By IANS,
Mumbai : Indian media and entertainment (M&E) companies are increasingly looking overseas to expand, according to the annual joint study of a leading chamber and a consultancy released here Tuesday.
“Similar to their global counterparts, who have been increasing their scale by entering the emerging markets, M&E companies in India too have started to eye international markets by targeting media consumers outside India,” says the joint study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and KPMG.
It says while international demand has existed for some time, overseas markets are accounting for a greater share of box office earnings for Bollywood releases.
The study also notes that the 25-million non-resident Indian population provides domestic M&E companies a great opportunity to increase overseas revenues.
“In fact, Indian companies are also now looking beyond the NRI diaspora and attempting to target the local audience in these countries as well,” the FICCI-KPMG study says.
Referring to Bennett and Coleman’s acquisition of Britain’s Virgin Radio and Reliance Big Entertainment launching a joint venture with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studio, the report says: “Indian players have taken the first steps towards establishing their presence in the mainstream global market.”
It said internationalisation of Indian media can be achieved through several ways, these being:
� Production of content for global audience – both the NRI diaspora as well as the local audience in foreign countries;
� Co-production and production of Hollywood movies by Indian players – both UTV and Reliance Entertainment have announced their Hollywood ventures;
� Providing media specific services to other countries – the animation sector has emerged as an offshoring hub for animation production work. Film post-production is also showing good potential;
� Acquisition, partnerships, strategic alliances with media properties abroad.
The report said recent examples of production of global content include:
� Launch of TV channels catering to local audiences in other countries – NDTV launched NDTV Arabia and NDTV Malaysia;
� Indian publications coming out with foreign editions – Filmfare magazine launched its German edition in February 2008.
Regarding acquisitions and partnerships, the study said there were two notable developments in this aspect:
� Bennett Coleman acquiring Britain’s Virgin Radio on June 2008;
� Reliance Big Entertainment forming a joint venture with Steven Spielberg’s Dream Works studio in September 2008.