MUMBAI: Star India managing director Sanjay Gupta has asserted that digital has already started to redefine the future of media & entertainment in India and that industry stakeholders need to change dramatically in their collective approach to its potential.
Gupta made his comments while delivering an industry address at FICCI Frames 2018 media and entertainment convention here Sunday.
Pointing out that the Indian media & entertainment sector has crossed the Rs 147,000 crore ($22.564 billion) mark, Gupta said “there is no better time than now to unleash the “power of new screens”.
Gupta noted: “Today there are 16 crore (160 million) TV screens and we add more than one crore (10 million) new screens every year.
“But with the power of connectivity and low cost of data, in almost a click, over 35 crore (350 million) more screens across the country have been lit up. And this journey has just begun. With more and more affordable smartphones coming to the market, we are adding more than one crore (10 million) new smart screens every month.
“By the end of 2018, we would have added another 16 crore (160 million) screens. This means that we will have 51 crore (510 million) new screens on which us Indians will be engaging with all kinds of stories be it drama or sports, films or news. In a short period of 24 months, we have moved up from 16 crore (160 million) TV screens and 9,000 cinema halls to 67 crore (670 million) screens. This is set to explode how we engage with stories – the time we spend, what we like, how deeply we follow them, and above all, how to have a two way conversation with both stories and storytellers.”
Gupta also pointed out that Indian sport deserved more media attention. “When you read the sports pages of our newspapers, it seems that the English Premier League is the biggest football event followed in India. However, the reality is that our very own Indian Super League is 20 times bigger than EPL in viewership,” Gupta said.
But digital was where Gupta devoted most of his attention, asserting: “Even though there are 51 crore (510 million) new screens that have lit up in our country, we continue to slice them as only young or only urban or only male or any such narrow definition. Digital is not equal to youth and urbane. 51 crore is roughly the number of people who voted in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014. They come from large cities to the smallest of villages, they reside in Kashmir to KanyaKumari, they have amongst them the young to the very old, both men and women. All of them, given power of connectivity, have access to not just our stories but content from across the globe.
“With digital, we have the license to break away from all the trappings of traditional media. We need to challenge where we release our films first, in a theatre or on a mobile screen. We need to challenge the concept of a radio station. Is it the the radio station as delivered today or a digitally delivered station which adapts itself for each person uniquely. We need to challenge the constraints of 8 pm prime time, daily and hourly news formats and 22 minute episode lengths. There is no need to follow any templates in content – no longer does a scorecard need to appear at the bottom of the screen in every cricket match. No longer does the viewing of sports need to involve only watching. It could be and should be ‘Watch & Play’!”
In conclusion, Gupta pointed out: “Our ambition, the ambition of every stakeholder in this room and beyond, needs to change dramatically.
“Our standards of quality need to change. The way we use technology needs to change. The magnitude of our investments needs to change. We need to rethink business models from the ground up.”
