about content. We are looking at cross media ownership and we do not have a broadcast regulator in-spite of the growth. India is a very free country as far as media goes.” She pointed out.
Ken Naaz from Eros International shared that there were 3.1 billion people watching Hollywood movies across the world and 3.7 billion people watch Bollywood movies. “The subjects are getting better and so are the production values” he said.
“If we look globally, for the addressable audience, there are the traditional markets including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Other than that, countries like Germany, Russia, Middle East and the Caribbean are emerging markets for Indian fare” he said.
He also informed that Eros set up operations in the UK 10 years ago and the US 7 years ago and that in the UK 97% of Eros releases were now projected onto the mainstream while 70% of UK movies were scheduled for good theaters.
Sharing the box office figures, Naz pointed out that OSO did a business of 3.6 Million USD with 111 prints released. “While that is the figure for a blockbuster, B class movies do around 800,000 to a million USD”
exchange4media.com‘s Anurag Batra mentioned that Media Valuations were an important area and needed to be focused upon more as only then will it spur growth and entrepreneurship.
Giving an insight into the TV channels space he pointed out that 80% of the viewer-ship came from 45 of the existing 380 channels. “Viewership of GECs is going down while news, regional news, kids and reality is going up” he pointed out.
Can a discussion about Indian entertainment be complete without Cricket and Bollywood?
Discussing the two binding agents that were common across the otherwise diverse Indian audience landscape, Farokh sprung up the magic words.
The panel opined that cricket was indeed a common topper and TV Channel programming lineups were altered every time a big match came up. Bollywood however was the iconic source for a lot of the content, the music, the celebrity shows and tent-pole programming cross promotions. While there was a placeholder for Bollywood movies in television programming line ups, the airing of Bollywood content did not result in other channels altering their programming line up. “In that sense,” shared Sunil Lulla, “A majority of our content is created indigenously and Indian television content can hold its own.”
The panel session also touched upon Internet and Mobile Interactivity as growing areas within the surging Indian entertainment economy. .