Indiantelevision.com Team

CHENNAI: UTV Group founder, chairman and CEO Ronnie Screwvala said today that the media and entertainment industry need to broadly define content as a powerful communication tool. "Of the seven billion people in the world, one billion are Indian and Hindi followed by Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi were some of the largest spoken languages in the world. This offered a tremendous opportunity for the M&E industry," he said.

Screwvala was delivering the keynote at the third edition of the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (Ficci) two day Media and Entertainment Business Conclave (MEBC 2011) that began here today.

He added that there are disruptive factors globally. "Today some of the biggest players in the M&E industry are not the M&E companies but technology companies. Mobile has replaced the camera, and gaming has taken on the toy industry. We are sitting at a cusp. The M&E industry doesn't necessarily come together to make a cohesive lot. The thought processes need to be changed," he said.

Citing the example of the movie industry that had to double its box office collection not by increasing ticket prices but by increase of footfalls, he said that seven out 10 people watch content on the small screen meant for the big screen.

Screwvalla said that companies are wrong in thinking that implementation of Pay TV was a compete solution. There could be complete change in the ratings game with digitisation and the advent of Pay TV. The consumer could be brutal and stop consuming content that he is getting for free so far.

Summing up his address, Screwvala implied that content, though being King, is not being created to meet with the current trends in the M&E industry. He said that he had seen no major innovation in television over the past 7 to 10 years. Indian M&E industry needs to look at so much more than TV soaps. 

Rural audiences with a lot of disposable time and income were huge consumers of M&E, but no one is looking at their needs at present. Technology will not take us forward unless we cater to what young India wants. The 4-14 and the 1-24 need content that is interactive, social and offers instant gratification.

The M&E industry must be a part of the Indian consumption needs. From a savings economy the Indian economy was becoming a spending economy. Indians were optimistic and saying that tomorrow would be better than yesterday as opposed to the west, where people were asking, 'will tomorrow be better that yesterday." click here

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