Ficci Frames

I recently attended the FICCI- Frames 2006 conference of the Indian Media and Entertainment Industry conducted by FICCI. The conference is essentially an annual event for the Industry,  the biggest of its kind in Asia and  I was amazed to see the attendance of more than 1500 people and above all the high level of enthusiasm, interest and novation.

The tone of the conference was overly positive and optimistic. It was creativity (Animation, Gaming) and technology (DBTV, IPTV, Mobisodes, Digitalization) that was what picked attention and focus.

Quick ideas/thoughts  from the 3 day event:

IP (Internet protocol)+IP (intellectual property) is the winning equation

Mobile: to be used voice also. The sixth sense, the extended limb blah blah. Mobile to mean a lot many things for lot many people – MP3, video recorder, camera, gaming console , PDA , Mini TV.  

Gaming and Animation: The next big thing. Not necessarily outsourcing of animation but our own proprietary content(IP).

E-content, Mobile content is in:  Nazara technologies, Mauj telecom, makemytrip.com contest2win.com, exchange4media.com or yatra online is in. Key to success superior execution ability, history of failure (and having learnt from them) and revenue model in place with ability to charge clients. Do not expect the Indian consumer as of now to pay for online content.  

Print is out: A business for passion not necessarily earning money.  High print costs and extreme competition from other media of advertising to keep scope of growth limited.

Radio, Multiplexes: Need to specialize, Differentiate and engage consumers.
Both radio and multiplexes have little or no brand preference among consumers, very commodity kind of play. Need to get out from the frame of mind to mean everything for everybody. All Radios cannot play Hindi/Pop music.
Also, All multiplexes cannot just keep showing whatever movies are released. Case in point is Sathyam cinemas in Chennai showing digital cinema whereas the best multiplex in Mumbai still laggards.


Television: Need to get ready for time shifting and space shifting
Television in the future will not necessarily be watched as per the Broadcasters wish but with IPTV and TiVO kind of applications to give choice to the consumer. Concept of prime time viewing may die down. Television may not necessarily watched on Television sets they will be watched on all other screens like Mobiles, computers, Ipods etc. Interactive Tv is not going to be limited to SMSing. Intel and Microsoft TV where the frontrunners in showcasing their Time shifting solutions.