MUMBAI: In a single sport country like India, it is important for all the stakeholders in sports industry to come together and build other sports besides cricket through a right model and create an ecosystem that works for everyone in the value chain - federations, broadcasters and fans.

That, the experts believe, will reduce the dependency of sports broadcasters on cricket, which is becoming financially unviable due to steep rise in acquisition of properties.

Television is one of the most important components of popularising sports. It is broadcast rights fee that helps sporting bodies world over to fund the development of sports - whether it be creating infrastructure, developing talent or attracting talent.

World Sport Group South Asia CEO Venu Nair believes the right model for any sports federation in India is to grow their sport by reaching out to as many people as possible. He also cautioned sports federations against blindly following the Indian Premier League (IPL) model.

"Every other day you see an IPL-styled league with a new logo pasted on it. IPL became the success that it is because there was a thriving ecosystem in place before it launched. Other sports won?t taste success by just emulating the IPL model," Nair said, while speaking at Ficci-Frames 2013.

His suggestion to federations: Forge strategic partnerships with broadcasters where both rights owner and rights holder are equitable partners. He also suggested that the role of a public broadcaster should not be undermined in popularising a sport.

"A sport like Football can become popular if it works with a public broadcaster. That will help a sport to be sampled by more people and then make it a habit for viewers to watch that sport," he averred.

The credit for making cricket a huge success on television goes to Doordarshan, feels Nair.

"There were lots of triggers that made Cricket popular. One of those was Doordarshan. People started following the sport because of Doordarshan. It played a large part in driving traction for cricket," said Nair during a panel discussion on ?Sports: Economic viability and the crisis within?.

Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, who was moderating the session, pointed out how BSkyB built EPL into a powerhouse in UK.

All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary Kushal Das feels the quality of Indian football has to be on par with international football.

"The problem with Indian football is not so much cricket as it is football itself. Today, football fans have access to the best of Football leagues whether it is EPL, La Liga or Bundesliga. When you compare Indian football with these top leagues, we don?t match up," Das said.
 
Indian football, he feels, suffers a double whammy of almost non-existent infrastructure and lack of talented players. Unless these issues are dealt with, Indian football will continue to suffer.

Das said a partnership between a pubcaster and federation will only work if both the partners work in tandem towards the same goal. In the Indian context, he said the bad quality of production and commentary on DD can put off viewers who are exposed to international quality football.

Another critical factor hampering the growth of non-cricket sports is the lack of clarity on scheduling. An annual calendar that lays down the schedule is important, not just from broadcasters point of view but also for a fan.

Indian Football, in particular, suffers from scheduling problem that has been giving nightmares to AIFF?s broadcast partner Ten Action+.

Addressability & price cap de-regulation

Sports broadcasters at the session batted for de-regulation of price cap on cricket which hasn?t changed much since 2003 while the cost of cricket rights have gone North in the subsequent years. Cost is a structural issue which can only be addressed by ramping up subscription revenues.

Star India Head of Sports Nitin Kureja said the government has to relax price regulation and let the market forces decide the price. "The revenue side has been a huge challenge. In fact, it has been a challenge to exploit all revenue streams. While the cost of cricket rights have gone up, the subscription revenue has not kept pace," Kukreja stated.

"Regulation should have differential treatment for different sports," he added. Star India had bagged the BCCI media rights for Rs 38.51 billion till 2018.

Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasanna Krishnan opined that addressability was a bigger issue than price cap.

"You can charge 1,000 rupees but if you don?t know how many subscribers you have, it won?t make much of a difference. So in my opinion, addressability is a bigger issue. Digitisation in that sense will be a game changer," Krishnan contended.

He also felt that the mandatory sharing of feeds with the pubcaster has robbed the broadcasters of exclusivity. Pilferage of signals only worsens the situation for a sports broadcaster who has committed millions of dollars.

"The public broadcaster in our country is too cricket-centric. That has to change if the intention is to air events of national importance. Why doesn?t public broadcaster telecast I-League?," Krishnan questioned.

He said the pubcaster is choosing events that are commercially viable.

WSG?s Nair, however, put the blame squarely on broadcasters for the broadcast rights going through the roof. "I am sure the broadcasters themselves know that they won?t be able to recoup their investments when they bid for cricket rights. That is something that we should address. There are certain rights that have some value," he said.

Concurring with Krishnan?s view, IPL CEO Sundar Raman said sports broadcasting is driven by subscription income globally unlike India which is dependent on ad revenue that keeps fluctuating depending on seasons.

"When you are dependent on ad revenue to recover your investments, you are at the mercy of media agencies. Across the globe, sports is driven by subscription. The amount of money that broadcasters get in India as subscription revenue is pittance," Raman explained.

Raman said the addressability of audience is the single biggest challenge for the sports industry.

Apart from addressability, the key to growing sports is to market it well, micro-targetting audience by going regional and exploiting other revenue streams, said Raman.

On marketing front, Raman said the Hockey India League (HIL) did a good job which sports bodies can emulate. The marketing will help build a habit of strong viewing among viewers.

Commentary, he said, is also an important aspect of growing a sport that will help viewers to understand sport better. Broadcasters, he said, should approach different markets by launching regional feeds that will build an instant connect.

"The problem is we tend to treat India as one big mass. There is a big opportunity in regional markets. We should have regional feeds with commentary in regional language," Raman said.

He further stated that rights holders should start exploiting other revenue streams like digital media which will increase the reach of the event. "Consumption of sports on digital medium is increasing, we should tap into this segment but broadcasters are focusing on internet fearing loss of viewers."

MUMBAI: Creativity, technology and right regulation will set the tone for engaging a billion consumers in India?s changing media and entertainment landscape.

Television broadcasters need to imbibe an important mindset change as they address diverse audiences. Says Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) MD and CEO Punit Goenka, "The industry has only just begun to take baby steps in the creation of content for a diverse audience and has a long way to go. Fragmentation of audience is the order of the day. It is time we stop seeing ourselves as broadcasters and instead consider ourselves as content creators and aggregators.?

Even print publishers, under threat in the matured markets from digital media, will have to sharpen their connect with audiences. Says Bennett & Coleman, CEO publishing Ravi Dhariwal, "The trick is to recognise and capture small audiences and then retain and nurture them. For this, we have a creative team that has the full freedom to experiment and come up with engaging ideas and a marketing team that understands the consumers and acts as the bridge between the creative team and the target audience. What is really crucial is the sync between the marketing team and the creative minds.?

Others participating at Ficci Frames in a session on "How to engage a billion consumers in the media and entertainment landscape" were Disney UTV MD Studios Siddharth Roy Kapur, Viacom 18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific senior VP and GM India Rahul Johri and Twitter Inc head of global operations Shailesh Rao. The session was moderated by Star India CEO Uday Shankar.

The panel discussed and debated on how a balance among the three three pillars of creativity, technology and regulation could lead to an effective mechanism for capitalizing on the one billion population plus of the country. The panel also discussed on the emergence of new media as a means of providing a thrust to the M&E industry in terms of reach and effectiveness. Everyone agreed though that reaching a billion consumers is a double edged sword that presents a challenge as well as an opportunity.

The discussion also touched upon the fact that India is a diverse country with various nuances to its cultural, social and economic fabric. Is the media and entertainment industry of the country ready to cater to an audience so diverse in its constitution?

Vats optimistically said, ?The key to sustaining in such a diverse environment is to sharply segment the audience and target it. We are already doing so in many of our practices, but we need to do it more and more in the days to come.?

Vats and Goenka, however, agreed that the mega consumer trend is fast catching on. We now see the evolution of the ?I? consumer that demands customised content to better suit his individuality as opposed to the ?We? consumer who is satisfied with mass content. The presence of multiple screens ? whether it is more than one television set at home, or one person accessing multimedia like tablets, laptops, smartphones etc. ? is here to stay. This, in fact, will provide opportunity to reach more consumers and customise content accordingly.

Roy Kapoor stressed on the fact that in case of movies, it is the creativity that has managed to increase the reach of the cinema. He cited the example of the nineties when pan India hits had become rarer by the day owing to the fact that regional audiences ceased to relate to the movies anymore. With the advent of digitsation of movies at the turn of the century, parallel movies and hardcore commercial cinema have begun to co-exist and, in fact, be accessed by the same consumer.

?In my view, the challenege as far as cinema is concerned is the infrastructure, or the lack of it. We are a country that has a very low screen density and this hampers the reach to a large extent,? he said. In his opinion, the trick is to expand the footprint and grow as an industry. He suggested three ways to do so ? ensure content syndication on theatrical and non theatrical platforms, use the smaller screen to get content distributed and explore new markets to encourage people to watch movies legitimately.

According to Johri, localisation will drive the industry to grow exponentially and involve a billion consumers through multiple interfaces.

Rao stressed that technology can help in increasing reach - as is obvious when new media platforms like Twitter are used to service the business and not for technology sake. ?It is important to match the creativity of the medium with the audience. TV and print have been Push mediums and new media gives the opportunity to talk to the audience that can go a long way in reaching out to more people.?

The panel agreed that regulation in various media needs to be looked at as more often than not, it has been found to discourage the growth of the medium.

Further, Vats pointed out that the media and entertainment industry is an essentially consumer centric arena, but business and revenue models are still predominantly B2B. ?So instead of setting the pricing according to what the market can pay, we set the pricing according to our business model and targets,? he said.

In case of cinema, Roy Kapoor feels that capitalising on the non theatrical platform could be a good option. ?The non theatrical platform benefits from the marketing carried out for the theatrical platform. We are still not at a stage when movies can be exclusively carried on non theatrical platforms as then they would miss out on the hype that those released on theatrical platform have.?

At the end of it, the panel almost unanimously believed that while creativity and technology are proving to be boons for the growth of the media and entertainment industry and helping it inch towards reaching a billion consumers, the regulation bit needs to be worked on to smoothen the process.

MUMBAI: Beating sluggish economic growth, a weakening rupee and an even weaker consumer demand, the Indian M&E industry registered an overall growth of 12.6 per cent from Rs 728 billion in 2011 to Rs 820 billion in 2012, says the FICCI-KPMG Media & Entertainment 2013 report.

The industry is estimated to grow at 11.8 per cent to touch Rs 917 billion in 2013, driven by the introduction of cable TV digitisation, continued growth of regional media, upcoming elections, continued strength in the film sector and fast increasing new media businesses.

In the long run, the sector is projected to grow at a healthy CAGR of 15.2 per cent to reach Rs 1661 billion by 2017.

Television, the report says, continues to be the dominant segment. However, the report records strong growth posted by new media sectors, animation/ VFX and a comeback in the Films and Music sectors on the back of strong content and the benefits of digitisation.
Radio is anticipated to see a spurt in growth at a CAGR of 16.6 per cent over the period 2012-2017, post the rollout of Phase 3 licensing.

Total advertising spend across media was Rs 327.4 billion in 2012. In light of continued economic slowdown, advertising revenues saw a growth of 9 per cent in 2012 as against 13 per cent in 2011 and 17 per cent in 2010.

Print continues to be the largest beneficiary, accounting for 46 per cent of the advertising pie at Rs 150 billion.

Speaking about the findings of the report, FICCI M&E committee chairman Uday Shankar said, ?2012 has been one of the toughest years in recent times. But it has also been a landmark year for the media and entertainment sector with significant progress in all verticals: the signs are already evident that digitalization will fundamentally change broadcasting, films have scaled-up their ambitions, and radio and print continue to defy global trends. If anything, 2013 promises to be even more disruptive. I am certain that the insights and findings from this report will provide a comprehensive and useful lens for all of us in the industry.?

KPMG India Head of Media and Entertainment Jehil Thakkar said, ?2012 though a challenging year for the M&E industry, was a year in which important foundations for future growth were laid. The advertising environment went through one of the toughest years in the last decade. However, the implementation of digitisation, the stellar performance of the film industry backed by excellent content and digital distribution, the continued growth in regional print, the momentum in new media and the announcement of Phase 3 radio implementation has all finally provided the much needed platform to boost the Indian Media & Entertainment industry.?

Greater sophistication of and segmentation in content

TV digitisation is likely to be a great catalyst for greater diversity and niche television programming. Digitisation is expected to improve broadcast economics significantly which in turn, could drive more investments in production quality, niche and targeted genres of content/packaging in the medium term.

Phase 3 licensing and anticipated provisions for permitting multiple frequencies in a city would encourage investments in differentiated content for the Radio sector. Internet and mobile platforms are a cost effective enabler to reach diverse audience segments with tailored content. The Indian audiences could look forward to more targeted and engaging content in the medium term.

Digitisation of film and TV distribution infrastructure

Digitisation of distribution has brought in the promise of more sustainable and profitable business models across media sectors. It has enabled the films sector to make a comeback this year. The industry has achieved 77 per cent digitisation of screens and expects to be close to 100 per cent digitised in the next 18 months to 2 years. These developments have resulted in increased ability to invest in differentiated content, marketing, and wider releases ? all contributing to greater audience engagement and unprecedented box office success across big and small budget movies alike. Overall, digital technology is expected to drive the M&E sector?s growth in a challenging macro environment, by spurring on end-user spending and transparency.

Growth in new media

The rapid increase in mobile and wireless connections continues to drive the growth of internet penetration in India. With better access through cheaper and smarter devices, audiences (especially the youth) are consuming more content and are getting increasingly engaged.
Key beneficiaries are emerging new media segments, which include internet advertising, online classifieds, and gaming, all of which are on a rapid growth path. Going forward, better uptake of 3G connections and the beginnings of the 4G rollout are expected to spur growth further.

Traditional media still going strong

India remains a growth market for ?traditional? media evidenced by the growth last year in TV audiences, radio listenership, and footfalls in theatres. India is an outlier country where print is still a growth market. There is growing overseas demand for quality Indian animation/VFX work at affordable pricing.

Traditional media is also increasingly offered on new media platforms. The need of the hour, of course, is the development of models for broader reach and monetisation of audiences for traditional media content on these new media platforms.

Regional markets remain key centers of growth
Advertisers continue to see higher growth in consumption from key regional markets. Hence regional media continues on a strong growth trajectory especially in the print and television sectors. Key media players are focusing on cherry picking acquisitions and expanding their presence in regional markets based on higher rates of advertising revenue growth, and better insulation from the slowdown than in metros, which may be close to saturation in many cases.

Examples in print include the launch of Ei Shomoy ? a Bengali paper by Bennett Coleman and the acquisition of Nai Duniya by the Jagran Group.

Many film studios are building a regional film pipeline. Reliance Big Pictures, Disney UTV Motion Pictures and Eros International are increasingly investing in the regional space. Hollywood films are expanding revenue potential by dubbing across regional languages such as Tamil and Telugu.

Coming LIVE to you?

With changing lifestyles, there is an increase in media consumed out of home. Brands are also increasingly keen to connect with consumers via ?experiences? to ensure greater recall and amplification of brand values. Activations/events are now increasingly a key facet of Radio and Print media solutions.

Live music events/festivals have been successful in attracting widespread audiences and engaging youth across key cities. Increased consumption of music/radio/video on-the-go via mobile and in cars provides opportunity for real time mobile geo-location advertising. The Out of Home (OOH) advertising sector has also seen higher rates of growth in transit advertising.

There is hence an increased need to provide 360 degree solutions to advertisers and provide multiple platforms to reach out to consumers, wherever they are.

Revenue models still advertising dependent ? But subscription grows for TV

M&E is still an advertising dependent industry in India. Hence, it remains sensitive to the impact of the economic slowdown.

While the print sector saw some increases in circulation revenues, and increases in cover price in some areas, cover prices are still significantly lower than global counterparts In the TV sector, digitisation has potential to increase ARPUs and improve the share of subscription revenues to the broadcasters. Increasing subscription revenues is key to the long term stability of the broadcasting sector.

Regulatory and policy support

Regulatory interventions have been a key enabler of growth for the sector. Anticipated events in 2013 such as continued cable DAS rollout, Phase 3 licensing for Radio and 4G rollout will spur growth from the medium term.

There is a need for measures to aid curtailment of piracy and encourage investments to support further growth. Co-production treaties, rationalisation of entertainment tax, government support to encourage formal skill development and training and incentives for animation/VFX and gaming are important areas of policy and regulation that need attention.

Gaps in availability of skilled media and entertainment professionals

The media and entertainment sector could be a noteworthy employer across creative, technical and business areas. With potential mushrooming of TV and Radio broadcast channels and growth in skill intensive sectors of film, animation, gaming, VFX, this is only set to escalate. In the talent driven media sector, companies could potentially differentiate based on ability to attract and retain the right people.

The vision set out for the sector of engaging communities entails reaching out and understanding multiple segments, creating greater connect, and leveraging this connect to influence for the greater social good. At the same time, it remains sensitive to the economic situation and a lot will depend on its ability to manage the risks of continued shortage of skilled manpower and the ability to spur end-user pricing across segments. It is a time for introspection and a time for innovation to see how companies can harness the powers of new technologies and convergence to realise its vision, the report says.

NEW DELHI: Star India CEO Uday Shankar has been appointed the new Chairman of FICCI?s Media & Entertainment Committee.

This position was earlier held by legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra, who passed away this year in October. Shankar will be supported by Ramesh Sippy and Karan Johar as the Co-Chair of the Committee.

Shankar has been the Chairman of the FICCI Broadcast Forum, and led the Forum on some seminal work towards broadcast digitisation along with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Multi Screen Media CEO Man Jit Singh will now be the new Chairman of the Broadcast Forum.

The FICCI Entertainment Committee has been working closely with the government on behalf of industry stakeholders for the past decade and has been responsible for achieving major milestones for the industry such as the accordance of ?industry? status to the Indian film sector; income tax rebate to the extent of 50 per cent on book profits to the multiplexes; tax holiday for five years by some state governments to give concessions or exemptions from payment of entertainment tax; spearheading the second phase of privatisation of FM Radio broadcast policy; submitting a definitive TRP report to review and recommend robust system of measurement of TRP; working with the Ministry to define roadmap and solve policy issues relating to animation, gaming , VFX and comic industry (AVGC); towards complete digitisation; forming a Sector Skills Council with NSDC to focus on skill development in the media sector, among others.

In a statement, FICCI said it looks towards Shankar?s vision, rich and varied experience and deft leadership to take the formidable Indian media and entertainment industry to newer heights.

On taking over as the Chairmanship, Shankar said that he would work with all industry stakeholders closely to formulate an agenda for sustained growth of the burgeoning entertainment sector and keep up regular and meaningful dialogue with policy makers.

NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Rahul Khullar has said Trai was making efforts to move towards a lighter regulatory regime.

Khullar also said that India urgently needed a new convergence law for the industry to consolidate. As technology was advancing at a rapid pace, there is a need to respond to it accordingly and encourage use of new devices and technologies.

Also, it is imperative to create opportunities for providers of value added services and create for them an environment that is conducive for them to operate and grow.

Khullar pointed out that a lighter regulatory regime would take time "as there is legal ambiguity which needs to be dealt with and then trust has to be built."

"A regulator?s job is not to formulate radical policies. He responds to the policy framework provided by the Government, responds to the changes in market conditions and responds to the changes in technologies," he said.

On enforcement of regulation, Khullar said that if a regulation is implemented, he would ensure that it is enforced as well. at the session on ?Regulatory The Trai chairman felt now is the time for industries which are on the downside to look for opportunities in other sectors. The market should open itself to mergers and acquisitions and spectrum trading, he said.

Speaking on ?Enabling stakeholders consolidation towards sustainable growth?, Nikolai Dobberstein, partner - communications, media & technology practice at A T Kearney said the telecom industry holds a debt of Rs 1,860 billion and it was time for some operators to exit. In the aviation industry, Kingfisher had to face the option of either exiting the market or infusing capital. The telecom sector is also heading the same way, he said.

Dobberstein opined that spectrum should be made available easily including 3G and 4G and no constraints should be on acquisition of any spectrum. The government could also consider privatisation of MTNL and BSNL. He added that the National Telecom Policy - 2012 is a forward looking policy and it can take telecom to the next level if implemented successfully. He was speaking at the India Telecom 2012 conference, organised by FICCI in association with the Department of Telecommunications in the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology.

On ?Regulation to foster business environment and stimulate investment?, Suhail Nathani, partner at Economic Laws Practice, highlighted the opportunities in the world of internet. Internet contributes $30 billion to GDP and is projected to contribute $100 billion by 2015. Today, there are 120 million internet users and this number is estimated to reach half a billion by 2015.

To attract investments, the complexity in obtaining licenses needs to be reduced. Reduction in legal ambiguity in copyright laws and a strong underlying legal system for contractual enforcement is a must. Also, clarity in tax laws and a robust and consistent enforcement mechanism is required, said Nathani.

Raman Jit Singh Chima, senior policy analyst at Google, speaking on ?Regulatory Frameworks in the Internet Age?, remarked, "On internet, more than 76 hours of videos are uploaded per hour and 90 per cent of it becomes online within a minute and is accessible to everyone around the world. This shows how powerful internet is as a medium to share information and knowledge."

Chima said there is a need to promote broadband, meaningful access to the internet, increase bandwidth, connectivity and quality of services and must fulfill consumers? interest and win users? trust. Also, use of new technology must be encouraged and should promote entrepreneurship.