By IANS,
Mumbai : Regulatory changes, new technology and creative content are the three fundamental drivers of exponential growth, agreed experts at a session here Tuesday during the first annual media and entertainment convention Ficci Frames.
The panel discussion titled ‘Engaging a Billion Consumers in the Media and Entertainment Industry’ saw speakers like CEO of Publishing of Bennett & Coleman Ravi Dhariwal, Group CEO of Viacom 18 Media Sudhanshu Vats, Managing Director (Studios) of Disney UTV Siddarth Roy Kapur, Senior Vice President and General Manager of India-Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific Rahul Johri and head of global operations, Twitter Inc., Shailesh Rao.
The discussion took place on the first day of the 14th edition of Ficci Frames 2013, the annual convention of the media and entertainment industry here in Mumbai organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
All panellists agreed that the principal means of engaging with a billion consumers was to localise content through multiple media vehicles.
The panel came to a consensus that the three fundamental drivers of exponential growth were regulatory changes, exploding forms of new technology and original and creative content. From the three, regulatory changes were seen as the biggest challenge.
Johri pointed out that localisation worked in connecting to a lot of untapped viewers and gave the example of Discovery Channel broadcast in regional languages. “This enables in increasing the market for content that has traditionally been restricted to niche audiences,” he said.
Other speakers touched upon elements of expanding the audience and the consumer universe by opting for traditional and non-traditional devices and screens as well as creating Media Labs that try and test the billion consumer experiment.
Dhariwal suggested creating a business model using creative and marketing teams that roll out a programme across the country using multiple interfaces and content.
Sudhanshu Vats, on the other hand, outlined a dilemma of catering to small versus larger audiences.
“M&E majors in different businesses show that multiplexes and other multi-format screens are growing. At the same time, on a macro level, it is digitisation and fresh content exploding on different platforms like tablets and smart phones that has opened business opportunities and the access to a billion consumers,” he said.
Kapur felt that the power of regional films, parallel cinema, digital content and the Indian diaspora should be given special standing.
Rao said that understanding the mood of the audience and how they want to consume media was the salient aspect of Twitter’s business model.