Lights, Camera...India!
Media and Entertainment Comes Alive
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The “Lights, Camera…India! Media and Entertainment Comes Alive” panel session took an inside look at the film and media industry. Vikram Chandra, CEO, NDTV Networks served as the session moderator, interviewing three luminaries about the entertainment and mobile communications industries.
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Panelists included Shekhar Kapur, international film director, producer, actor, writer and media visionary; Sridhar Subramaniam, managing director, Sony Music Entertainment (l) Pvt. Ltd.; and Neeraj Roy, managing director and CEO, Hungama Mobile. They discussed business models as well as factors that influence the quality and quantity of content.
According to Shekhar Kapur, companies involved in the business of mobility and content development must come to terms with the cultural make up of their consumers, especially in a world increasingly defined by the tastes and preferences of emerging market consumers. Companies need to understand the culture and content required by diverse markets and the necessary systems required to deliver the same, he said. Kapur emphasized that businesses need to transform mobility into a tool to help people achieve their aspirations, especially in emerging economies. This would lead to the emergence of a new set of business models where producers and consumers would increasingly co-create content. Adding to this perspective, Neeraj Roy mentioned that evolution of such innovative business models will usher in a phase where boundaries between mobile, ITV and the Internet cease to exist. As a result of a growing seamless interaction between different players in the ecosystem a new set of transactions will come to the fore. “You will start dealing with micro-payment economies”, said Roy.
Utilizing the example of the Indian commercial music industry, Sridhar Subramaniam pointed out that today; the Indian commercial music industry is highly dependent on the Indian film industry for its content. “We are now seeing ourselves as an extension of film business," said Subramaniam. He also added that the evolving business models in Indian commercial music industry will require investments from businesses in three key areas: infrastructure, talent development and talent management as well as the creation of products that will enhance the post-film musical experience.
Kapur also cited another interesting factor influencing the quality amount of content creation. According to Kapur, the growing phenomenon of individuals measuring their worth in terms of how much they are able to influence or how much attention they gain is influencing them to use different tools of content creation to continuously expand their sphere of influence. Such consumers would aspire to be “connected to 100% of the world for 100 percent of the time” and revere companies that can provide them solutions to make this happen.
Speaking on the future of business models, Roy mentioned that the society was largely moving toward what he called a “mobile digital lifestyle where the first point of information and consumption is one of these digital screens.” These are going to be driven by connectivity and a higher level of interaction," he added.
Panelists agreed that business models based on subscription of content and focused on monetizing opportunities around the handset will be key to competitively add value to mobile digital lifestyles of diverse set of consumers. “The opportunity is to look at content and voice as a converged opportunity," said Roy. Consumers could go in for a month’s subscription of content and upon downloading, launch it on any platform they want. They concluded the discussion by agreeing that innovations in products, applications, platforms, business models will be critical to democratize content effectively.