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NEW
DELHI: The media and entertainment industry has to keep pace
with newer technologies and adapt to changing social mores
and the Government has to recognise the importance of this
sector if it has to touch the $100 billion mark by the end
of this decade.
This
was the general consensus of speakers in various sessions
at the "India-Big Picture" CII-Media and Entertainment
Summit.
The
CII-PwC's latest report titled 'India Entertainment &
Media Outlook 2012' released at the meet said India is expected
to exceed Rs 1.75 trillion as growing at a CAGR of 17 per
cent over the next five years.
Various
experts agreed that M&E should emerge as a $100 billion
industry in the conceivable future and for this stakeholders
have a major role to play.
While
the government has to lay a proactive policy framework, the
industry should work towards enriching the content, innovation
and strict observance to IPR rules.
The
industry felt that for the long term growth of the industry,
business models should undergo a drastic change. The present
business model is dependent on B2B, thereby meaning that the
revenues have to be realised from advertisements. More stress
has to be laid on B2C concept, which would mean that subscription
income should form an important component in the overall revenue
flows.
Star
India CEO Uday Shankar said digitisation of cable television
in the country will mean more scope for programming and content
in more languages. But he said that infrastructure in terms
of studio space in Mumbai was inadequate and programmers will
have to move out.
Similarly,
he said access to good talent is difficult since there is
no institutionalised way of finding new talent. Clearly, there
was need for governmental support in this field.
He
said broadcasters were still not clear about the actual picture
after 31 October with regard to digitisation, though broadcasters
were backing this move.
He
said it was unfortunate that the government only saw glitz
and glamour in the entertainment industry and did not realise
the potential available for social transformation. Social
and institutional support was necessary to reach the goals
that the industry was setting for itself.
He
said the government also failed to realise that if the industry
did bring in $ 00 billion as forecast, then it could meet
the costs of all the key programmes of the government for
rural and urban development and creating employment.
Sony
Pictures Television Worldwide Network President Andy Kaplan
said game changing is the best insurance against irrelevancy.
He said there was a need to adapt and adopt.
India
had the third largest television market after China and the
United States, and there was diverse consumption of content
in every household.
But
the ratio of advertising was very minimal in India and there
was a huge potential in that sector.
For
this purpose, he said the key was innovation and this could
be achieved through content, digitisation, distribution, and
platforms. Content could also be exported to other countries,
and digitization was traversing geographic boundaries. India
at present had only 35 per cent digitisation at present. Distribution
has already evolved in various ways and newer platforms had
come up for this. It is therefore necessary to build newer
business models.
Walt
Disney India managing director Ronnie Screwvala said Indian
M&E was 30 per cent below the target at present. There
was no sense of unanimity in this field, and 20 years of broadcasting
had led to a growth of television channels but the revenue
was still dependent on advertisements – a shackle that
had to be broken. Digitisation would not help too much unless
people begin paying. He also said there was no respect for
intellectual property and this resulted in rampant piracy.
The film industry is at present a Rs 100 billion industry
whereas it should have been around Rs 400 billion but for
piracy.
But
he felt that the country had adequate laws and there was need
for better implementation. He also said broadband would become
a major game changer and would augment broadcasting. He said
rural India offered a lot of untapped opportunities.
CII
National Committee on M & E Chairman Amit Khanna regretted
that the stars took away a sizeable chunk of the budget of
every film.
IMI
President Vijay Lazarus regretted that though the consumption
of music had increased manifold, only seven per cent was being
monetised because of rampant piracy.
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