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Comment: War on online video piracy, which matters, is here for India to fight
“There’s only one war that matters. And it is here”.
So reads the caption of HBO’s official trailer for the blockbuster sixth episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ season seven that is scheduled to be aired next week. Even as Daenerys Targaryen’s Unsullied Army took up position outside the walls of King’s Landing, the online leaks of the TV series continued with unfazed pirates threatening not only to up the ransom figures, but also breach more episodes—Khalessi and dragons, notwithstanding.
But the caption of the trailer does resonate with the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry as well as the government and policy-makers. The war that matters – the battle against online pirates — is certainly here and worth fighting for.
As the online video market grows around the globe, India being no exception, so has the fear of online piracy and loss of revenues to content owners.
The leak of an episode of GOT that recently happened in India, courtesy Prime Focus Tech, Indian host broadcaster Star India’s technology vendor, brought to the fore that the menace is closer home and will grow in coming days. And it happened just in the week – or after Hotstar – started a high decibel media campaign urging viewers to stop downloading torrents and go for originals on the streaming VOD service. The comnsumer – it seemed – was cocking a snook at its suggestions, though the leak happened through its vendor-partner.
Earlier, it was primarily the Indian film industry that was battling online pirates through John Doe court orders and blocking of some websites. But now, it seems, the whole entertainment industry needs to come together with policy makers to put up a joint front against piracy. More importantly, admission of the fact that the scourge has arrived on Indian shores and will spread in the coming years more aggressively, will only help drive anti-piracy initiatives.
It’s not that initiatives against piracy are not taking place, but they are individual acts. “There are various industry bodies operating in the M&E sector in India and since there can’t be divergent views on tackling piracy, it’s high time a single coalition is formed by all industry stakeholders in partnership with government, which will help align business interests in a common mission,” said Viacom18 Media group general counsel and company secretary Sujeet Jain, one of the industry execs at the forefront in the fight against piracy.
Why the fight against online piracy is imperative and India must start taking counter measures to safeguard against revenue losses?
Sample some figures. Singapore-based market research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA) recently estimated that the Indian online video industry generated approximately $ 230 million in total sales in 2016 and could reach approximately $340 million in 2017. Online video revenues, including net advertising and subscription fees, will grow at a 21 per cent CAGR across the Apac region between 2017 and 2022, climbing from US$17.6 billion in 2017 to US$46 billion by 2022, MPA reported.
Data revenues across fixed and mobile networks in Apac will reach $318 billion by 2022 and average mobile broadband penetration will reach 73 per cent per capita by 2022 versus 59 per cent in 2017, with some of the biggest growth coming from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Indian regulator TRAI’s figures state till May-June this year India had 282 million wireless and 18.33 million wired broadband subs.
While acknowledging the potential of the Indian online video market and its weaknesses for breaches, a TV exec, on the condition of anonymity, pointed out that lack of cohesion and unity is stopping various industry associations to come together under one umbrella for anti-piracy activities. The need for finances to keep such an initiative afloat is an impediment too.
For example, a body called Copyright Force was announced last year with much fanfare with few Indian and foreign industry associations promising to collaborate on anti-piracy measures. But, recently a senior government official in the Ministry of Commerce, which oversees IPR-related policy-making, told indiantelevision.com that he had not heard about Copyright Force, but some individual media companies were in regular touch.
Writing a blog on the need to uphold IPR, Viacom18’s Jain very aptly had pointed out programs such as Digital Bharat may not achieve the desired results if online piracy is not curbed as IPR enforcement for the M&E industry was no less important than IP assets emerging from innovations and R&D from other sectors and for India to be globally successful, it must ensure safeguards against IPR breaches.
While the government admits India is a big and complex market, officials also point out efforts are on to evolve an ecosystem where IPR is respected and online piracy is arrested, if not totally demolished as even more developed markets are finding it difficult to plug such loopholes – leakage of GOT episodes from various parts of the globe being an example.
A senior government official also told indiantelevision.com that the Commerce Ministry is in touch with organizations like the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Electronics and IT and Ministry of Law to amend some of the existing relevant legislations (The Cinematograph Act, 1952, the IT Act and the Copyright Act, for instance) to update them in the modern context.
However, the government also expects the Indian M&E industry and related industry associations to give it exhaustive and cohesive feedbacks and suggestions to help framing of futuristic legislations to fight piracy and uphold sanctity of IPRs. Probably, such a united approach is not coming forth from the industry, even while piecemeal suggestions are being given to the government.
That raises another question: how is the issue of IPR piracy is being sought to be addressed in other parts of the world?
The UK has PIPCU or the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, which is funded by the Intellectual Property Office and run by the City of London Police to combat this criminality, with a special focus on offences committed online. Australia has a controversial, but stringent law against piracy. In Asia, various countries have different standards, but collaborate with media associations like Hong Kong-based CASBAA to crack down on pirates through jointly funded legal recourse and high-pitch anti-awareness campaigns.
In June this year, 30 global content creators and on-demand entertainment companies launched an industry coalition called Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market for creative content and reducing online piracy.The worldwide members of ACE include Amazon, AMC Networks, BBC Worldwide, Bell Canada and Bell Media, Canal+ Group, CBS Corporation, Foxtel, Grupo Globo, HBO, Hulu, Lionsgate, MGM, Millennium Media, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sky, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Studio Babelsberg, STX Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Univision Communications Inc., Village Roadshow, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros Entertainment Inc with Star India being the lone Indian member.
A spokesperson of ACE told indiantelevision.com that though it’d welcome more Indian companies (apart from Star), it has no India-specific initiative on its agenda at the moment. One wonders why not? Certainly ACE with its money and influencing power – some of its supporters do have large business exposure in the Indian market – can contribute a lot in terms of international practices that could help the Commerce Ministry in framing and pushing more effective anti-piracy measures; the existence and contribution of TIPCU or Telengana Intellectual Property Crime Unit or Maharashtra’s online Cyber crime division, notwithstanding.
If, according to MPA, India, Japan, Australia, Korea and Taiwan will emerge as the markets (apart from market leader China) with the most scale in online video revenues and distribution, can the pirates be far behind back home?
Jain conservatively estimated large and medium sized pirate networks in India can generate between $2-6 million per annum, but another Indian M&E industry exec said the loss due to piracy could be in high double digit millions of dollars. Incidentally, the Indian government doesn’t have a figure of revenue losses due to online piracy. If it has, that figure hasn’t been made public.
So, if there’s one war that the Indian M&E industry and the government need to take cognizance of – it’s already here – it could very well be the fight against online piracy.
Certainly, piracy cannot be bandied as an achievement of the government’s much touted Make In India and/or Made In India programmes.
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iWorld
Diljit Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati tour generates Rs 943 crore impact
EY report says 14 concerts across 13 cities sparked jobs, tourism and spending
MUMBAI: What began as a music tour quickly turned into an economic crescendo. The India leg of Diljit Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati tour has generated a measurable economic impact of nearly Rs 943 crore, according to a socio-economic impact report prepared by EY.
Spread across two months in late 2024, the tour travelled through 13 cities with 14 performances, drawing more than 3.2 lakh fans and selling out shows in roughly 10 minutes on average.
The concerts began in New Delhi on October 26 and wrapped up with a New Year’s Eve finale in Ludhiana, the singer’s hometown. In between, the Punjabi superstar turned stages across cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Guwahati into high-energy gatherings where music, fandom and travel blended into a nationwide spectacle.
According to the EY analysis, the tour generated Rs 276 crore in direct revenue for organisers through ticket sales, sponsorships and food and beverage spending at venues. Indirect spending by fans pushed the economic ripple effect even further, contributing an estimated Rs 553 crore through travel, accommodation, tourism and shopping.
Government revenues added another Rs 114 crore, including Rs 111 crore in GST and around Rs 2.5 crore in local permissions and fees.
Ticket sales were the main driver, accounting for about 80 per cent of direct revenue, with prices ranging from Rs 2,499 for silver tickets to as much as Rs 60,000 for premium lounge access. The gold category emerged as the most popular, generating more than half of the ticketing revenue.
The concerts were not just local gatherings. Nearly 38 per cent of attendees travelled from other cities to catch the shows, turning the tour into a travel magnet. Many extended their trips by two to three days, boosting hotel stays, dining and tourism activities in host cities.
Air and rail travel together accounted for around 70 per cent of inter-city travel costs linked to the concerts, while nearly half of travelling fans stayed with friends or family.
Cities hosting the tour also saw noticeable spikes in travel bookings. Flight bookings to Chandigarh, for instance, rose by about 300 per cent year on year around the concert dates, while cities such as Delhi, Ahmedabad and Indore saw booking growth of roughly 100 per cent.
Beyond the stage lights and thumping speakers, the tour also created a significant employment surge. The report estimates that more than 118,000 man-days of work were generated, including about 69,000 direct man-days and over 48,000 indirect man-days across sectors such as security, logistics, hospitality and technical production.
Security, safety and crowd management alone accounted for roughly half of the direct employment created during the concerts, reflecting the scale of operations required to stage such large events.
More than 15 brands partnered with the tour, turning concerts into a playground for creative marketing. From themed merchandise drops to experiential campaigns and exclusive ticket access deals, companies tapped into the singer’s massive fan base to amplify their reach.
The official ticketing platform recorded over 62.5 lakh visitors during the sales window and processed more than 1.2 lakh ticket orders, underscoring the intense demand for live events anchored by home-grown artists.
The tour also doubled as a cultural roadshow. At each stop, Dosanjh embraced local traditions, sampled regional cuisine and showcased India’s diversity through his social media posts and stage interactions, turning concert stops into mini travel diaries.
For the wider entertainment industry, the Dil-Luminati tour is being seen as a marker of how large-scale live concerts can drive economic activity well beyond the stage. The report suggests that India’s live music sector could grow rapidly in the coming years as demand for large events continues to surge.
In other words, the Dil-Luminati tour did more than fill stadiums. It moved crowds, boosted city economies and showed that when live music hits the right note, the ripple travels far beyond the final encore.
