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INNOVATION IN MEDIA Towards $100 Billion Indian M&E Industry

BIG PICTURE SUMMIT September 13 - 14, 2013 New Delhi Best minds, Best talent, Best content

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT CURTAIN RAISER ISSUE A u gu st 2013

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INNOVATION IN MEDIA Towards $100 Billion Indian M&E Industry

BIG PICTURE SUMMIT September 13 - 14, 2013 New Delhi Best minds, Best talent, Best content

BIG PICTURE SUMMIT INNOVATION IN MEDIA Towards $100 Billion Indian M&E Industry September 13 - 14, 2013 New Delhi

A CURTAIN RAISER It’s time to embrace innovation. Here’s how top leaders think they can do it. A special curtain raiser edition on the CII Big Picture Summit in association with Pickle

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CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT

THE

MOMENTUM for

he Confederation of Indian Industry’s Big Picture Summit 2013 will deliberate the central theme of innovation to unleash the growth potential of the Indian M&E sector. Top decision makers of all major media and entertainment verticals will converge on September 13-14 in New Delhi for a reality check for two days on creating roadmap for a $100 billion Indian M&E industry via innovation.

We present you insights from the brightest minds of the featured speakers and panelists as a curtain raiser to the second edition of the Big Picture Summit. Indian M&E Companies have been driving innovation in their businesses more than before now. It is very clear that Indian Media CEOs are leading this change as they believe in its potential for economic transformation. As summarised by one of our thought leaders: This is the 21st century; all things flow; nothing stays. Innovation is our lifeblood; adaptation is the journey...’

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CHAIRMAN NOTE

Let us Embrace Innovation I

n recent times, we have witnessed a rapidly evolving media and entertainment landscape. We are in the midst of media innovation that is fundamentally transforming the way we consume content, use new digital products and run our businesses.

Javed Akhtar Chairman, CII National M&E Committee Noted Lyricist

The Confederation of Indian Industry launched The Big Picture Summit last year. One of the key takeaways was the discussion turning around innovation propelling growth.

The objective this year is to steer the gush of this innovation renaissance towards creating a Roadmap for Indian M&E Industry to achieve $100 billion in a decade. Treading on the roadmap towards the set target, the second edition of the summit is scheduled from 13 to 14 September at Taj Palace in New Delhi.

CII’s vision is to bring together the best of the creative and business minds to chalk out a roadmap that would take our M&E sector to $100 billion with innovation as catalyst. The government, regulator, academia and civil society will join the discussion during this years’ summit.

India is currently ranked 14th in the global M&E value chain and growing at annual growth of 17 per cent, but can Indian M&E Sector achieve $100 billion in this decade? Industry leaders are converging at the summit to deliberate on the rapidly changing media landscape and road ahead for the M&E vertical.

India has created perhaps one of the most liberal media regimes in the world. India is top on the radar of the global M&E boardrooms. In this curtain raiser report, media CEOs and thought leaders have shared their perspective on embracing innovation in media. We believe that embracing innovation would generate economic value, create new jobs and a culture of startup revolution. Looking forward to meeting you all at this years’ summit.

We believe that embracing innovation would generate economic value, create new jobs and a culture of startup revolution 2

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LEADER SPEAK

CII Director General on Innovation Propelling Growth for the Media Sector

by Chandrajit Banerjee CII’s vision is to create growth templates in all M&E verticals and bring the industry together to speak in one voice on all major issues. We believe that innovation - faster, better, more efficient, thinking out of the box (and within the box) - would be one of the game changers in this space

Chandrajit Banerjee is Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry

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he CII Theme for 2013-14 is Accelerating Economic Growth through Innovation, Transformation, Inclusion and Governance. We believe that deploying innovation in Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector and supporting a startup ecosystem would propel high M&E growth to achieve our dream of taking the sector to $100 billion by the end of this decade.

One of the primary objectives of The Big Picture Summit is to fire the spirit of creative and business minds of the Indian M&E industry along with government, regulator and civil society to chalk out a path that could guide us in scaling this vibrant sector to new heights. With that premise, we will bring together the decision makers of the entire value chain of the M&E sector for the second edition of the Summit and map the progress that we have made.

We are extremely happy to present the curtain raiser report on Embracing Innovation in Media. A close reading on the observations made by media CEOs in this report give us the optimism that the next wave of M&E growth will be through Innovation. We are also glad that the debate on this subject has begun a month before the summit.

We believe that innovation - faster, better, more efficient, thinking out of the box (and within the box) - would be one of the game changers in this space. Government of India’s National Innovation Council spearheaded by Sam Pitroda (adviser to the Prime Minister

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The factors that would propel growth through innovation in the M&E sector have been brilliantly documented by the Sectoral Innovation Council of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on public information, infrastructure and innovation) is currently executing various projects (for example National Knowledge Network, broadband connectivity to villages) and creating a backbone infrastructure for India’s knowledge economy.

Empowering a large number of people using mobile connectivity would make them a part of the knowledge revolution, which would ultimately contribute to the economic growth of the country.

For example, the rise of smartphone and evolution of 4G would add 500 million more Internet users in India. This gives us an idea of where the M&E industry is headed and their future scope of growth. Innovation would emerge as a critical factor in sustaining economic growth. The factors that would propel growth through innovation in the M&E sector have been brilliantly documented by the Sectoral Innovation Council of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The two-day Big Picture Summit would deliberate these recommendations and strategize areas to focus for high growth.

The summit will map and put together an innovation plan of action for the Indian M&E sector. While India is one of the most liberal media markets in the world, we feel that there is no defined policy for innovation at the regulatory level.

A lot remains to be done in India on the M&E innovation front. The challenges are immense. We need to put together innovative modules provide skills and train our future media workforce. We need to plug the leaks that we lose majorly in piracy. The Indian broadcast industry is losing approximately US$ 5 billion because of piracy. Filmed entertainment loses over $2 billion each year. Indian entertainment sector is still bracketed with archaic laws of circus of the British Era. Also, when it comes to taxation, M&E sector is bracketed akin to liquor and

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spirits. We need to rewrite our archaic rules and laws to match today’s business reality. Many states still levy 60 per cent entertainment tax. The Direct to Home (DTH) sector is taxed over 45 per cent.

The entertainment industry is fighting a battle to be brought under the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution.

The ongoing digitization will bring transparency and best practices in monetization of content. Innovation and technology will bring new ways to reach out to audience cutting piracy and fuel new growth prospects. We have a session on new era of innovations in broadcasting.

The need of the hour is creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, targeted at innovative solutions for the bottom of the pyramid. Innovation in the west is getting expensive and we need to promote home grown innovation modules.

There is massive growth on the Indian digital media front. It is very interesting to find that we have a large number of entrepreneurs in the digital media space in products and services.

Can we achieve $100 billion in this decade for the Indian M&E Sector? The Indian M&E CEOs feel that it is the time to switch the gear and work towards achieving this goal. CII’s vision is to create growth templates in all M&E verticals and bring the industry together to speak in united voice for all major issues.

I would like to refer the recommendations of the Sectoral Innovation Council to bring a National Media Policy reflecting on the changing media landscape.

Lastly, India has many more challenges to be sorted -- be it infrastructure, education and poverty alleviation. It is the entrepreneurial zeal that is driving the M&E sector today. An innovative push from the government in an enabling regulatory infrastructure and policy reforms will create a world class knowledge driven entertainment economy for India.

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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Content Everywhere: Addressing MultiScreen Migration Insights on how the emergence of new technologies and platforms are resetting the rules of the game

Reaching the Global Audience – How can India make $ 100 million films, Tête-à-Tête with Ashok Amritraj, Indian Hollywood Producer

CII BIG SUM

Good Content makes for Good Revenue The new breed of talent will explore unchartered territories and redefine consumption patterns. The panel dissects the new discourse in content creation and consumption

A New Era for Innovation in Broadcasting Keynotes by CEOs and Thought leaders followed by a panel discussion on the future of broadcasting

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SEPTEMBER 13 - 14, 2013 Delegates will access: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Game changers & trends shap Value added inputs on issues Cutting edge ideas, discussio Media & Entertainment innova New technology and services Networking with key industry

Indian Cinema’s Date with the Red Carpet

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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Media, the people’s watchdog!

Media, de-Jure, in the backdrop of Democracy is “of the people, for the people and by the people” Experts will go into the dissection of the defacto”

PICTURE

Newspaper - the patron arm of M&E Is the power of newspaper unbeatable with its unparalleled subscriber base? Or as digital media go viral, is it inevitable for print media to shrink?

Innovative Investments & Funding in the M&E Sector

MMIT

3, TAJ PALACE, NEW DELHI

Thought leaders join hands to chart out a course for reducing barriers to investment in M&E

ping the M&E sector that will define the future ns, workshop and B2B Meetings ators & innovations demos professionals

Is Regional the New National?

What backbone is to a strong body, Regional Cinema is to the National! Is the Metaphor an understatement for the “Regional” Cinema today?

Innovation & Disruptions in Advertising Keynote by Media Futurist Gerd Leonhard

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www.ciibigpicture.com

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT

Every Session is Laced With Theme of Innovation

Amita Sarkar Deputy Director General, CII

Our objective at The Big Picture Summit is to analyse business and policy making process with deployment of innovation and come out with insights and solutions for a robust the M&E sector, says Amita Sarkar, Deputy Director General, CII

W

e are super excited to curate the second edition of the CII Big Picture Summit. Our programme has been designed with inputs from the industry stakeholders across verticals.

The focus is to deliberate growth for the M&E sector with innovation as catalyst.

Our goal is to do a reality check on the Indian M&E sector and analyse how long-term trends will shape media and entertainment in the next three to five years.

The CII Big Picture Summit is a platform for the M&E CEOs to chalk out a roadmap for the future as well as understand the conditions that need to be kept in view in order to meet success. We have speaker confirmations from over 50 M&E CEOs to be on the panel and keynotes at the Summit.

The Summit will bring expertise from the M&E sector across verticals within and outside India to discuss issues and ways ahead for the industry to reach out the $100 billion mark by the end of this decade.

Active participation from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the broadcast regulator TRAI and the finance ministry officials top up the value

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for media leaders to converge under one roof.

We hope to infuse a new breath of life in this sector whose soft power can bring innumerable benefits to the Indian economy. We hope the India Big Picture summit would bring a fresh mindset specifically from the government in treating the M&E sector at par with the Indian IT sector a decade and a half back.

Here is a walkthrough of what’s on the works for the Big Picture Summit 2013.

CII and the Summit’s Thought Leader partner PwC will release the annual “India Entertainment & Media Outlook 2013”.

Ashok Amritraj, Indian Hollywood producer and chairman of Hyde Park Entertainment, will launch his autobiography Advantage Hollywood on September 13.

Hollywood actor Jean Claude Van Damme is likely to be present on this occasion.

Every session is laced with the theme of innovation propelling growth for the M&E sector from broadcast to films and print to digital media. We are constantly updating confirmed speaker and sessions at our website www.ciibigpicture. com. As we move closer to the Summit, We will open up questions that you can CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

www.ciibigpicture.com

Decide which ideas are worth pursuing

Innovate through the front lines-not just from the top

Adapt innovations from the developing world to wealthier markets

Tweak new ventures along the way using discovery-driven planning

Tailor your efforts to meet customers’ most pressing needs

Avoid classic pitfalls such as stifling innovation with rigid processes

From Harvard Business Reviews’ 10 Must Reads on Innovation. It provides insights and advice to innovation practitioners.

post on our website and the insights that you would want from keynote speakers and panelists. We want to make the panels and sessions participative and interactive.

We have also planned an exclusive workshop on Innovation in Media to be conducted by Prof S Raghunath, corporate strategy, IIM Bangalore, on September 13. This workshop is restricted to 25 participants and I am told that those who intend to attend the workshop are sure to get frustrated and analyse where they stand and what they could do to their products, services and drive revenues deploying innovation. (More on Page 40).

The workshop is restricted to owners, CEOs and people with decision making roles in an organization. (For more information on the workshop you can write to nvidyasagar@picklemag.in).

We will also have an experience zone as part of the exhibition to showcase innovative products, services. This is a place where you could engage and experience

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digital devices and gaming.

We encourage participation from media CEOs and showbiz professionals, especially if you have an agenda to sharpen your industry knowledge, understand emerging trends, find new business models, network with key decision-makers in the Indian Media and entertainment Industry. You can download takeaways from the last years’ Summit from our www.ciibigpicture.com.

The Indian Media and Entertainment sector is less than 2 per cent of the global M&E pie in a country of 1.2 billion people. It produces over a 1,000 films each year, there are 800 TV channels, 180 million Internet users, 3 billion movie ticket sales, 1 billion mobile phones and 730 million TV viewers and we could add on to these numbers. The overall objective of The Big Picture Summit is to analyse our business and policy making process with deployment of innovation and come out with insights and solutions for a robust M&E sector.

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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Game changers from Ronnie Screwvala

KNOW CONSUMER It is going to be very important in this competitive environment to know your consumer.

And the more difficult one is not only you need to know your consumer -- who your real audience is but what you think they need three or five years down the line

ROAD AHEAD I have to say overall, that in terms of creativity we do have a long way to go. If you look anywhere in the world where growth triggering happens it is really when the creativity has gone to the absolute next level of growth

Ronnie Screwvala Managing Director Walt Disney India

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EXPERIMENTAL ENTERTAINMENT Events and ground events have tremendous amount of scope. I call it experiential entertainment. It is not advertising dependent and it is not piracy dependent

Personally, I do believe that today in India, the combination of data, bandwidth and content will be more valuable than oil PROACTIVELY DISRUPTIVE ASIAN INNOVATION Innovation is currently defined by technology created out of Silicon Valley in the 1990s and in new media. Asia will drive a new definition of innovation

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You have to be be `proactively disruptive’ - to be always on the lookout for what is lacking and how value can be created

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Punit Goenka MD & CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises

We no longer term ourselves as mere broadcasters, but purely as content creators. Our strategic approach has always been to offer relevant content to relevant markets 12

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INNOVATION @ ZEE

Innovation Across Verticals at Zee Innovation is not just rewarded but also personally recognised at Zee. We motivate our people to continue aiming at higher milestones, says Punit Goenka MD & CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises India-born Zee is a pioneer in global broadcasting with amazing credits to its two decades of being in the market. How do you view innovation and growth perse for the industry as well as the company?

As rightly asserted by you, Zee has earned a global recognition in the last 20 years, and is a global media brand today, entertaining over 670 million viewers. These 20 years have been filled with numerous awards and accolades, recognising the trends set by Zee, leveraging its pioneering vision. The immense growth achieved

by Zee, in these two decades, would not have been possible without the implementation of innovative solutions. Speaking about the industry’s performance, Zee has in fact grown with a double digit rate, outperforming the overall TV industry’s growth rate. Innovation is extremely essential for any brand to excel in this competitive market, and it is something which is aggressively pursued at Zee. How is innovation deployed in Zee Entertainment across verticals?

Innovation has always been at the crux of Zee. The pioneering steps taken by Zee in the last 20 years justify the same.

Amongst the many innovations, Ditto TV – India’s First Over the Top Television Platform launched by Zee, is something which has been built on cutting edge technology, and is surely geared to face the ever changing ecosystem. In the purview of digitisation, the niche channel offerings at Zee, with a business objective of generating subscription revenues, have implemented innovative content ap-

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proaches in their respective genres. Especially the latest channel – Zee Q which is targeted towards the kids genre, offers innovative content solutions in order to cater to the information based programming market. Zee Khana Khazana and Ten Golf are other such examples of niche channels, offering premium content and are performing extremely well in their respective genres. From a technology perspective, Zee has again been at the forefront of innovation. To cite an example, Digital Asset Management (DAM) is one such tool, which has been successfully implemented at Zee. DAM is extremely important for Standard Definition and High Definition content repurposing, monetisation, market penetration and new media businesses.

If we look at innovation in the broadcast space, there is a very little difference between broadcasters except sometimes in content creation. Ad sales are also done in same way... How do you view this challenge?

At Zee, we no longer term ourselves as mere broadcasters, but purely as content creators. Our strategic approach has always been to offer relevant content to relevant markets, and for one to achieve the same, innovation is the only key. One has to be constantly innovating and offering creative content solutions to the audiences to enhance their engagement levels, and also to generate loyalty. On the advertisement sales front, marketers these days are extremely concerned about reaching the consumers through innovative routes. Our strategic associaCII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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To sustain a leadership position in this market, one must be constantly vigilant about the ever-changing needs and demands of today’s audiences, and must ensure that the product is offered in the most innovative format

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tion with MirriAd, enables us to offer the same. The robust technology support of MirriAd, allows brand / product placements post production, giving the marketers a chance to ensure that their products get a mileage during relevant times, deriving maximum recall.

You have created one of the finest digital verticals -- with Ditto TV. More or less you have given freedom like a startup to digital biz. Your view.

Ditto TV, which is India’s first Over the Top Television Platform, surely is one good example of Zee’s innovative steps taken in the media industry. The product aims at offering LIVE as well as On Demand content to consumers on the go, giving the entire ecosystem of content consumption a whole new perspective.

Its robust technology and user-friendly interface, should surely appeal the urban mobile consumer, who wished to stay connected to the entertainment and information sources.

Experts believe that Innovation begins at the top? What is your view on innovation and leadership?

I second the opinion mentioned in the question, that innovation begins at the top, and which is why at Zee, I have always encouraged and recognised innovation. To cite my view in simple words, I

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would say that innovation leads to leadership. To sustain at a leadership position in this market, one has to be constantly vigilant about the ever-changing needs and demands of today’s audiences, and has to ensure that the product is offered in the most innovative format. To cite an example, home grown content solutions innovated at Zee, like Dance India Dance have performed extremely well and have achieved leadership positions.

Similar to the way companies look at innovation, there is a need or innovation in policy making process. As an industry leader do you expect innovation policy thinking from government and regulator?

Government surely plays a crucial role in giving a friendly environment to derive innovation. The Information and Broadcast Ministry has been extremely efficient in ensuring the same. The successful roll-out of digitisation is one recent example of the same.

How do you reward innovation at Zee? Innovation is not just rewarded but also personally recognised at Zee. Our Chairman, Subhash Chandra, myself and the core senior management team at Zee, has always ensured that every innovation, is personally recognised and the employee is further motivated to continue aiming at higher milestones.

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INNOVATION VIA VIACOM

Innovation is in the DNA of Viacom 18 It is critical that as leaders we build organisations that strengthen more open and learning culture, encourages dialogue, tolerates failure and is receptive to new ideas says Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO Viacom 18 Media After two decades at Uniliver you have stepped into the media sector as Group CEO of Viacom 18 Media.

Where do you see deployment of innovation/innovative practices -- in FMCG or media sector?

Innovation is at the heart of every business, even more so in the consumer oriented businesses. Innovation has a role to play in the entire value chain of the business. We need innovative ideas, innovative programming styles, and innovative processes. In the boarder sense of the word, “innovation means doing things better”. And thus, innovation entails new ideas, programs, thoughts and “improved execution in programming and processes”.

In FMCG, innovation has taken deep roots and is deployed across the entire spectrum of the business value chain.

Whereas in Media, innovation is primarily focused on programming and platforms (including digital). It still needs to find its rightful place in processes.

In the last year’s CII Big Picture Summit you made a point comparing media content with laundry (product variation). Why are we not able to have that same spectrum of pricing and products for media? What is the need of the hour? How do we change?

Pricing is a very important element of any successful business model. It is critical that we allow more free and market driven pricing models in the broadcast media sector. This is needed to strengthen

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the business models and in turn drive innovation, leading to enhanced consumer experience. It is also true that we need to provide entertainment to every Indian.

In my judgement, the way to tackle it is to give base level of entertainment comprising of free-to-air channels across genres available to every Indian at a nominal price. For all others there should be a free and fair pricing mechanism deployed through our pay TV channels across genres. This is truly consistent with any segment of goods or services across consumer product categories in India starting from apparel (shirts, trousers, saris), shoes, groceries (toothpaste, laundry detergents, soaps, skin creams etc), cars, bikes, restaurants and hotels.

How do you view innovation transforming M&E sector. It is happening all over the world. Why do we see fewer innovation in Indian M&E companies than what it happens globally? As we stand, do you see innovation propelling growth for the M&E sector?

Innovation is at the core of M&E sector and continues to propel it forward. We see fewer innovations in Indian M&E sector because of our business models.

The Broadcast industry is in its “teens” in India. After having gone through an initial investment phase we now need to find more profitable and sustainable business models that will allow adequate investment in development of concepts, research and dialling up of experimentation in the Indian M&E sector.

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Sudhanshu Vats Group CEO Viacom 18 Media

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Innovation does begin at the top and it needs a leadership and culture that nurtures the spirit of experimentation, thinking out-of-the box and an ability to tolerate and learn from failures

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How is innovation deployed at Viacom 18 Media across verticals?

Innovation is in the DNA of Viacom 18.

Colors redefined the rules of the game with its launch in 2008. Our programs like Balika Vadhu brought in a fresh perspective and a different point of view when most others at that time were stuck with the more conventional programmes. We premiered big films soon after their domestic theatrical run. We dialled up the non-fiction space. More recently we are bringing ‘24’ to India.

MTV has been at the forefront of innovation and experimentation with music and youth oriented programmes. COKE Studio, MTV unplugged, Sound tripping in music at one end to the now very famous MTV Roadies at the other are some examples of the same. As a studio, Viacom18 Motion pictures has rewritten the code making “Good content is good business” as its credo with films like Kahanni , OMG- Oh My God , Special 26 and our latest Super hit Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

Experts believe that Innovation begins at the top. What is your view on innovation and leadership?

Innovation does begin at the top and it needs a leadership and culture that nurtures the spirit of experimentation, thinking out-of-the box and an ability to tolerate and learn from failures. It is critical that as leaders we build organisations that strengthens more open and learning

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culture, encourages dialogue, tolerates failure and is receptive to new ideas.

Why are startups active and drive innovation than traditional companies?

Is this culture developed in India?

It is often seen that startups more actively drive innovation as compared to their traditional counterparts. This is primarily because at the start up stage most organisations are willing to take risks and do not fear failure. This is also aided by the stakes being lower at that stage in their journey. As organisations become big the fear of failure tends to make them more straight jacketed leading to lower innovations and reduced ability to experiment.

Similar to the way companies look at innovation, there is a need or innovation in policy making process. As an industry leader do you expect innovation policy thinking from government and regulator?

Once again if we define innovation in its broadest sense (Doing things better) there is a clear need for innovation on policy thinking from government and regulator. In keeping with the changing times, we need to always ask the questions focusing on ‘What’ and the bigger objective , while constantly revisiting / innovating on the ‘How’. The problem is that the government tends to get caught up a lot on the ‘How’ and loses the requisite focus on the ‘What’. This is even more pronounced in a rapidly evolving and dynamic M&E sector.

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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The road to success

Four days of spectacular events and brushing shoulders with A-listers. Endless opportunities for networking, discovering the best in global programming and sealing big deals. They say success is all about being in the right place at the right time.

They’re right. The red carpet’s waiting. The moment is yours.

Register today.

7-10 October, 2013, Cannes – France mipcom.com

mipcom

>

mipjunior

Register before 4 October and save €200 Contact Paul Barbaro now and find out how to make MIPCOM work for you. paul.barbaro@reedmidem.com

INNOVATION @ STAR

STAR Believes in Challenging Status-quo At STAR, we always encourage and urge our people to question constancy. We realise that stagnation of ideas is the death of creativity – Deepak Jacob, President & General Counsel, STAR India Pvt. Ltd. The theme of CII Big Picture Summit this year is Embracing innovation in media? How do you think innovation can benefit M&E sector?

The Indian media and entertainment sector is at the cross roads not only with the explosive growth but with the emergence of new technologies, new platforms and, above all, new business models. I complement CII for turning everyone’s attention to the need for embracing innovation in the media and entertainment sphere in this year’s Summit. The only way to take the Indian M&E sector beyond the 100 billion horizon is to envision a self-sustaining marriage between innovation and creativity. We have seen how innovation has informed transformational drives in other sectors, We believe that the potential of innovation to usher in inclusive growth is far more pronounced in the case of M&E than any other sphere of activity. Infact it is already happening as we speak. In recent times we have witnessed a literal explosion of various forms of media in the Indian mindscape. People of this country are sampling information and entertainment in a manner that was unthinkable even two decades back. The industry today has found the pulse for change and now only intends to build on it.

Can innovation propel growth for the M&E sector?

There is an urgent need to educate and sensitise the stakeholders including the government on how important it is to put together an innovation plan of action for the Indian media and entertainment sec-

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tor. This year’s summit is a way of bringing to the table some of the immediate steps that we all should focus on. Pathbreaking recommendations have been made by the Sectoral Innovation Council of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Government and the industry should work together to identify processes to implement the same and also find other developmental areas that are crying out for attention. Sectoral engagement across the entire value chain and sensitization of policy makers are the needs of the hour to propel growth in this space.

Star TV and innovation -- you are one of the pioneers in programme segmentation? How is innovation deployed at Star TV? We in STAR believe innovation in both content and technology is a continuum unto itself. STAR has pioneered the growth of satellite television in this country and provided millions of viewers in Asia with the latest, most popular best in class entertainment. Similarly on the technological front we were at the driver’s seat in introducing HD channels, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound technology; Very recently we have forayed into “STAR Content LIVE” which is a digital solution that enables advertisers to deliver their TV commercials for telecast across the STAR Network. This is a first of its kind initiative in India.

It’s an industry first tapeless end-to-end workflow that is extremely safe and costeffective for HD and SD digital adver-

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Deepak Jacob President & General Counsel STAR India

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Our much acclaimed programmes like “Satyamev Jayate”, “Sach Kaa Samnaa” are living testimonies to programming innovation

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Disruptive innovation is “a double-edged sword.

It can work in your favour or go terribly against you

tisement distribution and, in addition, supports the cause of reducing carbon footprint. We have been telling stories and connecting with our viewers not only through our staple serials but also through programs like Sach Kaa Samna or Satyameva Jayate that have redefined the GEC landscape in this country.

Has disruption innovation impacted Indian M&E. As industry as a whole, how do we manage the risk of disruptive innovation?

Disruptive innovation is a double-edged sword. It can work in your favour or go terribly against you. But then, how you take this depends on the philosophy, attitude and culture of an organisation and its management – do we wish to go by the laid rules or want to rewrite the rules of the game?

We, at Star, have always believed in challenging the status-quo. We have through our programing innovation compelled people to revisit the very manner in which they have been perceiving the GEC space all along. Our much acclaimed programmes like Satyamev Jayate, Sach Kaa Samnaa are living testimonies to this ground breaking approach. Our foray into the mythological space has also been a success with viewers appreciating the novelty in which we have been telling these stories. We have also reconnected with the Indian woman at an empowering plane that was inconceivable even a decade back. We will continue to invest in our commitment to ideation as we sincerely believe that it is only innovation that will help us to stay ahead of the curve in these challenging times.

We always encourage and urge our people to question constancy. We realise that stagnation of ideas is the death of creativity.

As an industry leader do you expect innovation in policy making and regulatory decisions?

While a lot has been done by the regula-

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tors in recent times , there is also mounting expectations as well. With compulsory DAS and increases in FDI limits for distribution , the government has been taking steps towards the right direction, however a lot more could be done to accelerate innovation in the sector, one of which could be to revisit existing regulations on vertical integration , channel pricing, uplinking news channels from India and the mandatory requirement to share signals of premium sporting events. The existing regulations leave little incentive for innovation and as such require an urgent course correction.

Why are startups active and drive innovation than traditional companies?

I do not fully agree that start-ups are more active and primarily drive innovations. On the other hand, one can say that if startups are not proactive and do not strive for innovation, they will have very little chances of survival. And yes, we must encourage them. Having said that, I would also like to mention that it is a real challenge to achieve and sustain a leading position in this business..

Innovation and leadership. Your views...

Innovation calls for visionary leaders.

Those who are either able to better understand customer requirements and exploit new market opportunities, or access new technologies to deliver successful new products and services. That’s why STAR India challenges itself at every opportunity and regularly to deliver cutting-edge innovative and clutter-breaking content to deliver better and wholesome viewing experiences. This truly demonstrates how we are Inspiring a “Billion Imaginations” through the stories we tell, the movies we show and the ideas we inspire across the length and breadth of this country.

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MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE IN PICKLE OCTOBER 2013 INDIAN MIPCOM DIGITAL MEDIA ISSUE. SPECIAL Pickle reaches out to audio visual companies in over 50 countries; Targets global buyers and distributors; Film Festivals and markets; Animation production companies; Global companies looking at offshoring from India; Co-production seekers and location service providers. Pickle business guide tracks the entertainment business in India.

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www.ciibigpicture.com

Keynote Speaker at CII Big Picture Summit

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L

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GERD

LEONHARD MEDIA FUTURIST

My prediction would be that there are quite some healthy windows for Print, Radio and Television in India.

What does The Futures Agency do?

I work as a futurist and spend most of the time on media, entertainment content and communications. I have 25 colleagues at Future Agency. We are agents for the future. What we do is preview the future forward. Media companies have to think about five billion people connected to cheap devices using social media, cloud computing that is completely changing the way that they do business, how they sell ads, what movies they produce, how they distribute. Our work is to go to the future, bring the experiences back and then shock the participants to think about.

Do people really get frustrated when you say things?

Yes. The reality is people don’t change and companies don’t change unless you have got a bit of a pain effect -- the threat of potential death. For companies this does wonders because it motivates them Can we crystal gaze only five years?

Lot of the things that are happening are pointed towards the immediate future -- three to five years. The immediate future is quite obvious to see if you take the time to look. And my work is not to tell the people what they don’t know but to bring it back into their forefront of their mind.

Traditional media continues to dominate India and digital is evolving... Your take.

My prediction would be that there are quite some healthy windows for print, radio and television. But media companies looking at the future would have to create a double scenario.

Are companies bound to vanish if innovation is not put into practice?

Absolutely. Digital default means a lot of different things for companies. For example, the empowerment of the consumer, the move to mobility, the consumer participation, peer-to-peer reporting. I mean, these are great opportunities. But if you

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ignore most of them, it is very unlikely you will be successful because you will need significant control of the market to keep people to keep happy.

Why are startups active compared to legacy companies?

For startups it is an idea that they do things better to replace something that isn’t quite working. And they are undiplomatic, look for aggressive innovation and a disruptor. Now, for a company that has 100,000 employees is very hard to be a disruptor unless they have an aggressive CEO like Jeff Beezos of Amazon, very fast moving and risk taking person.

Also, we have a very bad system with the stock market that does not reward risk taking and it rewards gradual risk taking. Startups have very little to lose.

I tell all my big clients – telecom and media companies – that they should have a second place to where they can be a startup and shoot down the mothership, where you can replace yourselves before somebody does it. This is important because speed of change is mindboggling.

You can see that in India. Every year, I go there it is in other leap. If you don’t move along with the speed and allow room for innovation and risk and if you are too slow eventually you will fall of the cliff and nobody cares where you go.

Your thoughts on innovation execution and assumptions...

Once, you create the space, people come forward. All you have to do is create that space. We also have to question our assumptions. For example, the movie industry and music industry have thought for a long time, that if they can control distribution and make sure that you make no unauthorized copy that they can make lots of money because people are forced to buy the real copies. But it was wrong. It is not possible to control the copying. And, people didn’t buy the expensive DVDs or downloads in iTunes and they are streaming for free. So, we have to question our assumptions – is it really important to control or is it more important to create a scenario where people love my product. And that’s what Amazon, Netflix and YouTube have created. Now, they have to figure out how to earn their revenues quicker.

Innovation doesn’t require big technology. Some create successful enterprise and many are unable to do so.

Why? This is something like cooking. Basically, if you are trying to create a successful enterprise, you don’t take fifty different items and throw it on a pot. You

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don’t put everything in. And you have a vision of where it goes. When you start a company, you need to figure out what exactly is it you are trying to do. This is more like you are creating a vision that is much more than a spreadsheet. And, this is especially true in media because it is a fragmented world. People like different things. There isn’t one solution that fits everybody.

What are the major concerns and questions global CEOs ask you today?

They look out for answers on data. Data has in fact become the new oil and there are anticipations that in the next five to ten years, data economy will be larger than the fossil fuel economy because it drives society, it drives e-commerce and it does all the things that create value.

That is a big question. The other thing is about protecting ourselves from data.

The next question is the human computer interface/human machine interface. Technology is going to get so smart that a day before it will tell you what the stock market will look like for your stocks tomorrow. And, it can tell you five hours before that you are going to be late for your next appointment. And you can find all the financial information at the click of a button. We are heading into a science fiction world, even in developing countries. This technology will be so cheap, that you will speak into your phone and get an answer. And that will really change the way people look at culture, flow of information, those are some of the key questions.

Where are the innovations happening today?

Innovation can happen anywhere.

Silicon Valley is still a hotbed for innovation because of their mindset. The mindset of being essentially a cowboy culture. A culture in which you just go for it. And that’s American culture. And what we need to do in other countries is to be more adventurous, to take more risk, think outside of a current thing.

In terms of technology and access to information, India has more graduates in technology than all of the US combined in ten years, per year. The resources are there. But what we need to create is platforms for risk taking and also the inspiration to go out. This doesn’t have to do with money. This has to do with the feeling that what you do is appreciated.

As a futurist how do you see the current big companies -- Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft --- in the coming years They are clearly becoming fabric of our

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life. Take the highway for example. If we don’t have highways, we have to drive slower. Google and the likes are the infrastructure. If they don’t do the mistake of abusing the relationship not protecting our data or expose us to bad things, not creating standards, not being open, not creating value, then we would leave them.

That is the only danger I see there.

And, other danger is if they become too much like algorithms and machine and lose the human part. Another danger is that -- we become part of what they want to be. These companies are infrastructure and they are going to do what we need to justify their existence which I think, they will.

You can see the current debate about privacy and data. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Yahoo. If they don’t protect us from mass surveillance , we will leave them. And, they know that.

What is the kind of people/companies that you would like to meet in India when you are here at the CII Big Picture Summit?

I would like to meet people who are ready to change, who are facing a situation and say we are looking to figure out what the next edition of our company looks like. Because many people are putting a bandage on a wound, fixing themselves up a little big and that won’t be enough, I am interested to meet people who are ready to transform themselves and transform their companies.

I look at technology as a rocket curve now. And adoptions are becoming much cheaper and probably become free in terms of devices and Internet access. So, what that means is that the speed of innovation and transform yourselves when you are still ahead today is crucial. I want to meet people who are taking that transformation that I can talk to and also learn from.

Do you see life without Internet?

That’s a bit like life without water. My theory is we are always connected and to be offline is the new luxury. The idea of being in a constant flow of information and communication is interesting and powerful. But is not necessarily human to always be part of that second universe or the second brain as people call it. If offline is a luxury, there is going to be another entire industry as well because machines and technology are exponential. In five years, it will be fifty times powerful. Humans are not. We are not exponentially growing our brain.

As a media futurist, do you take risk?

Of course. As a futurist, I try to live what I say which is not to assume that what I say today will be true tomorrow. There are couple of things that you learn over the years. For example, the ability to look at two different things at the same time.

Socrates had said that the ability to look at two separate and divergent things at the same time is where true intelligence comes in. That’s what I look for. I am not looking at a bunch of data and coming out with a projection. I am trying to create wisdom that is inclusive of these factors.

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On meeting M&E Companies at CII Big Picture Summit I would like to meet people who are ready to change, who are facing a situation and say we are looking to figure out what the next edition of our company looks like.

Because many people are putting a bandage on a wound, fixing themselves up a little big and that won’t be enough, I am interested to meet people who are ready to transform themselves and transform their companies

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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FEATURED SPEAKERS

JAVED AKHTAR

AMIT KHANNA

UDAY SHANKAR

RONNIE SCREWVALA

Chairman, CII M&E Committee, Noted Lyricist

Filmmaker, Writer, Media Expert

CEO, Star India

MD, Walt Disney India

HARIT NAGPAL

R BALKI

SAMEER MANCHANDA

RAJ BIYANI

MD & CEO, Tata Sky Ltd

Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas

Chairman, DEN

Managing Director, Microsoft IT (India)

Finalize your plans today to attend CII Big Picture Summit 2013 that brings together the best of the creative and business minds. The focus will be on how innovation will propel our M&E growth to $100 billion.

SANFORD PANITCH

FARHAN AKHTAR

SIDDHARTH ROY KAPUR

PRAKASH JHA

President, Fox International Productions

Actor, Producer, Director

Managing Director, Studios – Disney-UTV

Filmmaker

MANOJ BAJPAYEE

PRAHLAD KAKAR

SANJAY GUPTA

Actor

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CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013 Ad Guru Operating Officer, pickle entertainment biz guide Chief STAR India

PARTHO DASGUPTA

www.ciibigpicture.com CEO, BARC

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

PUNIT GOENKA

SUDHANSHU VATS

ASHOK AMRITRAJ

GERD LEONHARD

MD & CEO - Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited

Group CEO, Viacom 18 Media

Chairman and CEO, Hyde Park Entertainment Group

Futurist, Author, CEO of The Futures Agency

RAJESH SAWHNEY

PRASOON JOSHI

TARUN KATIAL

KABIR BEDI

Founder Global Superangels Forum

Writer-Poet

CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network

Actor

Email: neetu.sikka@cii.in

Prof S RAGHUNATH

BHASKAR DAS

SANJAY WADHWA

ANDREAS RUDAS

Corporate Strategy and Policy, IIM Bangalore

Group CEO, Zee News Cluster

Managing Director A P International Group

Executive Vice- President, RTL Group

L V KRISHNAN

JOHN MEDEIROS

AJAY BIJLI

CEO, TAM

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Chief Policy Officer, CASBAA pickle entertainment biz guide

CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT Director 2013 Chairman & Managing PVR Limited

SABBAS JOSEPH

www.ciibigpicture.com Director – Wizcraft International Entertainment

THOUGHT LEADER

Culture and

Innovation in Digital Age

by Amit Khanna

C

ommunication has since the dawn of civilization been a catalyst of human development. The media for communicating has changed. From simple conversation to folk arts thousands of years ago to anytime anywhere voice, video and data, today billions are constantly trying to reach out to one another to propagate an idea, a dream, an ideology, an experience or just goods and services, to bond or simply to kill boredom.

Media is all pervasive (a weapon of Mass Distraction is how an American actor described the missile-by-missile telecast of the war in Iraq). Today, it can aptly be called a new global phenomenon which colonizes the mind. The post-industrial world has transited into under-arching knowledge economy, and now finally it is all about occupying mindspace. Geographical boundaries, cultural frontiers, political alignments are all being redefined in telescoped moments of unfolding history.

The pace of social, economic and political change is nerve shattering. Technology obsolescence obscures intellectual stagflation. Symbols of individuality, kinsmanship, faith and nationhood; the very semiotics of human existence have mutated into a transgenic cornucopia. A barrage of satellite images is the mushroom cloud of our times where real life bullets take prime time lives. Is it a metaphor of headline news that despots have doubles and heads of state are etherized in drawing room conversations? When news becomes entertainment and entertainment is news it is time to pause and smirk at Macluhan’s prophecy. Now

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the medium is truly well done but the message is still rare. Every action has a replay and for every rewind, there is a fast-forward. The remote is there not to detonate bombs but to zap you out of consciousness. In cyberspace what is online is just virtual reality and perceived reality is more lethal.

There is always an alternative view from a positional objectivity standpoint. The right is the obverse of wrong if you communicate well enough. Who tells the truth is not as important as who tells a compelling tale. From movies to mayhem, you need an audience, a customer who will pay by the minute. In unwired handsets or cable passed homes, digital downloads take up too much memory and time.

Persuasive or subliminal the manner of manipulating minds is the new art form; Rhetoric the new lingua franca, Broadsheets or tabloids, bits or bytes, fact or fiction, reality or games and movies ultimately it comes down to ones and zeros.

All Digitally happening in a time-warped space. The Fast–Moving-Consumer pays for satiation. Go grab her.

Rookie reporters to electronic eavesdroppers, applause junkies to page three parvenus all are scavengers of the attention deficit age. Hidden cameras and mike strutting humanoids are in perpetual motion to capture the fleeting moment.

Under purple haze and neon signs at comatose, crossroads vying for eyeballs.

The Soccer World Cup will do till the next blockbuster disaster! Engage and entangle as many as possible in whichever way you like. SMS, MMS, SPAM, VOD, each acronym is a new SOS. Someone is CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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The remote is there not to detonate bombs but to zap you out of consciousness Amit Khanna Filmmaker, Writer, Media Expert

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screaming for help from channel space and newspaper gutters. It is all about share of mind and wallet. From soap commercials to politics, sport to showbiz, boardrooms to clubs, stock market to evangelism, it is a performance out therealways on. What do the ratings say? How many eyeballs you grab? How many fort facts you attract?

Where silos of information are as important as food stocks, where look and feel makes the difference between substantial and substantive, where the matter overwhelms mind, this is a world you and I live in today. Who subverts what is immaterial. Fame, ignominy, success and failure are all instant and ephemeral. As much as soup or stardom or even Nirvana. In transience lies immortality.

Its quest is a backbreaking triathlon run over an obstacle course of information, disinformation and opinion in spite of the environment and not because of it.

Titillate, enrapture, ensnare, now and everywhere is the motto. It is a global jungle after all.

Multiple platform delivery is far more enveloping than a clarion call.24x7.356 days. Filling every nanosecond, it is all about choices. News and Information, Books and Discs, Movies and Drama, Songs and Dance, Parks and rides, Zoos and Museums, Malls and Resorts, Stadia and Clubs, Fun and Games, Buying and selling, Informing, Communicating, Entertaining, an ICE onslaught. Relentless, 60 years ago a radio set was a luxury, TV a fantasy and movies was something you watched occasionally at the nearest talkies. Entertainment was restricted to a rare family outing or a pastime of truant juveniles. Over the years the change has been dramatic. We have seen the magic of movies and movie stars dominate the mindscape of millions. Then came the age of Television and the idiot box has become the new center of gravity of the average household. Now that there is entertainment online, Mobile TV, User Generated content, Blogs are the first milestones of an ‘always on world’. Pan global or neighborhood, the digital world allows you to choose from a vast bouquet.

However, many sociologists agree that local entertainment and information tends to have more mass appeal than foreign.

There is a small section of the audience though which is plugged to the world scene. Multiple devices and platforms are offering increased choice in media to increasingly people today. The world is turning digital. Like other businesses, entertainment is also about market segmentation. In the digital world it is becoming easy to address a single customer. Now it is possible to pull content of choice (Digital video research, I-Tunes, YouTube). The difference between push

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and pull, between broadcast and uncast is the personalized segmentation of media.

There are very few films or TV shows or Events which appeal to audiences across geographies and psychographics. Most media attempts to address large groups, linguistic or ethnic. Now for the first time in history it is possible to access films, news, music and information, whatever on demand anywhere anytime. This is allowing a thousand diverse media to bloom each with its own unique market.

In this new paradigm business can treat consumers as individuals, offering mass customization or even personalization as an alternative to mass-market fare.

The advantages are spread widely. For the entertainment industry itself the ondemand, pay-per-use model is a remarkably efficient form of marketing, allowing smaller films and less-mainstream music and videos to find an audience. For consumers, the improved choice and convenience that comes on-line encourages exploration and can reawaken a passion for music and film, potentially creating a far larger entertainment market overall.

The largest music distribution company in the world today is Apple. And the cultural benefit of all of this is much more diversity, reversing the blending effects of a century of distribution scarcity and ending the tyranny of the hit, says Chris Anderson a media expert. Already social networking websites like Facebook, have billions of posts including songs and films, personal videos and live reportage.

While cinema will remain a popular media well into the next decade its manner and form will change. Films will no longer be made on film. Hits like “AVTAAR” have been shot on digital cameras. In the next ten years almost all feature films and TV shows will have large chunks created on computers. There are over 10000 cinema theatres worldwide - 2000 in India, which actually do not screen any “film” as such but project digital images. In a few years, all films will be projected digitally sourced from a secure server. Often delivered by satellite or served through optic fiber backbones or even through Wireless Broadband. Each stream psycho graphically customized to suit different audience profiles. On the one hand you have video-on-demand and on the other there is a single worldwide simulcast of the new blockbuster. Today you could watch an old Satyajit Ray classic or the latest Brad Pitt hit sitting at home accessing some archive through your broadband device perhaps on your wall-sized TV screen or the giant screen of your next-door multiplex or if you want on your mobile device.

Robert Dowling the former editor of Hollywood Reporter writing on the entertainCII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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India has just embarked on the world’s largest Unique Personal Identity Project which in the next 5 years will enable each of its 1.2 billion people to become an active participant in digital society

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ment of the future said, “Time paradigms will change. Advertisers will no longer chafe under the restrictions of the 30-second commercial and programmers of serial entertainment will be freed from 22minute half-hours and 48-minute hours.

With the home-theaters standard issue and cell phones, PDAs and other mobile devices just about everywhere, audiences will hunker down for full-season viewathons just as readily as they’ll catch snippies while waiting in lines. Programming will be configured for every device and all time frames at the viewer’s request.

Entertainment forms of five minutes or less will facilitate a different style of artist”.I believe we will consume multiple streams of media simultaneously but not one device. We will retrieve music, film, news, games and whatever else we want simply by tapping into the wireless ether or plugging into a socket not unlike the current electric wall socket. The themepark ride concept will translate first to hotels, malls and other public gathering places then migrate to the home, where we will be able to feel the motion and experience the activity. It is not that all existing formats will disappear. Digital age has exhibited 2 latent consumption patterns: `ease of access’, and individualized, customized consumption.

The Digital world has much less inequity than the real world. Development patterns

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are already being altered. Take India and China; not only are they the two most populous nations in the world but are the two fastest growing economies. India has gone from 0 to One Billion mobile phones in less than 16 years. In South Asia and Africa some of the poorest people are getting the benefit of communication and concomitant services including banking for the first time. India has just embarked on the world’s largest Unique Personal Identity Project which in the next 5 years enable each of its 1.2 billion people will become an active participant in digital society.

Internet has evolved from web 1.0 (www) to web 2.0(user interaction). Web 3.0 (semantic web – intelligent agents, personal assistants) will evolve further. While web 3.0 is a distant concept in working, we already have a sketch of web 4.0 – learning web, real 3D, personal intelligent assistants, and sensory capabilities. Storage, networking, computing & app technologies are continuously evolving – becoming faster, speedier & affordable. Similarly, Communication technologies like 4G / 5G (Wireless Broadband) are around the corner as our new devices. However, Cultures shall remain referentially perpetual as ever; a set of habits, knowledge, traditions, art, etc. will evolve to creating space for a new or a modified set, as effected by the digital culture!

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Innovation @ Eros Now

Redefining Eros With Innovation Digitisation continues to be a key growth driver for the Indian M&E sector with more and more audiences subscribing to the digital medium, says Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO, Eros Now Eros Now is a visible digital platform today for content consumption. You have been a leader in digital space for over six years? Can this medium propel growth for the M&E sector?

We are on the threshold of a digital transformation and our significant digitized content library enables us to deliver optimum customer experiences across media spaces. We have succeeded in developing a service that engages a new digital generation of South Asians globally - when, where and how they want.

Digitization continues to be a key growth driver for the Indian M&E sector and with more and more audiences subscribing to the digital medium. Recent releases like Raanjhanaa and Go Goa Gone crossed more than a million views within just 2-3 days of its launch. Digital is the future and ErosNow aspires to be the leading South Asian digital brand of choice for consumers, advertisers and global media partners.

We have witnessed Eros Intl signing various multi-platform worldwide deals with telecom, IPTV and broadcasters. Do you see visible signs of consumption pattern changing?

Definitely, more and more specialist channels are coming up with digital consumption increasing. Recent trends indicate YouTube is already perceived to be the preferred choice for news and entertainment viewing, especially for the youth.

Our recent collaborations with TalkTalk, Yupp TV and a host of other film content platforms point towards evident changes in consumption patterns.

What is your take on movie watching on tablets? Do you watch movies on the go?

The smartphones and tablets have en-

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tirely changed the measures of entertainment. What started as an obsession of playing games has now moved to consumers being addicted to their smart device to watch songs, movies, stream live matches etc. This has further gained momentum with high speed data either at home or with advent of services like 3G/4G. Watching movies on tablet is a great source of entertainment while you are commuting or even when at home if one wants to enjoy his own space and his favorite movies. Its compact and userfriendly hence it’s not only entertaining but also makes life simple. I absolutely love watching movies on tablets. Whenever I am commuting which is very often with offices globally, I am either watching a movie or listening to my favorite music track. Moreover, tablets are handy and sleek and consume no extra space in your bag. So it’s a must in my travel list.

Internationally especially, people are more inclined to consume content on the go.. Studies have shown that almost a third of the time spent on a tablet is for entertainment. In India, despite certain technology and connectivity issues, we are slowly but surely getting there.

From innovation perspective Eros Now is a great case study? You have created a visible brand in no time?

With Eros having all the ingredients of a successful start up how does it deploy innovation?

ErosNow is a one stop shop for Bollywood entertainment. Apart from the vast library of over 1900 films, we also premier many of our latest films on the platform within 2 weeks to a month of its theatrical release. We have been innovative with our membership offerings too – prepaid

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Change is the necessity of the day and digital is the future

Rishika Lulla Singh

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The key to success “in this space is constant innovation and ease of content access

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cards, a 48 hour movie rental window allowing movie viewing unlimited amount of times, instant steam of video etc. Additionally all content is in HD and we are also offering viewers a 14 day free trial where they can check out movies of their choice and finally subscribe to movies as per their pick. ErosNow extends its services beyond films and provides latest music from not just the Eros catalogue but also the entire T Series library for the listening pleasure of anyone visiting the platform.

How did you manage the challenge of traditional company embrace innovation for Eros Now? Change is the necessity of the day and digital is the future. The Indian entertainment industry has undergone a paradigm shift in the last decade and studios like Eros have brought about corporatization of the industry. The monetization streams have also expanded. With a large library of 1900 films, our aim is to exploit the content across different formats and stay connected with the audiences 24x7 (In the digital space through Eros Now).

At Eros we have always embraced technological advancements and with Eros Now we provide access to all our films, music videos, audio tracks and regional programming. Our services cater both premium and standard users. The key to success in this space is constant innovation and ease of content access.

From Eros perspective, where do you see the potential in the digital domain -- do you see growth in domestic or international market? You have one of the finest library content?

In the short run, the dollars are coming in from the international markets, mainly due to better user experience and higher broadband penetration. India is

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still a “Freemium” market although this will change rapidly with the advent of 4G and other technological advancement.

Has this growth reflected in monetization for Eros? How has been the subscriber growth? Do you see a scalable model?

At Eros, our mantra clearly is maximization of the monetization. With a large library of 1900 films, our aim is to exploit the content across different formats and stay connected with our audiences 24x7.

For instance we have witnessed a huge growth on our YouTube channel from the time we launched it a few years back, the subscriber base has seen multifold increase. Also very proud to announce we recently crossed a million subscribers on the ErosNow YouTube channel.

What is Eros strategy with regards to digital piracy? Do you see piracy levels coming down with the death of DVD and increased digital consumption via multiple screens?

Earlier we used to put up Eros content (new releases) for digital fingerprinting post the theatrical release of the film.

Now taking a step forward, we finger print our content prior to the theatrical releases, further curbing scope for digital piracy.

Also with shorter windowing of films, from theatrical to online (we showcase our films on Eros Now within two weeks to a month of its theatrical release), these initiatives do go some way in curbing the urge to watch the pirated version of the film.

Piracy also tends to happen because content isn’t readily available but with quality HD streaming, allowing users to access content whenever and however they want, erosnow.com aims to bridge that gap.

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Prof S Raghunath, Corporate Strategy and Policy, IIM Bangalore

Innovation requires top-down as well as bottom-up participation 38

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ACADEMIC VIEW

Innovation is Inevitable Innovation is bound to increase the total volume of activity in the media and entertainment sector says Prof S Raghunath, Corporate Strategy and Policy, IIM Bangalore How do you define innovation?

What helps organisation achieve innovation?

Innovation as a concept applied to media and entertainment is all about the process of creating and delivering quantum improvement in customer value .

The general view is to create a separate organization for innovation.

But, in the media and entertainment industry such separation could prevent cross platform integration and conflict between the existing and innovation driven units of the organization. The ability to think innovatively should be a goal for every function in the organization.

More often than not there is a general inertia in recognizing and responding to changes in customer preferences once a company reaches a certain size or growth in hierarchy. For example general entertainment TV channels have audience members who are active participants who select programming to meet particular needs.

Should innovation start top down ideally? Is it a leadership issue? Do innovation turn a company’s performance?

Innovation requires top-down as well as bottom-up participation. The leadership at the top has to develop razor sharp focus on business model innovation. The challenge is to grow the pool of audience and, therefore the revenues; this in turn requires ability to create and capture value when technology, delivery and content are in a state of flux.

There are issues of when creative aspects should take precedence over business

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considerations and when business considerations must be given central importance in comparison to creative aspects. Both business and creative issues have to be explored and debated before making decisions. The success of media and entertainment offerings are a function of combining creative genius with business considerations.

The quality and calibre of those who make these combined decisions evolve.

There are decisions involved in looking at new ways to charge for the product or service, there is innovation involved in sponsorship as to who will pay for the product or service, there is innovation in considering new ways to expand a content or brand value to different consumer segments or different ways of offering the content to the consumer.

More specifically, leaders at the top have to reckon with audience fragmentation.

They have to achieve a fit between the offerings of creative talent and changing consumer expectations relating to relevance, convenience and flexibility.

They must examine how to segment customers so that the revenue model can fit to those segments who will perceive value from the offering and willing to pay for it.

The current trend of increasing communication, bandwidth, information and processing power has not just changed consumer behaviour and expectations but has also provided the media and entertainment industry increased ability to gather information about consumers. It is now possible to make better segmentation based on the analysis of the information and there could be innovations relating to new ways to charge for content.

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CII BIG PICTURE WORKSHOP: Owners and managers of media and entertainment industry have the onerous responsibility of championing and sustaining business growth.

They can utilize a path breaking approach to gain strategic advantage by creating uncontested market spaces and making competition irrelevant.

The workshop will be led by Dr S Raghunath, Dean and Professor of Corporate Strategy and Policy at IIM Bangalore. He has done extensive research on media and entertainment industry with specific focus on the subject of championing and sustaining high growth through value innovation and is uniquely placed to interpret the subject in the Indian context. Professor Raghunath is an expert on strategy implementation in the media and entertainment sector and is on the boards of several companies.

Why are start-ups active and drive innovation than traditional companies? Do digital platforms offer more for innovation than traditional ones?

Startups are better of than traditional companies as they do not have to deal with the question of cannibalizing their current products and services.

Traditional companies have existing partner relations and customer base and there is an apprehension that customers may not move beyond a certain level of willingness to pay.

Startups are better positioned to offer products and services considering the changing dynamics of what the consumers are preferring as content and mode of consumption based on their age, gender and views about society. While the traditional companies look at the consumers through the singular lens of what they are offering and what the current customer base is preferring to consume. There is little effort in segmenting consumers and markets.

It is not unusual to expect successful innovating ďŹ rms to ourish and failed non innovating ďŹ rms to fade away 40

Why do we see fewer innovation in Indian M&E companies than what it happens globally?

Changes in technology and utilization of the benefits from technology has enabled large western firms to increase the target consumers pool while the same has not been fully utilized so far by the Indian companies. The traditional consumer pool in our country consisted of passive consumers of media and entertainment who were hoping to be entertained in their living rooms. They have very strong preferences for program content. They are gradually accessing the internet. They are also beginning to question why they are paying for so many channels when they are watching only few. The set top box connections provide viewing information. Therefore the cable providers can make a selection for their consumers by identifying favourites for them and opt out of the rest. This kind of an arrangement can help content providing TV entertainment companies to maximize distribution of their niche channels. The managers of cable companies are resisting this mode of pricing.

There is an opportunity in our country to shift to an arrangement that provides subscribers access to content through any device such as television, computers, pay-per-view via streaming.

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High Growth Through Innovation In the workshop, participants will understand the business growth and innovation framework and learn to apply it to the industry. The workshop will be highly interactive and will involve a formal presentation, analysis of participating companies in terms of their growth agenda as well as planning a way forward for developing value innovation and implementing a high growth plan.

To obtain maximum benefit, cross functional participation at the workshop will be encouraged company wise.

For Workshop Registration Contact kavita.saini@cii.in

The tendency towards bundling of the channels and offering a price makes the purchase less complicated or cheaper for the consumers, while a pick and choose model may fulfil a consumers desires of choice and flexibility. However, the cable operators prefer bundling option for pricing which then opens the door for new competition from streaming services available on the net and on demand content free startup like Box TV which download content from traditional TV, cable or internet.

Your thoughts on inculcating the culture of innovation in an organisation?

In the context of media and entertainment industry, leadership is all about creating and managing an environment for innovation. Respecting individuality and encouraging individual initiative is a hallmark of a leader in media and entertainment space. Leaders have to make final content calls. In business it is not just about coming up with ideas but also how much should be spent on it. This decision is based on how much revenue and margins can be expected. The most important contribution to creative success is getting people to come up with great ideas and having people support those great ideas and support those creative people, manage creativity with business foresight. This requires managing synergy across all company offerings. Everybody has to cooperate with everybody else and no competition must be encouraged between divisions. Many companies underperform due to tensions and weak relations at the top level. If innovation is to be successful over the long term, it is imperative that all divisions of a company remain true to its espoused values of delivering “entertainment�.

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Are companies bound to vanish -- if innovation is not put into practice -there is a lot of disruption happening across sectors?

Any media and entertainment product or service that is not an imitation may be treated as innovation. Innovation is about those creative efforts that are accepted by the market as unusually different, satisfying or productive.

Innovation is bound to increase the total volume of activity in the media and entertainment sector. The potential market for media and entertainment products and services has grown in India not just because the population and national income have grown but also the literacy rate has gone up and people have begun to spend on media and entertainment. Secondly more intermediaries are available to introduce artists to the market and more artists struggle for creative success.

An enlarged M&E market attracts more would be innovators. Successful innovations are highly diverse and they illustrate important links between the responsiveness of tastes and the organization of creative activities.

It is not unusual to expect successful innovating firms to flourish and failed non innovating firms to fade away.

Companies with well established distribution system can preserve their position if they open their facilities to innovation. On the other hand with no control over distribution of content and no capacity to bear large losses innovation can cause enormous turnover among companies. The turnover process is more natural and continuous when firms are small and without sunk or committed resources.

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THOUGHT LEADER

Intellecutal Property specialist Omar Kaczmarczyk on The world of Trans-Media

by Omar Kaczmarczyk The Trans-Media consumer world, consisting of 3.8 billion potential points of interest, demands new methods of storytelling, as well as production and distribution strategies. It requires a new innovative breed of Entertainment Company

Omar Kaczmarczyk is MD LongTale International and Partner, Wonder Animation

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verything is right with being profit-motivated and for wanting to contribute to our community as a consequence of our success -- assuming that we share, as storytellers, a deep desire to co-create a better world.

As Platforms and Data Sources proliferate our goal might be to empower one another in the process, closing the gap between Trans Media Visioneers, funders, and their distribution partners.

Here is a simplified distinction: Trans-Media properties offer new creative opportunities and diversity of revenue streams greater than single platform media.

The new Trans-Media consumer world, consisting of 3.8 billion potential points of interest, demands new methods of storytelling, as well as production and distribution strategies. It requires a new innovative breed of Entertainment Company that is focused on developing properties with longevity, strong IP Management, and a greater understanding of digital marketing and distribution. This is how a company delivers success in a 360 degree market.

The Innovation point is the singular moment when talented, motivated co -creators ACT on their ideas and dreams.

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Innovation is the answer to chaos, deconstruction, and dissimulation: the current state of affairs in the Global Motion Picture community. It’s all around us. Daily the Internet provides an ever widening cornucopia of new ideas, processes, and solutions, and is now the singular Global Platform. Forums exist for every aspect of creation, finance, and distribution, meaning the Platform itself will teach us how best to use it.

Global information flow means 85% of the world’s population is covered by commercial wireless signals. For example: 200M+ farmers in India are receiving government payments/subsidies via mobile devices. These same devices can be used to shape social impact, display content in all forms, and obviously create new revenue streams for the IP manager. In a recent study by Ooyala, it was determined that roughly 1.5 billion people will watch at least one online video by 2016.

Being able to quantify and measure the value of your content, with total transparency for contributors and collaborators alike, is fruit from the tree of Digital Media. For the first time in the history of the world, the IP Manager can control all aspects of distribution from the source, and their income ratios are far superior than that of previous distribution centers. Pay TV is now going to the web. It is possible to own/ rent a piece of this multi-channel distribution channel if you own/distribute a library of feature, documentary, or extended story ( mini-series, etc.) content, or simply partner with a multichannel owner for a one-off project.

A basic design for a company working within the new Paradigm looks like this: There are 4 primary functions: Development, IP Management/Finance, Production, and Marketing/Distribution/Sales -- the umbrella over all these parts. Each

works independently through the entirety of production. At every stage, the goal is to produce a story that can be adapted to every possible sustainable medium, to create its own franchise. How is this different from what you might be doing in this moment?

Traditionally stories are envisioned for a single medium. Trans-Media creates a world for stories to live on all five screens, various Print mediums, and what is now called “The Sound Universe. “Incubating your project using psychographics, new marketing research opportunities, and utilizing companies such as Fem, Inc. is essential. Fem, Inc. is a content discovery and recommendation platform highlighting positive, diverse, and empowering stories of female portrayals in popular po entertainment. Their en original research gives ori the “why” behind the current trends. cu Our once fragmented Ou methods of distribume tion are now united tio online to deliver every on type of story in its own typ particular style. pa The need to go deeply Th into every creative enint deavor is fundamental de to our business. We do not have a marketplace no that will value just any tha product brought to pro the market, as perhaps was the case in the later part of the 20 most highly developed, and enjoy the highest level of production --no matter what platform is used for its delivery. We’re a competitive business with niches being reformed on a regular basis. Regardless of the approach, to succeed it takes experience, deep knowledge of cultures, story-to-motion-picture training, professional crafts people, and a truly Global perspective.

This is the 21st century; all things flow; nothing stays. Innovation is our lifeblood; adaptation is the journey....or as Rudyard Kipling once said: “If you can keep your head when all about you others are losing their...”

This is the 21st century; all things flow; nothing stays.

Innovation is our lifeblood; adaptation is the journey...

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www.ciibigpicture.com

Speaker at CII Big Picture Summit M&E Investment Panel

I am looking for founders who are passionate and dreamers with a vision to change the world Rajesh Sawhney, Founder Global Superangels Forum

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SAILING THE RE-INVENTION WAVE

Technology is a key driver of innovation, though not the only one.

In India, we see more of business model innovation, which many people refer to as frugal innovation. But the combination of frugal innovation and technology innovation is potentially lethal. In fact that is the big Indian opportunity, says Rajesh Sawhney, founder of Global Superangels Forum Rajesh is the founder of GSF Accelerator, India’s first multi-city Tech Accelerator, backed by 20 iconic digital founders and 5 leading venture funds from across the world. Rajesh is also the founder of GSF Superangels network and curator of the Global Superangels Forum. He is the cohost and curator of Founders Forum India.

Rajesh has made over 15 investments as an active and engaged angel investor.

Why do you say your current reinvention wave (Startup ecosystem) is the biggest and the most exciting challenge in your career?

Technology is setting a relentless pace of change. Startups are driving this change across the world. They are the new frontiers of innovation. India has a chance to play a big role, but faces enormous challenges: Risk aversion to failure, lack of capital and not thinking big. I am excited to accept this challenge. I am building a startup platform, GSF, that gives opportunities to startups that their counter-parts in the developed world enjoy.

The key objective of Global Superangels Forum (GSF) is to spur innovation and entrepreneurship through

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angel and seed investing. How has this worked and do you see change reflecting in reality? You have made a major effort in bringing mentors in single window?

GSF has funded 25 startups in the last one year. In addition to that, 30 super-smart EIRs (Entrepreneurs in Residence) have also worked with GSF. 250 mentors from across the world are associated with us, out of which 200 are co-founders of VC backed startups.

I am extremely happy with the rapid progress GSF has made as a startup platform. GSF Accelerator Programme is not only the biggest, but also the widest with presence in NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. I am humbled by the response of the startup community and support of my peers through this exciting first year.

What is the blue sky difference between Indian start up culture and what we see in Silicon Valley? Do you see this bridge getting closer?

GSF has a global presence to work with startups.

The biggest difference is the attitude to failure. Most startups fail across the world. Failure is celebrated in the Sili-

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Destruction

Innovation

Startups have almost invariably attacked the inefficiency, the wrath, classification that large behemoth corporates breathe. Destruction is a concept inherent in the concept of renewal. We are destroying something to create new things. When you don’t destroy anything and become static you don’t create opportunities to create new things

Innovation is about a mindset that understands destruction creates opportunities. Think of the destruction of Bell Labs.

It almost founded Silicon Valley. Think of the destruction of Blackberry. It is starting the startup culture in Waterloo again. Think of the destruction of Nokia. Destruction of Nokia alone has given way to a thousand startups in Finland

con Valley. In India, our cultural norms don’t accept failure easily. However, this attitude is changing gradually. I’ve met many young and bright people of late who have left their cushy jobs for a life in startups. This suggests that some of these new young founders are ready to take a plunge without worrying too much about failing.

We have three global tie-ups so far; one with MIT, the second with 500 startups in Silicon Valley and the third with Seedcamp from Europe. These unique tie-ups make us distinct as we are in a position to provide global springboards to our startups.

Bangalore is vibrant and has a technology edge, NCR region around Delhi is driving e-commerce and education startups, Mumbai is slowly emerging as the digital media and Fintech eco-system 46

You have said that there is no reason why Indian entrepreneurs cannot create the next Instagram, or the next Twitter. What makes you so optimistic? For sure it has happened as idea of Twitter stemmed out of a conference.

Absolutely. Internet democratizes the opportunity.

We have both the entrepreneurial and technology talent, though we lack behind the world in Design.

Secondly, we don’t take enough chances and big risks. This world belongs to people who take a different path. There is no future for normal people and normal companies. A spectacular failure is a better option than an ordinary life.

Many also say innovation doesn’t require big technology. Is it correct? What according to you are basic ingredients of today’s startup in India?

Technology is a key driver of innovation, though not the only one. In India, we see more of business model innovation, which many people refer to as frugal innovation. But the combination of frugal innovation and technology innovation is potentially lethal. In fact that is the big Indian opportunity.

When I look at a startup for investment, I am looking for founders who are passionate and dreamers with a vision to change the world. I also respect and backfounders who build great products and have an eye for details. And yes, it helps if they are chasing a big market opportunity.

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Opportunity

Difference

We have a billion plus people on mobile phones. In the next five years, India will have 500 million new mobile phone driven Internet users in the market.

Perhaps, India will be on the only market where 500 million plus people will access Internet only through the mobile. That could create a hotbed of innovation. That’s the biggest India opportunity

This world belongs to people who take a different path. There is no future for normal people and normal companies. A spectacular failure is a better option than an ordinary life

MIT Technology Review has listed Bangalore as among the top innovation clusters. What is your view? You operate in multi-cities of India and also the world.

In India, we have three primary startup eco-systems, each has a different characteristic; Bangalore is vibrant and has a technology edge, NCR region around Delhi is driving so many e-commerce and education startups, Mumbai is slowly emerging as the digital media and Fintech eco-system.

There hasn’t been too much disruptions from Indian startups -- in the digital space? Do you see it coming?

Mobile is the biggest disruptor in the making. It has already changed the way Indians communicate, consume content and do shopping. I am super excited about the rise of smart phones and evolution of 3G and 4G networks. Together, they will bring 500 million new Internet users online in India. That’s huge.

You have pioneered the Time FM, Internet culture, films space and now building start up ecosystem in India.

How do you see this decade different from the past decade?

I believe in disruptions. I like them. I thrive on them. Change is the only constant for me. Future is exciting and I see many many disruptions in the making.

Some of them are extremely transformative and will provide huge opportunity for innovation.

Last decade was equally exciting: it saw the evolution of media industries from small mom and pop businesses to well

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run corporate entities; it saw the evolution of mobile as a transformative change in communication landscape, and finally Indian youth and middle class has changed and evolved as a powerful force. But we ain’t seen nothing yet!

What is more ... availability of money for startups or too many ideas from startups?

Contrary to the popular belief, we don’t have too many startups in India. China has ten times more startups than India.

Even Israel has more startups than India. We need to pick up pace in startup formation.

We also have shortage of Angel and seed money in India. In the US, Angel and seed financing equals venture financing… each is about USD 23B a year. In India, the quantum of seed financing is 1/20 of venture financing. We need more capital to spur innovation at an early stage.

GSF operates without the help of Government and has not sought any support. Is there anything that the government can do to propel growth in startups?

Government has a big role to play in building capacity and infrastructure where startups can thrive. Governments across the world, be it UK, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, China or Singapore have understood the need to build startup cultures. They need startups to rejuvenate their economies, spur innovation and create jobs. In India, Government has lagged behind in its understanding and efforts. I will be happy to work with Governmental agencies.

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Harit Nagpal MD & CEO Tata Sky

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The purpose of any innovation is to improve the experience of the user CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2013

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INNOVATION ON AIR

Innovation Direct to Home Top management has only to create an environment that supports and encourages innovation. The ideas come from people who are closer to the customer, says Harit Nagpal, MD & CEO Tata Sky How innovation propels growth?

Our media consumption habits have gone through a sea change in the last couple of decades, more so in the last 5 years.

The ever improving devices and new mediums that we consume our media through, as well as the kind of media we consume and its interactive nature, has taken media consumption out of the ‘with family’ and ‘in living room’ habit and taken it to the ‘anywhere’ and ‘anyhow’ space. That’s what propelling its growth.

How is innovation deployed at Tata Sky? Our strong desire to keep our customers abreast with the best has led to pioneering work on the HD, DVR, Video on Demand, Catch up TV and ever improving range of interactive services.

There is a need or innovation in policy making process. What do you feel as an industry leader?

The purpose of any innovation is to improve the experience of the user.

Policies of the government impact the way in which we can offer our services.

For example, the current taxes on DTH were set when the subscriber base was small as the platform was niche.

With the current nic penetration and growth pen there is room to reduce the taxes tax from 33 per cent of top line. This will help us lower prices, grow the category even faster and cat result in higher taxes res despite a lower rate of des tax. tax

We listen to the voice of our customers at all levels in the organisation

There is a very little difference between DTH operators. Is Tata Sky having an edge on its interactive, educational channels?

We listen to the voice of our customers at all levels in the organisation. It helps us figure out their needs for new services and the ease with which they are able to use the ones existing. Rest is easy.

Even after digitization, innovation is not visible on ground. Why? I think the first area that the operators, new to the world of digitisation, will innovate in is packages and service.

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What is your view Wh on innovation and leadership? lea Top To management has only to create an environment that supports and encourages innovation. The ideas come from people who are closer to the customer.

How does Tata Sky rewards innovation in the organisation?

It is done by quickly implementing the ideas that are aimed at improving customer experience.

Nothing encourages the owner of an idea than to see it being implemented by the company and adopted by the customers.

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POWER 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL IN INDIAN MEDIA AND SHOWBIZ. WATCH OUT FOR PICKLE NOVEMBER AFM ISSUE. Pickle’s goal is to help you buy, sell and distribute content from overseas territories, find co-production partners, offshore with best of the Indian service companies and track media and entertainment business in India.

INDIA AND BEYOND 50

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Cameron Bailey Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival.

I am very optimistic about the future of cinema. Nothing can replace that. In-cinema experience is unparallel 52

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TIFF AND INNOVATION

What began as a ten-day film festival has grown to embrace programming 365 days a year, says Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival Our biggest innovation recently is building TIFF Bell Light Box at our home in Toronto -- 5 public cinemas, 2 galleries, 3 learning studios, a centre for students and scholars, a bistro, a restaurant, and a lounge What’s your take on innovation in the film space?

Innovation is happening considerably.

For me the most interesting and striking about innovation is that the business and filmmaking art is becoming more global.

We are seeing companies like UTV and Disney tie up, Reliance Entertainment Dreamworks venture, filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap working internationally among many others.

The entire global film industry is open to each others’ viewpoint. Our success will lie on how well we can work together in cross borders. The days of localised parochial film industries are over or should be over soon. The future for all of us lie in all of us working together.

Do you think a film made for a local audience can have a global reach?

It absolutely can have a global reach. In fact, the strengths that can come from the local film are the textures, the local knowledge, the understanding of local communities. All of these will be very important. But in terms of how these

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films get out into the world is important to work with creative team that comes from different parts of the world -- may be the cinematographer, editor or the script doctor, the distributor will be in different parts of the world -- all these voices can amplify the local voice.

Creation of TIFF Bell Light Box is also considered an innovation...

What began as a ten-day film festival has grown to embrace programming 365 days a year. Our biggest innovation recently is building TIFF Bell Light Box at our home in Toronto -- visitors gather in a three-storey public atrium, 5 public cinemas, 2 galleries, 3 learning studios, a centre for students and scholars, a bistro, a restaurant, and a lounge. It brought us into year round programming. It gave us a reach beyond a theatrical film, we are working with museums internationally, we are creating shows like David Cronenberg exhibition. This will expand the view of what cinema can do -- not just a theatre which cannot go beyond that. This is the innovation we brought recently at TIFF which

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“

The days of localised parochial film industries are over or should be over soon. The future for all of us lie in all of us working together

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offers screenings, lectures, discussions, festivals, workshops, industry support and the chance to meet filmmakers from Canada and around the world.

We tried to plan our long time programming strategy quite carefully.

Now that we have got larger resources, we have to use them wisely. We did our thinking and planning, on how to best use our resources, the programming that we wanted to do in the next five years.

One of the things which is important to us is investing more in the Asian film industry. We try to integrate things as much as possible so that they can strengthen the impact that they have.

How do you see the film space in India and China. You had been to Mumbai and Beijing to discover films for this years’ Toronto International Film Festival?

What I found in Mumbai is the effect of the independent filmmakers who have been doing such strong work in the last several years. Independent filmmakers are making some exciting and challenging work and they are also influencing the commercial filmmakers.

I will say that there is a real surge of talent, writers, actors, directors and craft people working in India. For me the big problem is getting the film in front of Indian audiences. The cinemas are occupied by commercial films only.

I would like to see these diverse films screened in big cities and available to

Indian audiences.

Chinese audiences are growing by leaps and bounds. Hundreds of cinemas are built every year. What is baffling is the Chinese filmmakers are now making huge blockbuster hits in the Chinese market. Films make $200 million within mainland China. It is a huge driving industry. It is going to grow. It may well go past US in a very short time to become the world’s biggest film market. The rest of the world needs to pay attention to that.

We started Asian Film Summit which was a gathering of film industry leaders from Asia and the West. better understand each other, make better connections, build relationship and new biz between the two hemispheres. What happens in China and what used to happen in India earlier -- Indian industry investing in Hollywood and dynamism in India. We should all pay attention to.

Will films continue to be screened in cinemas for a theatre audience?

I am very optimistic about the future of cinema. Nothing can replace that.

In-cinema experience is unparallel.

Technology has changed and films are made available in so many ways. I find it something special watching a film in a cinema with an audience and group of people rather than your own with headphones on. It is a very different experience. There is something social about a movie.

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Pickle Handbook 2013 Copyright 2013 by Pickle Media Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Pickle is an ad supported business guide tracking the filmed entertainment business in India. This is a curtain raiser issue for CII Big Picture Summit 2013.

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