pickle march 2014

53
CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF www.picklemag.com The iconic FICCI FRAMES 2014, in its 15th year, in keeping with the mood of India as she goes to polls, aims to celebrate the immense transformational potential of the Media & Entertainment Sector. A look at the rapid changes that are happening now... March 2014 MANAGEMENT LESSONS FROM KAMAL HAASAN

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Here's Pickle March 2014 edition on the occasion of 15th anniversary of FICCI FRAMES, Mumbai. In this issue we have M&E insights from Jehil Thakar, Head, Media & Entertainment Sector, KPMG in India; Management Lessons from Kamal Hassan; influence of Big Data Analytics -- Interview with Ranjit Nair, CEO, Germin8 and desired disruptions from M&E industry veterans.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Pickle March 2014

11 770 participants

1 920

buyers

400 exhibi

tors

1 460 screenings

Regist

er onl

ine

www.ma

rchedu

film.c

om

Bro

nx (P

aris

) ww

w.br

onx.

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AIMHIGHERMAY 14 - 23, 2014

MDF_2014_AP_PICKEL_130x250.indd 1 16/01/14 15:21

CELEBRATING15 YEARS OF

www.picklemag.com

The iconic FICCI FRAMES 2014, in its 15th year, in keeping with the mood of India as she goes to polls, aims to celebrate the immense transformational potential of the Media & Entertainment Sector. A look at the rapid changes that are happening now...

March 2014

MANAGEMENT LESSONS FROM KAMAL HAASAN

March_2014_Cover.indd 1March_2014_Cover.indd 1 10-03-2014 14:32:1210-03-2014 14:32:12

Page 2: Pickle March 2014

MIFA11 - 13 June 2014

The leading

animation film event

ANNECY 9-14June2014

7,100 delegates

80 countries

2,000 companies

340 buyers,

distributors and

investors

CO-PRODUCE

FINANCE

BUY

DISTRIBUTE

NETWORK

PITCH

RECRUIT

DEVELOP

DISCOVER

FestivalMifa

Conferences

The world’s top market for the animation film industry

Where creativity turns into business

www.annecy.org

March_2014_Cover.indd 2March_2014_Cover.indd 2 10-03-2014 14:32:1310-03-2014 14:32:13

Page 3: Pickle March 2014

Conferences: April 5–10, 2014 | Exhibits: April 7–10

Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada USA

The advances at play in media and entertainment have created unprecedented

opportunity for you to deliver innovation to the connected consumer. The

digital insight you need to accomplish your goals — and play to win — is here.

Global to mobile, live to archive, sound and picture — from previs to post, big

data or small market, NAB Show® is your channel. And this is your opportunity.

Join Us! #nabshow | www.nabshow.com

FREE Exhibits-only

Pass code PA02.

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 1 10-03-2014 16:20:02

Page 4: Pickle March 2014

11 770 participants

1 920

buyers

400 exhibi

tors

1 460 screenings

Regist

er onl

ine

www.ma

rchedu

film.c

om

Bro

nx (P

aris

) ww

w.br

onx.

fr

AIMHIGHERMAY 14 - 23, 2014

MDF_2014_AP_PICKEL_130x250.indd 1 16/01/14 15:21

CELEBRATING15 YEARS OF

www.picklemag.com

The iconic FICCI FRAMES 2014, in its 15th year, in keeping with the mood of India as she goes to polls, aims to celebrate the immense transformational potential of the Media & Entertainment Sector. A look at the rapid changes that are happening now...

March 2014

MANAGEMENT LESSONS FROM KAMAL HAASAN

March_2014_Cover.indd 1March_2014_Cover.indd 1 10-03-2014 14:32:1210-03-2014 14:32:12

Page 5: Pickle March 2014

MIFA11 - 13 June 2014

The leading

animation film event

ANNECY 9-14June2014

7,100 delegates

80 countries

2,000 companies

340 buyers,

distributors and

investors

CO-PRODUCE

FINANCE

BUY

DISTRIBUTE

NETWORK

PITCH

RECRUIT

DEVELOP

DISCOVER

FestivalMifa

Conferences

The world’s top market for the animation film industry

Where creativity turns into business

www.annecy.org

March_2014_Cover.indd 2March_2014_Cover.indd 2 10-03-2014 14:32:1310-03-2014 14:32:13

Page 6: Pickle March 2014

www.picklemag.in2 pickle entertainment biz guide LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

FR

OM

TH

E E

DIT

OR

’S D

ES

K

We are delighted to present this latest issue of Pickle on the occasion of 15th anniversary

of FICCI FRAMES. Undoubtedly, this is one of the fi nest Media & Entertainment conference and the best networking event in India. It is the best place to refresh and tune in to what is trending in the media business. You get clarity, solution and answers to anything on the media and entertainment landscape in India.FICCI FRAMES is also one of the biggest infl uencers both in terms of regulatory interventions from the government’s side and to bring a process and structure to the chaotic M&E sector. FICCI has come out with a set of issues, which require the immediate attention of political parties.During the three magical days of FRAMES, the venue of the event turns into a vibrant, pulsating and colourful marketplace showcasing products and services of leading media and entertainment companies. We have captured insights from some of the brightest of the media and entertainment minds in this issue of Pickle. As India heads up for general elections, Jehil

Thakar, Head, Media & Entertainment Sector, KPMG in India, in his interview says the industry looks forward to pick up growth in the next twelve months, but it may not be signifi cant unless there is a surprise and a clear majority government.Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore Professor for Corporate Strategy and Policy Dr S Raghunath, who tracks Kamal Haasan’s work closely, says the actor, screenwriter, director and producer is an important commercial force in Indian cinema and that his vision for the future of feature fi lm business can demolish any opposition that gets into his innovative ways of creating, producing and distributing feature fi lms, and professionalizing the entertainment industry. We also have deep insights from Ranjit Nair, CEO, Germin8 on the infl uence of analytics in decision making and how it can be effectively deployed by the Indian M&E sector.Our forthcoming April issue is focused on MIPTV and NAB SHOW and May issue will be dedicated to Cannes Film Festival and Market. Feel free to email your thoughts and suggestions.

n vidyasagarpickle [email protected], www.picklemag.com

Pickle Volume VII 8th edition

Published by Pickle Media Private LimitedEmail: [email protected]● Mumbai ● ChennaiNo.2, Habib Complex Dr Durgabhai Deshmukh RoadRA Puram CHENNAI 600 028

Editorial Coordinators :

M SaiEmail: [email protected]

For advertising: [email protected]

Pickle Handbook 2014 Copyright 2014 byPickle Media Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.Pickle is an ad supported business guide tracking the fi lmed entertainment business in India.

Layout Design: M Agnes JulieConsulting Photo Editor: K K LaskarC

www.picklemag.in2 pickle entertainment biz guide LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 2 10-03-2014 16:20:02

Page 7: Pickle March 2014

www.picklemag.in

A U G U S T 2 0 1 0

CHANGING MEDIA EXPERIENCECHANGING MEDIA EXPERIENCE

21TAKEAWAYSFROM THE

CII DIGITAL MEDIACONFERENCE

100

FILM BUYS FROM INDIA @ AMERICAN FILM MARKETNOVEMBER 2010

www.picklemag.in

100Most

Influential InIndian Showbiz

POWER LIST

www.picklemag.in

B E S T B U Y S F R O M I N D I A @ M I P C O M

MIP JUNIOROCT 2-3, 2010

MIPCOMOCT 4-8, 2010

CANNES

www.picklemag.in

I N D I A @ K I D S C R E E N S U M M I T N E W Y O R KFebruary 2012

in Turn Page

Experience

For subscription email [email protected]

INDIAN ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS GUIDE

June_2012.indd 1 5/19/2012 1:54:17 PM

INDIAN ENTERTAINMENT BIZ GUIDE

www.picklemag.com

MIPCOM CANNES 2013

OCTOBER 2013

October_2013_Cover.indd 1 28-09-2013 14:21:03

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 3 10-03-2014 16:20:02

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THE THEME OF 15TH ANNIVERSARY ING LIVES” IN KEEPING WITH

CATALYST FOR SOCIAL

CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 4 10-03-2014 16:20:03

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OF FICCI FRAMES IS “TRANSFORM THE M&E’S INTEGRAL ROLE AS A & ECONOMIC CHANGE

FRAMES

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 5 10-03-2014 16:20:06

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15 YEARS OF GROWTH

The Indian Media and Entertain-ment (M&E) Industry, as it crosses new frontiers, is poised to grow

in an inimitable way: massive digital growth, quite unique, considering that alongside the new media, traditional media is also fl ourishing. However, for this transition process to be complete, an enabling regulatory infrastructure and forward-looking policy reforms that support fi nancing, technological and skilling needs of the industry are the need of the hour. For one-and-a-half decades, FICCI has been championing M&E sector -- from the time it got “industry status” to this fast-growing sector, the fl agship three-day annual conclave FICCI FRAMES has become a boardroom discussion for the industry on moving forward.The theme of FICCI FRAMES 2014, the landmark 15th chapter of the historic path-breaking convention is Media and Entertainment: Transforming Lives, highlighting the role of media and en-tertainment as the catalyst for social and economic change for a nation and the moral conscience of a democracy like ours. Through the last fi fteen years, FICCI has been instrumental in bringing about sev-eral policy changes through consistent dialogue with the policy-makers and the stakeholders.

For an INR 920 billion M&E industry that epitomizes India’s soft power, the opportunity to spur its growth is now. This is how the industry has almost a multiplier impact on the economy,■ Massive Digitalization, which is un-

derway, if implemented to the last mile, will fetch tax revenue to the tune of USD one billion per annum to the government coffers.

■ The M&E sector has the potential to engage a 1.2 billion consumers and create a value proposition that could be easily termed as new source of economic and social wealth.

■ An enabling regulatory infrastruc-ture and policy reforms if imple-mented, would result in a world class entertainment economy for India which is estimated to generate 10 million new jobs. That too without much burden on the exchequer.

Stakes are high, no doubt, but do-able. FICCI FRAMES has brought together different stakeholders and a consensus on specifi c steps in order to redefi ne and accelerate the strides taken by the Indian M&E Sector in the global arena,

■ Policy and regulatory initiatives top the list of prerequisites to sustain the growth of the M&E industry. Al-though, Indian M&E companies have shown an admirable commitment to

For one-and-a-half decades, FICCI has been championing M&E sector -- from the time it got “industry status” to this fast-growing sector, the fl agship three-day annual conclave FICCI FRAMES has become a boardroom discussion for the industry on moving forward, says Sidharth Birla, President, FICCI

FICCI FRAMES 2014

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 6 10-03-2014 16:20:12

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Through the last fi fteen years, FICCI has been instrumental in bringing about several policy changes through consistent dialogue with the policy-makers and the stakeholders

Sidharth Birla, President, FICCI

entertain the Indian audience as well as the Indian Diaspora with a com-pelling content, there is more to this industry than glamour and glitz. The M&E industry is keen to ensure that efforts do not stop at just securing industry status; the aspiration is to bring about a fundamental change in the mind-set so that industry is treat-ed on par with other sectors be it for fi nancing, taxation, mergers and ac-quisition, technology upgradation or skilling of the work-force it employs.

■ Both in business and creative terms, the Indian M&E sector remains smaller than it should be in a country of 1.2 billion people. India’s share is less than 2% of the global pie of the M&E sector which stands at around USD 2 trillion. Countries such as Canada, Korea, Philippines and In-donesia offer incentives and tax ben-efi ts to M&E industry. It does appear that Indian industry is disadvan-taged viz-a-viz countries where such policy support is more forthcoming. What the industry seeks, therefore, is an enabling and rationalized tax en-vironment, especially in select sub-segments of the M&E sector, such as slashing the high import duty on set-top boxes and trim entertainment tax.

■ Within the M&E sector, all stakehold-ers have to look for common ground, arrive at a consensus on formidable

challenges that confront the industry and present a united vision on way forward. Such engagement within the industry as well as with policy makers would go a long way in en-abling the sector fulfi ll the potential to provide inclusive growth, employ-ment and wealth generation.

Our young demographics provide an added advantage to innovate. Time has come to support the industry with right incentives, so that the industry could leverage not only the rapidly changing technology but continue to upgrade the capabilities of its workforce or even re-skill the 10 million people it employs. As per FICCI’s projections, M&E indus-try is capable of creating employment and wealth much faster than most other sectors. The industry has the ability to be a force multiplier and this is of par-ticular signifi cance to India. Here’s an industry that could be an employment generator without massive public in-vestments. This is also where public-private partnership is the way forward, especially to train manpower to meet the growing skill demand in the fi elds of digitization, fi lms, animation, gaming, visual effects, content developer, new technologies, lighting or scriptwriting. The M&E industry is truly a global in-dustry, targeting over a billion consum-ers and employing millions. Time has come to give this industry its due recog-nition.

Everything you need as a film professional is here, re-introduce

yourself to cinando.comPowered by theFestival de Cannes

with the support of:

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 7 10-03-2014 16:20:12

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15YEA

The Indian media and entertain-ment industry is in the cusp of

a change just as FICCI FRAMES celebrates its fi fteenth anniversary.

FICCI FRAMES has evolved into a multi-faceted convention, covering

the entire gamut of Media & Enter-tainment and for the industry, it has

emerged as the most defi nitive platform to debate in and network at

We are into the 15th edition of FICCI FRAMES. It is time for us to remember Yashji who had played a pivotal role in building Media and Entertainment as a cohe-sive community with a clear identity, and made FICCI FRAMES its most distinguished platform.My goal and objective will be to work with you all to further reinforce this community and accelerate the growth of the industry.

Uday Shankar Chairman FICCI Media

& Entertainment

Committee and CEO,

Star India

FICCI has been a consistent partner for the broadcast industry in our efforts towards digitization to guarantee greater transparency and consolida-tion of the sector. FICCI FRAMES is one of the most effective platforms for the industry to come together and brainstorm on the way for-ward.

Vikram Chandra Group CEO, NDTV

What FICCI FRAMES does to the industry is to voice its concerns, chart a route for the voy-age ahead and give an inkling of what is to come tomorrow.

Kamal Hassan Chairman, FICCI

MEBC, South

Thank you FICCI for having us here. It is great to be here in Mumbai. I and my wife (Deborra-Lee Furness) have longed to come to India so we are thrilled to be here. It’s a great country. People are incredible. The colours, the sounds, the history, the spirituality, everything that India is made of, inspire me and my wife.

I will defi nitely be coming back.

Hugh Jackman Actor

FICCI FRAMES con-tinues to bring about relevant people, have discussions on topics about the change that is happening around us. I feel that it’s a won-derful forum, and with each year the fo-

rum keeps on growing. Yes, FICCI FRAMES is getting better and better each year.

Neeraj Roy MD, Hungama Digital

Entertainment

FICCI F

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 8 10-03-2014 16:20:12

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5ARS

Karan JoharChair, FICCI FRAMES

The popularity of FICCI FRAMES has been growing year on year. FRAMES has attracted a large number of delegates from around the world, stands testimony to the event’s increasing importance

Late YASH CHOPRAChairman

FICCI Entertainment Committee

Tessa JowellMP, Former Secretary

of State for Culture,

Media & Sports, UK

Amit MitraFormer Secretary

General, FICCI

Daniel GlickmanFormer President,

Motion Picture

Association of

America (MPA)

Andy BirdPresident, Walt Disney

International

We at FICCI would like to dedicate FICCI FRAMES 2014 to the memory of Yash Chopra, who was part of the founding team of FRAMES and our chairman for over a decade. Yash Chopra was the heart and soul of FICCI. Not just today, but he will be missed for years to come. You were responsible for FICCI’s presence in the M&E sector, the policy changes that we have been able to steer for the industry have been due to your vision and immense commitment to the industry & FICCI.

RAMES FICCI FRAMES grew along with the Indian Me-dia & Entertainment sector and is now fi rmly entrenched as an event which is for, of and by the industry. It is Asia’s largest convention on the business of entertain-ment.

I was honoured and most

pleased to participate in

your FRAMES business

and entertainment con-

ference, Hollywood and

Bollywood share the

same inspiration: we

make the magic of the

movies. It was a real

pleasure for me to

speak about those

challenges and opportunities and

to learn about the strength of the

Indian movie industry.

Conferences like FRAMES are absolutely vital. They are like one Stop Shop, a Gi-ant Hyper Market for Indian Entertainment Sector.... I’ll be back!!

This wasn’t the fi rst time I’ve been to India, or indeed FRAMES. It goes without saying that India is a terrifi c place to do business and is being recognised on a global scale for its innovation and fast paced industry growth. It is always a pleasure to speak at FRAMES. The festival is highly regarded and attended by an impressive array of delegates from across the world.

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SHABNAMAGENDA FOR FUTURE

FICCI WISHLIST

COPYRIGHT ISSUES

As India moves into knowledge based economy; a strong Intel-lectual Property regime that provides adequate safeguards to the holder of copyright becomes increasingly important.

SIMPLIFIED POLICY REGIME

Entry norms need to be simplifi ed by introducing a transparent and time bound process for registration and licensing of new channels. The Government should do away with their policy of fi xing prices of chan-nels. Market forces should determine channel pricing. People should be giv-en the freedom to choose what they want to see and at the price they want to pay for the same.

RADIO REFORMS

The industry has been looking forward for reforms in the radio space. The tenure of Phase II licenses should be increased to 15 years upon migration. Also, no Migration fees should be charged. The reserve Price for Phase III should be determined as an average of all bids in a particular category of city. Al-low private news in FM radio channels.

BUSINESS FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT

Creating a business friendly environment is vital for the stable growth of the industry and battle slowdown. Various tax issues need to be revisited. The mindset in the government (especially the fi nance ministry) has to change in looking media and entertainment sector as a growth sector and not just with glamour quotient.

DIGITIZATION

The ongoing Cable TV digitization has to be executed across the country. Effective imple-mentation of DAS in the given timelines is critical for the industry; The Ministry of In-formation and Broadcasting has declared De-cember 31, 2014 as the sunset date for analogue cable TV. FDI should be brought under the “automatic route” both for content and distri-bution up to 100% (excluding news which may have security concerns). Also, steps should be taken towards reduction in Carriage Fees.

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INNOVATION

An environment should be creat-ed which encourages new / inde-pendent players to come up with differentiated and segmented content. The Government should promote innovation in the area of content development. This shall provide lot of job opportunities to young and creative people, provide business opportunities, increase revenues for the Government and lead to stupendous growth.

DD KIDS’ CHANNEL

To boost the demand for kids and animation content for TV broad-casting, the national broadcaster Doordarshan should start a 24x7 Kids channel. Also, each local DD Kendra should allocate a few slots everyday for kids content. This will create the demand for local kid’s content. And compulsorily 15% of the content produced for kids channel by broadcasters should be locally produced in India .

ANTI-PIRACY INITIATIVESPro-active policy initiatives are needed to do away with piracy. The size of the pirated content industry is approximately 38 % of the size of the Indian Media and Entertainment Industry and 55% of the size of the Indian fi lm industry. Losses on account of piracy for the year 2012 have been estimated to cost the fi lm industry around USD 1.1 billion which is equivalent to INR 6,050 crore. Piracy continues to cripple the industry and thus effective anti-piracy laws and their enforcement should be imposed by the Government.

ANIMATION AND VFXEven today there is a policy problem. If you make an animation fi lm with domestic content and sell it in the domestic market you are taxed. Whereas if you do it for somebody outside and send it as an export there is no tax. This is prev-alent in other sectors also, but this need a re-look. Government intervention is required to out-pace global competitors and overcome in-ternal challenges like longer gestation, higher cost, lack of funding, higher import duties, lack of trained man power, attractive studio set-up offers from foreign countries.

GST & DIRECT TAX CODE

Introduce GST and the Direct Tax Code and simplify the existing clutter of taxes and tax administration thereby allowing industry to plan better knowing the system will remain stable for the foreseeable future. GST needs to be introduced quickly and all indirect taxes brought under its ambit so that input credit can be availed of and the cascading impact of indirect taxes mitigated. Steps should be taken to subsume all local body entertainment tax into the GST levy, so as to ensure seamless value chain till the consumers’ end.

Media & Entertainment should not be looked at as only glamour which needs to be taxed regressively but as a growth engine that needs nurturing

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GEARING UP FOR

CHANGE

How has the Indian M&E Sector fared in the last twelve months?India indeed had a tough 2013 with GDP growth plum-meting below 5%. The Indian M&E sector performed slightly below the projected growth at about 12%. But given the state of the economy this was not bad. Spends on advertising were good for the fi rst half of the year but lagged in the second half. Even the festive season did not provide much of a boost. The saving graces were regional print, circulation revenue, digital media and some increases in TV subscription revenue.

What’s the growth expected in the next twelve months for the M&E Sector?In the next twelve months, we do expect growth to pick up slightly but not signifi cantly unless there is a sur-prise and a clear majority government. A lot of spend-ing had been held back because of political uncertainty and hopefully that will come back post elections. The elections and IPL will provide some buffer in the fi rst half of the year for advertising but overall the economy is likely to remain soft.

If you can list four or fi ve major game changers for the industry in recent times, what are they? Will these help the industry in medium term?There were a few game changers and the digitisation of the cable industry was the biggest of them all. The seed-ing of set-top boxes has been largely completed in Phase I and II cities. However, the packaging of channels and the follow on ARPU increases are yet to take place. This

As India heads up for general elections, Jehil Thakar, Head, Media & Entertainment Sector, KPMG in India, says the industry looks forward to pick up growth in the next twelve months, but it may not be signi cant unless there is a surprise and a clear majority government

KPMG INSIGHTS

Jehil Thakar, Head, Media & Entertainment Sector, KPMG in India

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 12 10-03-2014 16:20:16

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In an

increasingly

digitized media

world, the

ability to create

compelling

and targeted

content across

multiple

channels, will

be the bedrock

for creating

differentiation

in a cluttered

market

Treaties for animation

companies

The fi lm industry

recorded a double

digit growth in 2013,

but slower than in

2012

The print media sector

grew at a CAGR of 8.5

per cent this year to

reach INR 243 billion

Internet user

base grew to

214 million

Digital media advertising in India grew

faster than any other advertising category

130 million

online users

via mobile

devices

If there is a

weak coalition

government,

political

uncertainly

will persist

and inhibit the

growth of the

M&E industry

Election spending will

certainly give a boost

to news companies ,

both in print and TV

Almost all the cinema

theatre screens in

the country are now

digitized

TV and Print will

continue to dominate as

the #1 and #2 mediums

Logistics and funding

for successful

digitization

Viable digital

monetization models

and off deck solutions

for print and new media

Robust measurement

systems for radio and

online platforms

What the M&E Industry Still Needs to do

What will Boost the M&E Industry

■ Revise the TV rate structure

■ Implement Radio Phase III and associated

regulations including news deregulation

for radio

■ Provide incentives for production and

animation

■ Relook at the wage board recommenda-

tions for the print sector

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 13 10-03-2014 16:20:16

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will happen in time. The other game changer over the last 2-3 years has been the spread of digital screens. Almost all the screens in the country are now digi-tized. Cost of physical prints is now his-tory and this infrastructure also enables the release of movies in 3,000 plus screens or on select screens based on demograph-ics. This has improved industry econom-ics dramatically. Another one is the rise of digital media. Digital advertising has been growing north of 35% for 3-4 years and has now surpassed radio in terms of spend. The B2B revenue also is likely to be a driver for content owners now that the telcos are focused on driving revenue from data services. Of course, entertain-ment content is one of the key levers to drive data revenue.

Will there be gains in advertising profi ts for TV because of elections? There is also IPL this summer?There certainly will be gains. IPL, of course, is already built into media bud-gets and revenue projections. Election spending will certainly give a boost to news companies -- both in print and TV. The election spending that occurred in 4 states that held elections in the last few months has certainly helped the publica-tions in those areas. We will see a similar boost across the country

Last year, you listed fi ve potential risks that can derail growth-- imple-mentation risks in cable TV digitiza-tion, further delay in phase III roll-out, unsuccessful implementation of 4G, lack of necessary incentives and policy support by government and continued low rate of economic growth. Except partial implementa-tion in digitization, risks continue to exist. How will this impact the indus-try going forward?Yes, these risks continue to exist. TV dig-itization is still a risk if the back ends at MSOs are not implemented and packag-ing does not translate to higher ARPUs. Phase III is still an issue and will obvi-ously now only get looked at by the new government, the wide roll out of 4G is still awaited although better implementation of 3G and stress on data revenue by the telcos is helping, low economic growth is certainly a challenge as is political un-certainty. Low growth is proportional to ad spends and unless GDP growth picks up, we will see ad spends remain muted. If there is a weak coalition government, political uncertainly will persist and in-hibit the growth of the M&E industry. Regulation – delayed too much, too little and too inconsistent in some cases re-mains an issue. What we need is a broad, overarching and long term policy that is adhered to.

What are the immediate needs of the industry? Where does the challenge lie? Is it in taxes levied by govern-ment or lack of innovation/strategies by companies?It’s both. Taxes like entertainment tax, issues around service tax, are certainly bigger issue. However, many companies have been too comfortable for too long doing business in a way that was incon-sistent with an evolving and maturing market as well as consumer demands. These companies, unless they change and implement processes, technology and best practices, will be consigned to the ‘has-been’ heap in a few years.

From an overall perspective, do you think the media and entertainment sector is over taxed compared to de-veloping countries in the world?It’s not about over taxation – of which there is some – but about inconsistent implementation of rules. If there was consistency and predictability across the country, the industry can plan and take long term decisions

Between TV and fi lms which is more exciting from the perspective of re-turns?Both are exciting businesses in India. TV broadcasting is on a maturation journey with HD, niche channels, higher ARPUs and a wider range of channels. In fi lms, bigger budgets, broader releases and the audience’s acceptance of a wider range of fi lms are all good developments. In-dia is also heavily under screened with a lot of headroom for growth, although in short-term screen additions will slow be-cause of slow growth in commercial real estate development.

What actually brings growth to the overall fi lm sector? Not more than 20 fi lms succeed in 275 odd Hindi fi lms that get released every year or 60 to 75 fi lms from the 1,000 fi lms that we produce. Should we make lesser num-ber of fi lms to achieve more growth?Rather than fewer fi lms we need more screens so that a broader audience can be addressed. Growth will come from more screens and broadening the revenue base. India is still highly dependent on box of-fi ce – almost 70% of the fi lm industry’s revenue comes from domestic box offi ce. We need to develop more revenue sources like home video, merchandizing, other foreign markets and digital.

Do you think the gains in digital me-dia are visible today for companies who have adapted to digital deploy-ment?They certainly are. Digital advertising is growing over 35%. The digital sector is

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still dependent on advertising. Moneti-zation of digital media is still an issue. We will have to experiment and come up with some unique ‘India’ models that are innovative. So far, subscription revenue models have not caught on and the down-load model is only a small niche. Share of data revenue, B2B, etc are some of the others that are driving revenue

Is it a setback that we have not gone in for Phase III radio auctioning of new stations as the government had been planning in recent years?It indeed is. The industry has been await-ing Phase III for a while and has been dis-appointed repeatedly. In addition to the auctions, there are also regulations that need to be revised including the regula-tions on news, networking, ownership of multiple stations, etc.

Animation as a domestic industry is dead. Many companies have closed down. What do you think will boost the sector?

Animation has certainly been hit, but I would not say its dead. It has been in-creasingly fragmented. There are many small animation companies that have sprung up in small towns that are doing outsourced work for larger companies or locally. Production treaties will certainly help – we need many more and an incen-tive structure that allows Indian anima-tion to compete with the likes of Malay-sia and the Philippines. The talent pool is certainly there.

What would you prescribe for M&E companies to focus in the next six to eight months?Completion of the digitization process by aggressively implementing packaging, etc; start looking at outbound opportu-nities as there are fast growing markets outside of India that Indian companies can do well in; effectively monetizing dig-ital, cost effi ciencies and process imple-mentation; and look at whether you have the right talent in your organization to deal with an evolving industry.

Everything you need as a film professional is here, re-introduce

yourself to cinando.comPowered by theFestival de Cannes

with the support of:

2013 was a year in which many parts of the M&E industry paused and took stock. Focus shifted from top line growth to bottom line growth with companies focusing on operations and ef ciency. Inspite of a very challenging macro environment, the industry grew 12%, a far better performance than many other industries

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DESIRED

The only disruption I would like

is that we reduce the number of

fi lms we produce, the number

of hours of TV programming and

the number of TV channels we

have by 30%. Like for a tree to

bloom and grow we have to prune

its branches we need a trimmer

M&E Industry. This will remove a

lot of the trashy stuff and make it

healthier Industry. Everyone in the

value chain will benefi t. The pur-

chasing power of the consumers

does not warranty the present vol-

umes. For exponential growth this

disruption is most needed. And for

this I am against any government

intervention.

Amit Khanna

Filmmaker, Writer,

Media Industry Veteran

A holistic shift towards a con-

sumer-based business model

is the disruption that could fun-

damentally transform the Indian

M&E sector. This would require 3

things to happen:

1. Freedom of choice for the

consumer to choose from

a wide array of content and

platforms

2. Free-market that allows for

pricing fl exibility, fair competi-

tion and a level playing fi eld

3. Transparency and sanctity of

consumer data across media

to aid decision making.

Sudhanshu Vats

Group CEO,

Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd.

The major disruption that is driv-

ing growth in the Indian M&E seg-

ment is Distribution via Digitisation

of content. This transformation of

content from analog to digital is

about to create exponential value

for content owners and creators.

This emerging new dimension

of digital disruption is driving

content strategy as creators and

IP owners create content specifi -

cally suited for digital platforms

with ease of access, low cost

of production and enhanced

margins. The classic models that

are emerging are the freemium/

service based products vs. the

purchased ones such as home

video, VOD/SVOD or theatricals.

We will see digitalized technolo-

gies deliver greater value with

more effectiveness in the content

ecosystem.

Tapaas Chakravarti

Chairman & CEO,

DQ Entertainment

International

DISRUP

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TIONSIn my view, 2014 election is go-

ing to change the perception of

how the media will be consumed

in this country. The people are

not only going to experience the

traditional forms of print and

broadcasting medium, but also

a personalized form of com-

munication and opinion making

through social mediums like

Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp.

This will be the fi rst time ever

in the history of India that the

power of accessibility of social

media would play a decisive

role. For sure the results of

2014 elections will have a great

impact from social media power

play. The online and mobile

devices are redefi ning the 24X7

media consumption patterns &

are going to emerge as a game

changer for future India from

now on.

Ashish S K

Co-Chairman,

AVGC Forum, FICCI

The digital transformation of the

M&E industry should lead to more

targeted and engaging content in

the medium term. I also see an

increased need to provide 360

degree solutions to advertisers

and provide multiple platforms to

reach out to consumers wher-

ever they are. 4G-technology will

enable greater uptake in services

including Live TV, HD video/ audio

streaming, real time online gam-

ing, high speed data downloads

and uploads and could enable

introduction of new innovative

offerings. I hope to see an aggres-

sive rollout of this technology by

the telcos. E-commerce players;

content providers; tech companies

and intermediaries will continue

to disrupt and innovate to cater

to opportunities offered by the

(smart) mobile internet generation.

Dr S. Raghunath

Dean (Admin) & Professor

Corporate Strategy and

Policy, IIM Bangalore

Technology would be the big-

gest game changer in the M&E

space. This would make many

jobs in the industry redun-

dant -set making, visuals etc

-would be led by graphics, and

introduce a new set of skill sets

that would enable many even

if they do not have the talent

to participate in the industry

particularly in the stunt, and

singing category. Going forward

the half-life of skills is going

to reduce exponentially and

therefore persons in this industry

would need to be retrained

periodically.

Dilip Chenoy

CEO & MD

National Skill Development

Corporation

Pickle asked industry veterans on disruption(s) that they would want to happen in Indian M&E sector. This is what they said

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1) Modes & Means of Content Access: DAS coupled with the growing reach of the Digital media driven by technology, will throw wide open how, when and were content is accessed & consumed. On the go consumption is going to grow exponentially, and hence content formats itself will undergo a revolu-tion. Customized content will start dominating the space and the media players which are prepared and up to speed with this phenomenon, will be able to successfully migrate to the next phase of industry growth.

2) Viewership Measurement in the country is set to undergo a complete overhaul. With the Cabinet now setting very clear norms for the TV ratings agencies and the measurement of viewership, and with BARC set to roll this year, the TV industry is hopefully set to witness an era of accurate representation of the actual viewership on ground. With an increased sample size, ( I hope they move to rural only when the current sample size crosses 25,000 households,) a more technically robust and a transpar-ent system to be in place, the industry will hope for speed and accuracy. . While one would expect that the stacking of channels within the larger genres not to change drastically, the biggest gainers is expected to be the niche players who will now be better represented in the sample thus ensuring a much more stable representation of their viewership

Raj NayakCEO, Colors

Century of Disruption21st century will be “a century of disruption”. “When I think of the newspaper industry today, and the transition that has taken place from Gutenberg to Google, I know the status quo is being disrupted yet again. This is the hard reality of living in a global economy.”

“The most revolutionary disruption in the last decade has been the stunning growth of mobile communications,” giving us “access to knowledge almost anywhere in the world -- instantly and at an affordable price.

“That is a huge leap for an industry that once had to rely on trucks and news agents alone to deliver news to readers,” he said of the changes that have shaped News Corp over more than five decades.

“The disruptive forces in the world economy today are as relentless as they are remorseless. But once we embrace that reality, we can make sure they are rewarding.”.(Source: A lecture at Sydney’s Lowy Institute, Australia)

Rupert MurdochChairman and CEO of News Corp and 21st Century Fox

Google and its GlassGoogle Glass will change the world, just like Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press did What makes Google Glass such a potentially disruptive technology is its ability to capture, create and share vast amounts of content all the time.

Whatever you see, whatever you want to add to that - text, video, photos, live streaming - can instantly be uploaded and shared with the world immediately and free.

This is an incredibly powerful asset. Only a few years ago, for a TV network to send live pictures from, say, Ukraine, meant camera crews, satellite connections and enormous complexity and expense.

In the not-too-distant future there are going to be millions and millions of people all over the world wearing Glass. Right now there are more than 1.4 billion smartphones worldwide. Glass is sure to follow suit.

What will the world be like when a billion people can instantly stream live video and show the world what they are seeing at this very moment? It will be different, for sure. Nothing like this has ever happened before.(Source: The Guardian (Blog))

Michael RosenblumCEO, Rosenblum TV

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MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE IN PICKLE APRIL 2014 MIPTV & NAB SHOW ISSUE.

INDIA AND BEYOND

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.

INDIAN DIGITAL

MEDIA SPECIAL

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MAPPING SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSATIONS

Tell us about the patent that you got in 2005 and how effectively it is being put to use today? After my PhD, while I was working at Honeywell Labs, I worked on algorithms to help teams of autonomous agents come up with good ways of jointly per-forming tasks together. Most of the ex-isting work in that area was too slow to deploy in real life situations. My patent related to exploiting the structure within teams of agents to enable them to come up with decent ways of working together in a relatively short time. The expected uses of this were in search and rescue op-erations, military scenarios with autono-mous bots, and in video games where you compete against a swarm. At Germin8, we are not using the work done under this patent in any way.

We are in the era of Analytics 3.0. Do you see visible signs of Big Data analytics bringing transformation in companies?More and more, we are seeing companies using Big Data analytics across their entire organisation. The use cases vary based on the department and industry but they are becoming more and more com-

mon. For instance, Big Data analytics is getting used by R&D teams to develop new products, by Marketing teams to plan and evaluate new products and campaigns, by Public Relations teams to identify poten-tial crisis and monitor their mitigation, by Sales teams to identify leads, by Cus-tomer Care to catch customer complaints and queries early for faster resolution, by Customer Loyalty to understand how to retain customers and how to reward valuable customers, by Risk teams to de-tect fraud and non-compliance, etc. Every week we at Germin8, see new innovative uses of Big Data and the good news is that the use cases are coming from customers and not just from us.

What are the insights that a media and entertainment company benefi t from Explic8?A media company would use Explic8 to listen to what their audience is saying online in Social Media. These could be conversations the audience is having directly with the company on their own social media channels or among them-selves. The company could then leverage these conversations to understand what new content their audience wants, what

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THE INFLUENCE

OF ANALYTICS, GERMIN8 WAY

Pickle chats with Ranjit Nair, CEO, Germin8 on the impact of Big Data analytics in the Media and Entertainment Sector and how the industry can benefi t from engaging with Germin8

they think about the existing content, campaigns and competitors. This leads to actions like improving content and the marketing of this content.

What is the difference between com-panies who use data analytics and who don’t?Analytics is only useful if it is actionable and the organisation is geared to react to the analytics. By inference, an organi-sation that uses analytics is one that is open to what their consumers are saying and nimble enough to react to it. So off the bat, they are already at an advantage over organisations that are closed to us-ing analytics. The analytics itself gives the companies using them a huge advan-tage because their products and commu-nications are more optimised and hence would perform better.

You have some of the top advertis-ing agencies as clients. How do they make use of services provided from your end?Our advertising agency clients use Ex-plic8 in many creative ways. Depend-ing on what they are contracted to do it could be to provide insights on how they

can improve their product or service of-fering, insights on what would work on campaigns, insights for communication strategies, insights for rebranding strat-egies, providing online reputation man-agement services, identifying promoters, detractors and key infl uencers, etc. That’s just the tip of the ice berg. Agencies are getting smarter on using Explic8 to de-liver more and more actionable insights to their customers that can transform the company’s image and communication.

Tell specifi cally, how does a broad-caster benefi t from using analytics? What are the various insights that a broadcaster get about a programme from the social media interactions?For a broadcaster, it starts with what content they should air. For a news show, this could mean content based on under-standing what people feel about different current affairs topics like the upcoming General Elections, for a reality show it could mean more air time for contestants who are most talked about in social me-dia, and for a soap, it could mean getting ideas relating to their plot and cast. Next, such analytics can help the broad-caster decide on how to promote their

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show and to understand whether their campaigns are effective or not. For in-stance, if the audience seems to like par-ticular aspects of the show, these can be highlighted in future promos.Analytics will also help the broadcaster understand whether the viewing audi-ence likes the content that is being aired. Analytics from social media can help broadcasters and advertisers understand how shows are faring, including qualita-tive aspects like what about the show the audience segments liked and disliked.It is said that Big Data can also be used to understand whether a movie or a TV se-ries will be a hit before shooting it. Your comments.Analytics based on the online reactions to promotions are a very good indicator of how well the movie or TV series is like-ly to perform. This is much like having a test audience for a movie. You get a sense of the expectations and impressions that have been built up, and can take various decisions like revising the promotions, changing the marketing communication, editing the show or movie, changing the distributions.You can also understand whether the online advertising is reaching enough people and whether they have been en-gaged. This again allows the studio or broadcaster to take corrective actions if needed.So, analytics is not just a predictive tool to determine success or failure of a re-lease. Way before the show or movie is released, analytics can help provide in-sights on how to make it a success.

Netfl ix bought “House of Cards” based on thorough data analysis of their 33 million users. Will this become a practice over a period of time? Netfl ix has always been among the van-guard when it comes to analytics for content recommendations. It is not a sur-prise that they would extend this to the selection of new shows. I think this will certainly become more and more com-mon but a lot will depend on how much companies are willing to spend on data scientists and technology for such ana-lytics.

How can the fi lm industry benefi t from this?A fi lm producer or theatre chain could use predictions on box offi ce response to decide on what the rights are worth and what the distribution plan should be. For instance, should it be a limited release or a wide release, should I buy rights for some states or all, etc.?

What according to you is the biggest infl uence of the medium to the media and entertainment sector?The biggest infl uence of social media to the media and entertainment is defi nite-ly the reach that it affords to get the word out about the show or movie, or in the case of content that are available online to actually bring viewers to where the content is available. Analytics will play a role in evaluating whether the marketing is working, whether the content is work-ing and what new content could poten-tially work.

Can this help in decision making?Very often we have to rely on our gut to make a decision because of the absence of data or the amount of time and mon-ey conducting a survey would take. Use of Big Data analytics will eliminate the need of just going with your gut because now you will have access to analytics without slowing down your decision making process signifi cantly. This won’t however replace human intuition and ex-perience, which will still be necessary to interpret the analysis and decide on the best course of action based on the inter-pretation of the analysis.

How credible is the data crunched?The data can be highly credible if done right because the views are largely un-solicited and the volume of data can be huge leading to high statistical signifi -cance. The biggest threat to the credibil-ity of data is whether the audience being measured matches the audience for the show. This threat stems from three con-cerns, 1. There is a bias towards certain de-

mographic segments in the audience measured online,

2. There are fake users in social media

Explic8 is Germin8’s product for actionable insights for product, marketing and sales teams across sectors based on what consumers write in social media

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indulging in fake conversations, 3. The things people say in social media

have a strong negative bias. All 3 are valid concerns that can be ad-dressed through proper scientifi c ap-proaches like stratifi ed sampling, bias sampling and pruning of fake profi les.One must remember that traditional sur-veys also sometimes suffer from similar data credibility concerns like incorrect sample selection, interviewer bias and fake respondents.

Does data crunching and “infl uenc-ing” help in monetization?It helps both directly and indirectly. Di-rectly because it can lead to ways of op-timising the distribution of content and indirectly because it can result in im-proved content and improved marketing

leading to higher viewership.

Where are we heading?In the coming days, we will see increased internet penetration and an increasing willingness for people across segments and geographies to share their opinions. This will result in a huge increase in the volume of content for analysis and in the number of regional languages that these conversations will be in.This will mean even greater applicabil-ity of the data analytics but it will also mean that tools need to be able to support regional languages and handle this in-crease in conversations.With this, social media listening and ana-lytics will then be highly applicable to re-gional content and GEC channels.

❑ We set up an Explic8 tracker to crawl and analyse conversations around the show Satyamev Jayate Season 2 starting from Mar 2, the launch date from across social media sites.

❑ Conversations around Satyamev Jayate have largely been on 2 platforms – ❑ Twitter – 69.13%❑ Social networks – FB, G+ - 28.4%

❑ Men contributed to 66% of online conver-sations related to Satyamev Jayate, which is close to the average we see across sec-tors. However, given the topic of the fi rst episode that aired on March 2nd, one would have expected a higher participa-tion from the female audience.

❑ Social Media – Twitter and FB are fast be-coming the second screen for channels, 64.4% mentions came between 11am -2 pm, i.e. during the show time of 11 am to 1 pm.

Social media buzz distribution on broadcast day

❑ Broadcast day saw 61.4% of all conversa-tions during the week. The key takeaway from this graph for a channel can be how to ensure that they keep the audience en-

gaged even after the show. Also, this can be used to analyse the pre-show buzz about the episode

Weekly buzz distribution

❑ Sentiments – The sentiments about the show are mostly neutral and the conver-sations seemed to agree with the show. A few negative comments about Aamir Khan charging too much and faking his emotions were a minor proportion of the overall conversations.

Indicative sentiment distribution based on sample data

❑ Top topics – rape, fi ghting rape, police apathy, justice, change etc.

Social Media Conversations of Satyamev Jayate Season 2

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INDIAN CONTENT IS HEADING GLOBAL

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Managing Director and CEO Punit Goenka delivered an insightful ad-dress at CASBAA India Forum 2014 recently, dur-

ing which he touched upon various relevant topics.“Indian Content is heading the global way. This industry is blessed with such great talent and potential, that it has all the required elements to produce content, which can entertain not just the Indian, but the global audiences. In fact the global media and entertainment ecosystem is poised at an extremely interesting juncture, which is fi lled with opportunities. It is extremely essential for us to prepare ourselves to face the changing dynamics of this global industry,” he said.Global M & E Industry Trends:Quoting the latest PwC report, Punit said the global me-dia and entertainment market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% over the next fi ve years, generating a revenue of US $ 2.2 trillion. “What is interesting to note is that consumer spend on access of content will rise upto 30% in the year 2017, from 24% which was in the year 2012. This connotes that the consumers are ready to pay that extra rupee for accessing content based on their preferred time, place and screen. Content Creators need to address this demand by ensuring that they are

Indian Content is heading the global way. This industry is blessed with such great talent and potential, that it has all the required elements to produce content, which can entertain not just the Indian, but the global audiences, said Zee Entertainment Enterprises Managing Director and CEO Punit Goenka

THOUGHT LEADER

Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises

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Going forward, we would also offer global products, which have the bandwidth and scale to entertain audiences across the world, irrespective of their geographic signi cance. I take immense pride in citing this fact, that today ZEE as a Content Company, entertains over 700 million viewers across globe reaching 169 countries

present at whichever time the consumer demands your content, on whichever screen he wishes to access. Also the mo-bile internet spend is estimated to exceed the fi xed broadband spend in markets like US and South Korea, followed by UK,” he said.Elaborating more, he said, “These re-ports further reinforce the major para-digm shift expected in the market. So on a global distribution front, content cre-ators will have to adapt the new-age dis-tribution platforms as well, apart from the primary platforms like television. Our initiative in the OTT (Over the Top Television) space through Ditto TV aims at addressing this demand.”ZEE’s successful approach in the Global Markets:Talking about his own company, Pu-nit said, “Way back in the year 1995, we at ZEE took our fi rst steps in the global market, by offering our content to India Diaspora across the globe. The content was priced at a premium then, but the demand was so prominent, that within a very short time span we reached almost 60% of the said market. We then looked at further enhancing our reach, and started offering our content to the global audiences, by subtitling or dubbing it based on the international market’s lan-guage preferences. This approach again was extremely successful allowing us to penetrate our presence further more in the global markets. Soon did we realize, that our production capabilities are not just at par, but in fact much better than certain key markets like the Middle East, and hence we started producing content for such markets, which refl ects in some of our products like Zee Alwan and Zee Afl am.”Future plans:Outlining his future plans, the Zee boss

said, “Going forward, we would also of-fer global products, which have the band-width and scale to entertain audiences across the world, irrespective of their geographic signifi cance. I take immense pride in citing this fact, that today ZEE as a Content Company, entertains over 700 million viewers across globe reaching 169 countries.” Futuristic message:“Since the entire ZEE Family has always been extremely passionate, to consistent-ly innovate and offer enhanced entertain-ment solutions, right since its inception, these numbers aren’t enough for us. We have set, yet higher goals for us in the near future. By the year 2020, ZEE aims to reach a billion viewers and also targets itself to be ranked amongst the top 10 global media brands,” he said.“Now these numbers don’t just speak in leaps and bounds about ZEE’s growth achieved till date, but they also justify the very fact, that we have the potential to en-tertain the world. They signify our readi-ness to produce world class content. They resonate the dawn of a global industry being formed. So gone are the days, when we as Indian Broadcasters and Content Creators should question our ability to entertain the world. Gone are the days, when MNCs from the west can easily march towards us and attempt to set up their network,” he added.No questions:In his concluding note, Punit said, “as an industry, we are absolutely geared up to face the global consumers. No lon-ger should we question our steps in this direction. No longer should we hesitate even the slightest bit. As the famous phi-losopher and writer, has beautifully sum-marized by saying, “Being fully present is the best guarantee for a bright future”.

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A still from Kamal Haasan’s forthcoming fi lm ‘Uttama Villain’, produced by N Lingusamy’s Thirupathi Brothers and Raaj Kamal Films International

UNIVERSAL HERO

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LESSONS FROM

KAMALIIM Bangalore Professor for Corporate Strategy and Policy Dr S Raghunath tracks actor-fi lmmaker Kamal Haasan closely and runs into his mind to capture insights from the multifaceted maverick creative entrepreneur, who is a huge commercial force in Indian cinema and is active for over fi ve decades

MANAGEMENT

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Kamal Haasan is an important commercial force in South Indian

cinema and his vision for the future of feature fi lm business can

demolish any opposition that gets into his innovative ways of creat-

ing producing and distributing feature fi lms domestically and inter-

nationally, and professionalizing the entertainment industry. Kamal

Haasan, who was at IIMB to inaugurate Vista 2013, an industry in-

teraction festival of IIMB held in September 2013, is one of the few

professionals in the Indian fi lm industry who has been very keen on

developing Centres of Excellence for Media and Entertainment. He

believes that management education is a necessity for everyone in

the fi lm industry. He has even urged the Prasad Institute in Chen-

nai to offer a fi lm course to students in Management schools. He

strongly believes that Management professionals in the Media and

Entertainment business must learn the basics of fi lm making.

Management professionals can make considerable difference to the

strategic positioning of the media and entertainment companies and

help them adapt to the economic and political changes happening

in the country. There is work cut out for management professionals

to create and manage entities that distribute, bank and own intel-

I have had the opportunity on some occasions to converse with Kamal Haasan, a recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, about the Indian entertainment industry and I follow his work closely as I teach and research aspects relating to the business and organization of media and entertainment industry. To me, he is an astute entertainment entrepreneur (though he may vehemently deny it) and a consummate artiste. What’s indisputable is that his infl uence extends far beyond his movie credits.

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lectual copyright. Angst, passion and urge are very vague words to

him though he is an artiste par excellence. There are areas in the fi lm

industry that are mission critical like scheduling and budgeting that

do not attract professional attention. In one of our conversations, I

recall him saying: “What we currently have in the fi lm industry is only

chaos management and not real management.”

What is his vision?Kamal Haasan wants the Indian feature fi lm industry to learn to fo-

cus on cost advantage, resulting in the production of entertainment

content at the lowest possible cost, and keep increasing returns so

that it becomes a very attractive industry that pays for experimen-

tation. He believes India is a great laboratory of feature fi lm making

and can be a trendsetter even for Hollywood. He is of the opinion

that India is not far behind in concept -- it’s in the construct that

our fi lm industry fails. He is of the view that Hollywood benefi ted

from the expertise of the World War II veterans. With the skills they

possessed, they became mechanics, sound engineers, lighting

experts, plumbing experts and the industry became professional

thanks to the skills they brought into it. In Indian fi lm industry, we

need such skill sets. As we do not have them, we must create such

skill sets, he feels.

Kamal Haasan once remarked: “Our industry makes me think that

we are like great rice eaters with no paddy fi elds…Who will sow ?

We know cooking and we know eating but we have no crop! We

often see an off-time autorickshaw driver coming in as a light man;

a thug comes in as a stuntman. Beach boys who do some ad-

venture stuff slowly come into the industry and become stuntmen.

There are no safety training measures or skill-imparting schools.”

He said he hopes to target all of them by setting up a centre that

can impart the required capabilities.

Improving the know-how of the supporting industries can help

develop the Indian feature fi lm industry’s competitive advantage.

They are an integral part of the movie making industry: the talent

agencies, the music and recording industry, trade industry, press,

Dr. S Raghunath is Dean (Admin) and a Professor of Corporate Strategy and

Policy at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. At IIM Bangalore he offers an

elective course on Strategic Management In Media and Entertainment Industry in

the executive post graduate programme and general management programme for

Media and Film and Television Industry Professionals. He offers an elective course

on “E Business Models and Strategies”.

He has written case studies on topics that include leadership and management

challenges of Media and Entertainment Business .

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specialized research fi rms, the creative class and the technicians.

Kamal Haasan believes an impressive level of industry know-how

and talent developed through formal schools of relevant education

and training should build and maintain the competitive advantage

of the Indian movie industry as a whole.

He also believes that a quality fi lm is always made with true tal-

ent and not just stars. “It is widely believed that K Balachander

(director-producer) discovered me; I say he invented me,” Kamal

Haasan once admitted in a conversation.

He believes that the Indian fi lm industry must develop and nur-

ture marketing capabilities. He rues the fact that the industry is so

closed that stakeholders don’t want a DTH happening because

they believe it is a diversionary tactic or a renegade attempt at

nothing useful. Entertainment products like feature fi lms have a

shelf life including theatrical release, home entertainment, movie on

demand, pay per view and pay TV. The exclusivity and the selection

of each of these windows for delivery enable producers to practice

price discrimination and capture a larger share of the value gener-

ated by their products. Feature fi lms as products are expensive to

produce but cheap to reproduce. The marketing costs of widely re-

leased feature fi lms are almost equivalent to costs of producing the

feature fi lm. The window model of release of movies helps generate

higher revenue per viewer to those that generate lower revenue

per viewer. The release strategy that Kamal Haasan would like to

follow is to capture larger and more diversifi ed revenue streams as

opposed to the risky business of relying on revenue generated from

theatrical exhibitions. In Kamal Haasan’s mind the relevance of the

revenue generated by the fi rst week at the box offi ce has not been

the only path to solvency as the DTH exploitation of the properties

under copyright have increased their importance. He recognizes

that the television market has access to the advertising revenue

and subscription revenue streams.

He does not think very highly of the Rs 100-crore club concept.

His argument: “We are a billion people and fi lms are watched al-

“What we currently have in the lm industry is only chaos management and not real management.”

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most everywhere. At Rs 100 a ticket, what is Rs 100 crore? Is it a

celebration?”

When we were discussing what Management education can do for

the industry, he said to me that he hoped it would cure the indus-

try of its “head in the clouds” weakness and its megalomania. “A

director should realize that he is the captain only of his ship not of

the entire fl eet. The art and the applause are all fi ne but we need

effective management. Even the light boy should know what the

business is all about,” he said.

We spoke about the 50 years that he has spent in the fi lm industry,

and he quipped, “I spent 25 years fumbling… I was learning on the

job.” When he did 200 fi lms, he said he felt like he had just com-

pleted his schooling. His journey in the fi lm industry has been one

where he had to keep constantly updating. Most industry people

hate workshops but Kamal Haasan would say, “If Shakespeare

comes today he will have to learn screenplay writing. He may take

only two days to learn what took me two years but even Shake-

speare will have to take classes and workshops. That’s the only

way one can stay relevant in this profession”.

A passionate artiste, he understands that skills need training and

updating. He went to the US when he was 29 years old and started

taking screenplay classes. He was already a success because he

had successful fi lms but in New York, he learnt to marshal his skills

and learnt the importance of sharing knowledge. The fi rst thing he

did when he returned was to set an example by showing that there

were no secrets in his skills. There was no magic wand; there was

only technique.

He shifted to doing one fi lm at a time. Now this implied that he

wasn’t doing 6 fi lms a year and his income would go down. It was

a calculated leap of faith he took and it worked. He did one fi lm and

his remuneration shot up by 10 times. He became the change he

was demanding.

“Our industry makes me think that we are like great rice eaters with no paddy elds! Who will sow? We know cooking and we know eating but we have no crop! ”

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LEADER SPEAK

Our strength is emotions and that’s what connects our audiences to our fi lms

Avtar PanesarVP International Operations Yash Raj Films

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Taking Bollywood to World

Yash Raj Films’ Dhoom 3 has become the biggest fi lm in the history of Indian cinema domestically and internationally. We must be doing something right. It’s nice to be accepted by the audiences on our terms globally, says Avtar Panesar, YRF’s VP International OperationsHow does 2014 look for Yash Raj Films after phenomenal success of YRF’s Dhoom 3 in both international and domestic markets?The year is looking very good, with a great mix of fi lms. We have a mixed bag of big commercial fi lms as well as smaller fi lms like Dibakar Bannerji’s Titli, which is al-ready getting attention in the festival cir-cuits and of course we’re delighted that our US fi lm Grace of Monaco will be the opening fi lm at Cannes this year.

What is the response of Dhoom 3 in European territories? Give some in-sights. Has it built scale in its inter-national reach? The fi lm has become the biggest movie of all time in all key markets and we’re de-lighted with that. The fi lm has opened to a fantastic response both in Germany and France. We have opened it in Romania and getting great reviews and we are building this market with each fi lm since Ek Tha Ti-ger and Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Russia is next. We have been able to use this to crack new markets and the support it received from International press coverages has been a very important tool.

You have been an advocate of creat-ing a brand identity for Indian fi lms in the global market place… Indian fi lms have now certainly made a place for themselves on the global stage. We still have a long way to go for us to start doing major business globally, beyond the diaspora. Dhoom 3 has done $27 million from the diaspora. The day we can start doing this or more from the non-diaspora is the day we can say with some degree of satisfaction that we have made a mark.

What is unique about India? India is known for its diversity and cul-ture and the great thing is that we have so many stories to be told. The exciting thing is that not all these can be made in to big event fi lms, and so it gives us opportunities to tell all kinds of stories at all levels. Titli is one such story which turns the family value system on its head and tells a very compelling tale.

Is Bollywood a genre by itself in the global footprint? Yes indeed, the term Bollywood is certain-ly a genre and that’s why I feel when the non-traditional audiences see it for what it is, it starts to make sense - I believe we tell global stories but in our own unique way. I always say, we speak a very differ-ent cinematic language from the rest of the world and it’s a language that works for us. Fortunately, we have been able to attract some attention in the non-diaspora markets and our fi lms are intriguing these audiences. The unique thing about India or Indian fi lms is that by and large we tell human stories and very emotional stories – of course our emotions are over the top but we as people are loud and over the top, we don’t know how to whisper. We tend to speak loudly, that’s the case when we make movies too. Our strength is emotions and that’s what connects our audiences to our fi lms, even an action fi lm like Dhoom 3 had a very emotional track but packaged differ-ently – at its core it wasn’t about the bikes, chases, sexy girls, it was about heart and the emotional ties between brothers. The fact that it has become the biggest fi lm in the history of Indian cinema domestical-ly and internationally makes me feel we must be doing something right. It’s nice to

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Nicole Kidman starrer GRACE OF MONACO, helmed by the French director Olivier Dahan will be the rst ever International lm by an Indian studio (YRF Entertainment) to open the Festival de Cannes 2014. Produced by Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, Uday Chopra and Arash Amel, who also wrote the screenplay. The Weinstein Company will distribute the lm in the U.S

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be accepted by the audiences on our terms globally. It’s set in a world you can identify with but still see a fi lm that brings in all the ‘Bollywood’ elements.

Have digital platforms expanded the Indian fi lm content globally? Or is it still dominated by theatrical releases? For now, its hasn’t replenished the home video business for us and the thrust is still on the theatrical business. For us it’s a slow burn but we hope to see this change in the very near future as the windows shorten.

India is still less than 2% of the global entertainment pie? Although it pro-duces the largest fi lm releases year-after-year? How do we break this ice of increasing it to 5%? Well that is going to remain an issue as long as the Indian Rupee is valued at 60 to the US Dollar. Till that happens the revenues will remain a small percentage on the world stage. But we must also look at the admis-sions in India, which are just phenomenal and will continue to grow as more and more cinemas reach the rural areas. Also, it must be remembered that cinema is still one of the cheapest form of entertainment in India and the poor cannot afford to pay $8 – 12 for a ticket, and it needs to remain in the reach of the common man.

Film festivals like Berlinale, Toronto have played a key role in spearhead-ing Indian cinema? Yes indeed, and we’re very happy to have had this support from these very presti-gious festivals.

Is that limited to particular kind of cinema? I don’t agree that this is limited at all, I have screened Veer Zaara at Berlin which was classic Bollywood and I have also pre-miered Kabul Express at Toronto which was anything but Bollywood, so they take fi lms on merit and these platforms have been a great way to showcase our cinema to the world.

Can we go beyond that? We can certainly go beyond this and we are. We are now ready to showcase our fi lms earlier than usual so festivals can view them much in advance, we are ready to show our fi lms at festivals and use this route to fi nd a world audience for fi lms that merit this approach. Titli is one such fi lm, we have already started work on this.

Finally, What motivates you in export of Indian fi lm content? The short answer is the `Bucks`. No, seri-ously, money is the by product of the suc-cess we have seen through taking our fi lms everywhere we can and entertained our audiences. I was part of a team to host a Chinese delegation not too long ago, and the Information Minister from China asked me what was our secret for such consistent success outside of India. I said, it’s really very simple, fi rst we play to our strengths – our strength is the millions of South Asians living outside of India, Paki-stan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Our fi rst goal is to reach them and entertain them. If we achieve that goal and reach them even in small markets like, West Indies or East Timor, then we have done our job well. After that secondly we target the new markets and the non-diaspora. If we did it the other way around we might have few big story successes, but suffer with the vast majority of the fi lms. It’s a great feeling to be at the other end of the world and see your posters being displayed alongside all the mainstream or local fi lms and have families come to see your fi lms as they have been doing for gen-erations. The biggest high for me is that we are spreading Indian culture and language to kids who may never have been to India yet and may not speak the language prop-erly, but are connected with their ancestral motherland through cinema. Having been raised in the UK, I learnt to speak Hindi only by watching Hindi fi lms and listening to Hindi songs – so now it’s my turn to ‘pay it forward’.

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The unique thing about India or Indian lms is that by and large we tell human stories and very emotional stories – of course our emotions are over the top but we as people are loud and over the top, we don’t know how to whisper

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WHERE IS ANIMATION HEADING?

Animation in India began about 15-20 years ago with the production of a com-mercial 2D cell animation. Since then,

India has evolved into one of the most coveted global animation destinations. To ensure sus-tainable growth, animation education and ar-tistic education on the whole should be restruc-tured in India since this is a creative industry. Scaling up and nurturing talent has so far been an uphill task as most of the career options in India are targeted towards science and com-merce streams. Even today we do not have ar-tistic and performing arts as subjects in school curricula. Students and parents fi nd it diffi cult to choose artistic, creative and performing arts as mainstream career options because of the lack of adequate opportunities in these fi elds. Even the universities at large found animation diffi cult to understand and they have always tried to place it among engineering and tech-nical subjects whereas its true place is in the arts, storytelling and fi lm-making divisions. Animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) as an industry has the potential to pro-vide valuable career options to talented Indian students; the need of the hour is to alter basic education to make it more artist-friendly and design and promote professional courses in animation and gaming by universities. Even from a policy perspective, AVGC as a sector has been placed under the IT and ITeS.

Animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) as an industry has the potential to provide valuable career options to talented Indian students; the need of the hour is to alter basic education to make it more artist-friendly and design and promote professional courses in animation and gaming by universities, opines Ashish S K, Co-Chairman, FICCI AVGC Forum

AVGC SECTOR

Ashish S K, Co-Chairman, FICCI – Animation, VFX, Gaming & Comics Forum

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Hence, India has been positioned as one of the most sought after service provid-ers in animation, gaming and visual ef-fects categories by some of the major American and European studios. More-over, this sector has been covered under STPI and continues to enjoy benefi ts under the scheme for outsourced work. In the present environment, original IP creation has not received any support ei-ther from policymakers or the industry per say in terms of global marketing and distribution. India’s animation content buying price points by broadcasters are also not encouraging enough to create original IP. It is important to understand that original IP creation would lend a dis-tinct character to India’s animation in-dustry and put India on the globe besides stabilising the animation ecosystem. We need to sincerely address the challenges around building sustainability and work-able business models with respect to orig-inal IP creation in the country to make the Indian content relevant for the global audience. The lack of co-production trea-ties with countries that produce anima-tion also serves a roadblock in promoting Indian content and the overall animation industry globally. The signing of the In-do-Canadian audio-visual co-production treaty on 24 February 2014 may mark the beginning of a promising era. To add to the challenge in a live action-dominated country, animation content

has a default position in India as kid’s genre, which hampers the building of dis-tribution systems and revenue streams. Moreover, India does not have TAM rat-ing for audience below 4 years, which is a popular pre-school genre worldwide. If we have an opportunity to include this category, we can explore a huge opportu-nity of cutting edge TV shows, building preschool character brands, licensing and merchandise. Despite these challenges, we have been able to make signifi cant progress in the past decade by providing university pro-grams and creating a vocational skills assessment and certifi cation process by establishing national occupational stan-dards (NOS) under FICCI Media and Entertainment Skills Council which is under the National Skills Development Corporation. Though a majority of revenue today comes from outsourcing services in the AVGC sector, we have witnessed signifi -cant growth in the original IP in the past four years, especially through television broadcasting and mobile gaming. While feature fi lms and console gaming are yet to mature, proper marketing and distri-bution support and strong national and state-level policies would go a long way toward ensuring growth of the Indian animation industry in outsourcing and original content creation domains.

The new era of digital content economy is a reality, our policies have to be in sync with the evolving needs and culture of this digital eco-system. Original Intellectual property creation in Animation, Gaming & Comics in India is the proving to be the stabilizing factor and consolidating the industry way forward. Emerging modules and understanding of focused Asian Co-production alongside the other European & North American co-productions in Animation is a welcome sign and an eye opener for most of the stake holders in the Animation, Gaming & Comics sector

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Apple makes nearly half a million dollars for each of itsmedia and tech sector, with 175,000 employees.

$460,772 Revenue per employee

Apple

80,300Total employees

$37 billionNET INCOME

$171 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$277,344 Revenue per employee

21st Century Fox

25,600Total employees

$7 billionNET INCOME

$28 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$270,123Revenue per employee

Google

47,756Total employees

$13 billionNET INCOME

$60 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$236,705 Revenue per employee

Facebook

6,337Total employees

$2 billionNET INCOME

$8 billionANNUAL REVENUE

HOW MUCH MONEY GLOBAL COMPANIES PROFIT

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MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY PER EMPLOYEE80,300 employees. Disney has one of the largest workforces in the Here’s a recent BUZZFEED research found

$230,000 Revenue per employee

Viacom

10,000Total employees

$2 billionNET INCOME

$14 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$221,212Revenue per employee

Microsoft

99,000Total employees

$22 billionNET INCOME

$78 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$188,597Revenue per employee

Discovery Communications

5,700Total employees

$1 billionNET INCOME

$6 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$108,824Revenue per employee

Time Warner

34,000Total employees $4 billion

NET INCOME$30 billionANNUAL REVENUE

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 37 10-03-2014 16:20:21

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$96,460Revenue per employee

CBS

19,490Total employees

$2 billionNET INCOME

$15 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$55,589Revenue per employee

Net ix

2,022Total employees

$112 millionNET INCOME

$4 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$34,857Revenue per employee

Disney

175,000Total employees

$6 billionNET INCOME

$45 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$25,045Revenue per employee

Dreamworks Animation

2,200Total employees

$55 millionNET INCOME

$707 millionANNUAL REVENUE

$50,000Revenue per employee

Comcast

136,000Total employees

$7 billionNET INCOME

$65 billionANNUAL REVENUE

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 38 10-03-2014 16:20:21

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$21,083Revenue per employee

News Corp

24,000Total employees

$506 millionNET INCOME

$9 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$18,447Revenue per employee

The New York Times Company

3529Total employees

$65 millionNET INCOME

$1.68 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$18,118Revenue per employee

AOL

4,600Total employees $92 million

NET INCOME$2 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$12,310Revenue per employee

Gannett Co

31,600Total employees

$389 millionNET INCOME

$5 billionANNUAL REVENUE

$5,312Revenue per employee

LinkedIn

5,045 Total employees

$27 millionNET INCOME

$2 billionANNUAL REVENUE

Pickle_March_2014_Inner 1 - 48.indd 39 10-03-2014 16:20:21

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America gears up for the 15thThe IIFA Weekend 2014 is set to include multiple star-stud-ded events including the IIFA Rocks the IIFA Magic of the Movies & Technical Awards, and the crown jewel Tata Mo-tors IIFA Awards. It’s that time of the year again. The 15th Vid-

eocon D2H IIFA Weekend and the Tata Mo-

tors IIFA Awards will be held from the 23 to 26

April. Actors Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit Nene,

Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Bipasha

Basu and music director Pritam were on hand

to announce the details of the IIFA Weekend.

Peter Haas, U.S. Consul General in Mumbai

said, “I’m excited by IIFA’s decision to hold this

year’s awards ceremony in Tampa, Florida.

Bollywood fans across the United States will

be thrilled that India’s biggest fi lm stars are

coming. We look forward to other Indian com-

panies choosing the United States as their

travel destination and stand ready to assist.”

Sabbas Joseph, Director, Wizcraft Internation-

al & IIFA said, “In our 15th year, IIFA continues

to build bridges through cinema across com-

munities throughout the world. We are deter-

mined to bring the magic and magnitude of

Indian culture as Tampa Bay is set to witness

the spectacle that is Indian cinema, when IIFA

comes to the US, this April.”

The IIFA Weekend 2014 is set to include mul-

tiple star-studded events including the IIFA

Rocks (a fashion and music spectacular), the

IIFA Magic of the Movies & Technical Awards,

and the crown jewel Tata Motors IIFA Awards.

The event will be hosted by Shahid Kapoor and

Farhan Akhtar. The fi rst set of star perform-

ers include Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra,

Madhuri Dixit Nene, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena

Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sin-

ha, Bipasha Basu, Pritam and Vir Dasamong

others. The performances would be choreo-

graphed by the internationally-renowned Shia-

mak Davar. More stars would be announced in

the next few weeks.

Business events include the FICCI-IIFA Global

Business Forum which focuses on business

opportunities across the two geographies, the

Global Leadership Honours and a Media and

Entertainment Strategy Summit led by Ernst &

Young and FICCI’s Entertainment division.

The FICCI IIFA Global Business Forum will take

place over two days (24th & 25th April) at the

Tampa Convention Center. Hosted by the Uni-

versity of South Florida College of Business, the

business forum will be addressed by several

Santiago Corrada.Commissioner Al Higginbotham, Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Pritam, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Consul General Peter Haas, Mayor Bob Buckhorn

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IIFA Awards 2014 in Tampa Bayleading visionaries and business leaders includ-

ing Indian IT visionary, founder and Executive

Chairman of Infosys, Narayana Murthy and FICCI

President Siddharth Birla.

Anil Kapoor said “There is nothing as unique as

Bollywood, and Tampa is in for a treat this year!

The IIFAs are a great platform for us to showcase

our work to the world. This April, IIFA will bring the

magic of Indian Cinema to America.”

Madhuri Dixit Nene said, “Very few know that I

lived in Florida for a while. I have been to Tampa

Bay and I can tell you honestly it is a beautiful city

and the people there are warm and welcoming.

Thank you for hosting us. We are gonna rock.”

Saif Ali Khan commented saying, “It’s always

amazing to give our Indian and international audi-

ence a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness

one of the fi nest celebrations of Indian culture and

cinema..”

Kareena Kapoor Khan said, “There is a great

pride when representing your country and the In-

dian fi lm industry, and IIFA makes that possible for

all us. I am excited to reach out to our fans and

Indian Cinema afi cionados in the USA and across

the world. I’m sure IIFA 2014 is going to be a phe-

nomenal success as it ventures into USA.”

Bipasha Basu said, “Over the years, I have been

privileged to have been a part of and performed

at several IIFAs and have watched them grow

from strength to strength. It is commendable that

IIFA continues to be a magnifi cent celebration of

Indian Cinema and IIFA’s efforts to promote Indian

Cinema on a global scale are really praisewor-

thy.”

Gaurav Banerjee, General Manager, Star Plus

said, “We are proud to partner Wizcraft for over

the last ten years in the biggest celebration of

Indian Cinema with the IIFA weekend. This year

with Tampa Bay as the host, a fantastic line up of

talent and support from the industry, we promise

to create a blockbuster evening reaching IIFA to

millions of households worldwide through Star

Plus.”

Hollywood actor, Kevin Spacey to Join IIFA

Master Class

Kevin Spacey will join Indian actor, Vidya Bal-

an, on behalf of Bollywood, to discuss trends

in Hollywood and the Indian Film Industry. An-

dre Timmins, Director – Wizcraft International

& IIFA said, “IIFA has always been viewed as a

platform to bridge the gap between the Indian

fi lm industry and the international audience.

It has been our dream to be able to do this

with the participation of Hollywood artists be-

ing featured within our events and this year

as we debut in America we are proud to have

achieved this with a Master Class Panel that

features Vidya Balan. This panel will be an

enthralling event that will create a great plat-

form for knowledge exchange in the world of

fi lm and media.”

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Grab Opportunities at NAB SHOW

And here comes NAB... With more than 90,000 attendees from 151 countries and 1,500+ exhibitors, NAB Show is the ultimate market-place for digital media and entertainment. From cre-ation to consumption, across multiple platforms, the NAB Show is home to the solutions that transcend tra-ditional broadcasting and embrace content delivery to new screens in new ways.All under one roofMore than 200 companies will exhibit for the fi rst time at the 2014 NAB Show, home to the world’s largest gath-ering of vendors driving the future of media and enter-tainment. These companies will offer a fi rst-look at new products and next-generation technologies through in-teractive exhibits, live demonstrations and technology-focused pavilions. NAB Show, held April 5-10 (exhibits open April 7-10) in Las Vegas, is the annual conference and expo for professionals who create, manage and dis-tribute entertainment across all platforms.The 2014 NAB Show’s 204 fi rst-time exhibitors will join a wide variety of NAB Show exhibiting veterans on the 850,000+ square feet of space that make up the NAB Show exhibit fl oor. The debuting NAB Show exhibitors include AMD-Advanced Micro Devices, Clearleap, Fujit-su Semiconductor America, Giga Entertainment Media, Siemens Convergence Creators GmbH, This Technolo-gy and Ustream. There are also several new exhibitors within Intel’s new Partner Pavilion.“These are transformative times for professionals who employ audio and video technology to communicate, ed-ucate and entertain. Nowhere will that be more evident

NAB SHOW’s focus to look at solutions from the content creation and delivery perspective is a game changer in today’s fast changing media landscape. Here’s a curtain raiser on NABSHOW April 5-10, 2014, Las Vegas

NAB SHOW 2014

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Everything you need as a film professional is here, re-introduce

yourself to cinando.comPowered by theFestival de Cannes

with the support of:

than at NAB Show,” said NAB Executive Vice President of Conventions and Busi-ness Operations Chris Brown. “The mul-titude of fi rst-time exhibitors this year is refl ective of NAB Show’s ability to adapt and deliver fresh perspectives on the in-dustry’s most innovative companies and cutting-edge technologies.”The 2014 NAB Show exposition will com-prise 1,550+ companies, including 550+ international exhibitors and some of the world’s leading brands and companies, including Accenture, Amazon Web Ser-vices, AVID, Canon U.S.A., Cisco, Clear Channel Satellite, Deluxe, Dolby Labo-ratories, Dome Productions, Ericsson, Evertz, FUJIFILM, General Dynamics, Grass Valley, Harmonic, Harris Broad-cast, Hitachi, HP Enterprise Services, IBM, JVC, Microsoft Corporation, Pana-sonic, Piksel, Ross Video Limited, Sony Electronics, Technicolor, Toshiba, Ve-rizon and The Vitec Group. Some of the fi nest solution providers from India will be at NAB -- Qube Cinema, Tata Commu-nications, Prime Focus.On ChairFederal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler will ad-dress the NAB Show April 8. The address is expected to provide insight into the Chairman’s views on broadcasting and what his expectations are on the regula-tory front in the coming years.Tom Green & Broadcast MindsNAB Show, the world’s largest annual conference and expo for professionals who create, manage, and distribute enter-tainment across all platforms, is bringing back last year’s highest-rated session - NewTek Presents: Broadcast Minds. This year’s session, moderated by actor, come-dian and host Tom Green on April 9 in Las Vegas, will take a deep and entertain-ing look at how some of the top creators of digital content are forging new trails and drawing a profi t online.Budding businessesNAB Show has announced the fi rst round of startups selected to participate in SPROCKIT 2014. These startup companies will collaborate with and present before infl uencers and decision-makers in media and entertainment at the 2014 NAB Show.

■ AudioAir creates captivating enter-tainment, advertising and engagement for patrons of establishments with TV screens allowing users to listen, watch and interact on their mobile device on or off premise.

■ Cognitive Networks is a provider of real-time services that power En-hanced TV on Smart TVs, enabling viewers to receive increased engage-ment and interactions with TV content through their Smart TV.

■ ExciteM’s self-serve platform enables broadcast stations to create custom interactive mobile and social expe-riences for their audiences in real-time.

■ theloop is a social marketplace web-site, allowing individuals and brands to showcase and deliver services, as well as monetize their online content.

■ MAZ is a mobile publishing platform that empowers brands to create bet-ter user experiences by transforming their media properties into “mini” so-cial networks.

■ Penthera is a provider of intelligent portable video software solutions for TV networks and content distributors.

■ ShareRocket is a social media ratings and audience solution that helps media companies and broadcasters quantify their social media equity, benchmark against peers and turn that social market intelligence into actionable in-sights to drive success.

■ Tomorrowish is a social media DVR that syncs and curates a live social me-dia TV experience for viewers where they can participate in real-time con-versations about a show whether it’s live or after it’s already aired.

■ Wayin provides real-time intelligence into how viewers engage with TV pro-gramming and gives producers cre-ative freedom to easily display social content within their own broadcast production workfl ow.

■ WebTuner brings Broadband to tele-vision, and with its next generation hardware, innovative content guide, addressable and interactive advertis-ing platform, it creates a unique con-sumer experience advancing industry growth and creativity.

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MEET THE ENTIRE TV ECOSYSTEM UNDER

ONE ROOF

Spotlight on IsraelTo focus on the growing international success of Israeli TV content, MIPTV is hosting a “Focus on Israel” as part of its upcoming market. On Saturday, April 5, as part of MIPDoc, “Co-Production Marketplace: Success Stories from Israel” will offer insights into the Israeli factual and documentary market, and hear a series of case studies of successful international co-productions with Israel. The next day, as part of MIPFormats, the session “Business Opportunities in Israel” will set out how to work with one of the fastest growing content markets, with a special fo-cus on major production and distribution companies from Israel. The main event, “Focus on Israel” at MIPTV, takes place on Tuesday, April 8, in the Palais des Festivals. It features a screening session, “Fresh TV From Israel,” showcasing the hottest content from Israel, presented by Virginia Mouseler, CEO of The Wit.

MIPTV ScreeningMaggie Gyllenhaal (Dark Knight, Secretary) and An-drew Buchan (Broadchurch) are to make their MIPTV debut next month to attend BBC Worldwide’s global launch of The Honourable Woman. The new drama, from writer/director Hugo Blick (The Shadow Line) will have its global premiere on the opening day of MIPTV. The eight-part drama is an Eight Rooks and Drama Re-public production for BBC co-produced with Sundance TV. The screening, which will take place at 3 p.m. in Au-ditorium A, will be followed by a Q&A with Gyllenhaal, Buchan, Blick and executive producer Greg Brenman (Ripper Street).

The 51st MIPTV dubbed as the world’s most-established TV and digital content market and the biggest gathering of entertainment professionals will bring top industry execs and creative talent from 100 countries from April 7-10, 2014 in Cannes, France. MIPTV 2014 will have Israel as spotlight country this year

MIPTV 2014

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Future of KidsThe fi rst Future of Kids TV Summit, bringing together 80 creative strategists from the children’s entertainment sector. The Summit takes place on April 8 and the event is sponsored by Shaw Rocket Fund, a Canadian investment fund dedicated to youth-oriented production. The Future of Kids TV Summit, will address key is-sues facing the industry and attempt to map out its future direction.Yoni Bloch, CEO and co-founder of In-terlude, a digital media company that de-signs, develops, markets and enables the creation of interactive videos, is the fi rst keynote speaker. Interlude has helped global leading entertainment and corpo-rate brands such as Shell, MAC, Subaru, Disney Music Group, Intel and Sony Mu-sic Nashville leverage interactive video and has built a rich history of interactive video storytelling.Comments Laurine Garaude, Reed MIDEM’s Television Director: “Given MIPTV’s track record of organising thought-leadership events, it was an obvi-ous move to kids’ TV. The sector has to be really forward-thinking to keep up with the tastes and habits of children, who are natural early adopters. The Summit will be a valuable complement to MIPTV which attracts over 2,500 kids’ entertainment ex-ecutives from over 100 countries.”

STUDIOCANAL Chairman KeynoteOlivier Courson, the chairman and CEO of STUDIOCANAL, and Rola Bauer, the president and partner of TANDEM Com-munications, are to present a joint key-note address at MIPTV on Tuesday, April 8. The keynote, entitled TANDEM/STU-DIOCANAL: European Sensibility--Glob-al Appeal, will touch on the companies’ international productions and announce-ments of new productions for prime-time programming worldwide.

Twitter KeynoteDeb Roy, Twitter’s chief media scientist, is set to deliver a keynote at MipTV, the Cannes-set confab. In his keynote, Roy will highlight Twitter’s impact on TV viewing, networks, advertisers and cre-atives. “Studies show that a majority of mobile and tablet users talk about what they’re watching on television with oth-ers in real time. This results in unprec-edented waves of synchronous conversa-tions about culture and events that Deb Roy calls ‘the social soundtrack for TV,’ stated MipTV. Roy is also a tenured pro-fessor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2008 he co-founded Blue-fi n Labs, a social TV analytics company, which was acquired by Twitter in 2013.

YouTube KeynoteAlex Carloss YouTube’s Head of Enter-

tainment, is set to keynote at this year’s MIPTV in Cannes. Carloss is responsible for managing all facets of YouTube’s en-tertainment strategy, content partner-ships and transactional businesses glob-ally. YouTube is also the fi rst founding partner of the MIP Digital Fronts, the new international screenings for original online video on Wednesday, April 9 and Thursday, April 10. Launching this April with Founding Partner YouTube, the MIP Digital Fronts is the new international screenings for original online video. You-Tube will present a 45-minute showcase of new channels and content partners in front of an audience of international buyers, producers, distributors, digital strategists, agencies, brands, advertisers and media from the global TV and video entertainment ecosystem.

Publicis Chairman KeynoteMaurice Lévy, the chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, is lined up to deliver a keynote address on Tuesday, April 8, as part of MIPTV’s Media Mastermind Key-note series. Publicis Groupe is the world’s third largest advertising and communi-cations group. Lévy is widely recognized as one of the leading fi gures in the com-munications industry. During his key-note address, entitled The Future of Con-tent Is Digital, Lévy will discuss how TV and advertising are increasingly facing common challenges, from how to create great content to retain viewer attention, to building and monetizing an audience. Lévy’s keynote takes place on the eve of MIPTV’s fi rst MIP Digital Fronts.

MAKE MIPTV WORK FOR YOU TO:Not only is MIPTV the place to source and

sell the freshest content globally, it is teem-

ing with opportunities to help you create new

business, green-light partnerships and lift-off

to co-production projects at the earliest stag-

es of development.

■ Get your new shows in front of key

buyers:launch, promote and sell your

shows

■ Kick-start your projects: connect with

producers and co-production partners

to early-stage fi nance, cement deals and

partnerships

■ Explore fresh content across all genres

and platforms with screenings, showcases

and conferences

■ Meet the new decision-makers leading the

way in online media, original content cre-

ators, tech companies and start-ups

■ Discover new recipes for success: busi-

ness models, trends and monetisation

■ Get a fi rst look at the latest trends: world-

class conferences and keynotes with cre-

ators, thought leaders, tech and visionaries

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Come, Shoot in India

UTTAR PRADESH RAJASTHAN

GOA MUMBAI

GUJARAT

VARANASI

KERALA

KASHMIR

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FILM LOCATION AND SERVICES SPECIAL

Pickle May 2014 Cannes Film Festival/Market EditionWe will list out lively locales and service companies that you can trust

We also help you fi nd co-production partners, offshore with best of the Indian fi lm service companiesPickle Annual Print Issues include ---Toronto International Film Festival/Market (September), MIPCOM (October), MAMI (October), American Film Market (November), IFFI Goa (November), ATF, Singapore (December), Dubai International Film Festival/Market (December), Pickle (New Year Spe-cial), European Film Market and Berlinale (Jan-Feb), Kidscreen Summit (Feb ), FICCI FRAMES (March), MIPTV (April), Nab Show (April) Cannes Film Festival and Market (May) and Annecy (June).

INDIA AND BEYOND

KARNATAKA

LADAKH

JOHNA FALL

HIMACHAL PRADESH

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