MUMBAI: Ronnie Screwvala, the founder-promoter of UTV, believes in an integrated business model that is highly scalable. He also thinks addressing the youth will bring in big advertising monies as India is on the right side of the demographic shift.
The man who last year forecast that only one-third of the films produced would be released, spells out his 10 ‘game changing‘ commandments at the Ficci-Frames 2010 summit.
Mobile: 3G and 4G will be the game changers for the industry. The 80:20 revenue share arrangement between the telcos and the content providers, however, has to change.
Broadcasting: Screwvala said that keeping focus only on a single channel and not on a 360 degree approach would result in declining revenues. Such business model needs to be changed, he added.
Competition: Citing the example of movie business, Screwvala said that the industry needs to constantly analyse competition. The film industry will also have to counter the IPL window every year.
The dual approach of shortening the release window on DTH and PPV and home video can be some of the steps for tackling piracy, Screwvala said.
But he affirmed that there is huge potential for increasing revenues from movies as seven out of 10 viewers watch them on small screens.
Cable: There is lack of adequate investments into the cable industry and the last mile operator has been a problem since the last 20 years.
DTH technology has certainly changed the rules of the game as far as India has concerned. India will soon become the biggest DTH subscriber market in the world.
Youth: Mentioning the fact that youth constitutes the biggest section of the Indian population, Screwvala said that any offering has to be targeted towards this population.
Games: Gaming is still at a nascent stage and still not understood very well in India. Though it is a $40-45 billion industry worldwide, Asia, particularly Japan and Korea, have shown tremendous growth. He believe that with more serious efforts, gaming will be an important game changer.
Consolidation: A more liberal FDI policy would attract investments into the sector.
Scale: With only 3-4 big players, the size of the industry cannot increase. So scaling up will be a challenge as well as a game changer for the overall industry.
Subservient approach: Players need to change the submissive approach and work aggressively towards achieving their goals.
Consumer DNA: Indian viewers still don’t have the DNA to pay for the channels. This has come from 20 years of heritage. For the betterment of the industry, this has to change.
