News Broadcasting
Disney’s Bird stresses importance of non linear content
MUMBAI: One of the media conglomerates looking at India in a major way is Disney. Walt Disney International president Andy Bird spoke on the importance of compelling content as well as the increasing importance of non linear content.
” Linear content is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Finding Nemo is not just available on DVD but also on wireless, Internet. Content creators need to identify multiple consumer touch points. We see a huge opportunity in the Indian animation arena, which is valued at $1 billion. This segment will grow in India at 30 per cent. Besides film and television animation the industry also needs to focus on other areas of the field like games, advertising, music videos, mobile content. India represents a huge opportunity as you’ll have 340 million children below the age of 15.
“60 per cent of your population is below the age of 34. The entertainment sector is experiencing multifaceted growth. The challenge is that while the number of television channels has exploded into three figures just 43 per cent of Indian households are currently being tapped.”
He went on to add that Disney’s job was to tell the best story. Right now, while no direct plans for launching the channel has been put in place, the Disney team at Frames is examining the market and the opportunities. Bird noted that Disney had been providing programmes to the pubcaster Doordarshan for a decade now. Its joint venture ESPN Star Sports now reaches 23 million homes. It has over 50 licensees in the country for its toys and other merchandise.
“The advantage of an emerging market like India is that state of the art technology is implemented straightaway. You do not have to replace old legacy infrastructure systems. One attitudinal change is that the current generation wants all the cool stuff. There is an inbuilt redundancy that they are used to and the good news is that as technology moves forward the prices will keep falling. The challenge is to continuously create compelling and innovative content.”
Taking a different direction was Nielsen Media research International CEO Robert L McCann. While viewing research as a tool for driving growth for broadcasters and advertisers, he said that one of the major challenges facing the company is the increasingly fragmented market especially in the US.
“We need to target finer slices of information. 40 per cent of all shows get a rating of 0.2 due to this problem. The good news is that research technology is getting cheaper going forward,” he said.
Presenting a contrast between the Indian and US landscapes, McCann noted that VCR penetration in India is a mere three per cent. In the US it is as high as 91 per cent. While all US homes have colour televisions, in India only half the urban populace has them. Remote control penetration has similar number in the US, while in India it is just 32 per cent. This will naturally have an effect on the impact of the advertiser. Cable and satellite penetration is 63 per cent for the urban areas while television penetration is higher at 76 per cent.
He said that the Internet had not affected the amount of television people were watching in the US which is around 29 hours a week. However people do not watch more than 15 channels. This number has stayed constant over the past 15 years regardless of channel increase.
Saturation can thus be expected. With increased fragmentation the share of broadcast networks NBC, ABC and CBS have fallen to below 40 per cent. He also emphasised the increasingly important role of personal video recorders. Right now it is available in 3.2 million homes in the US. This figure is expected to go up to over 20 million in 2006.
“This presents a problem for the advertisers and broadcasters. PVRs allow viewers to zap commercials. Today though broadcasters are realising the value of product placement in their shows. Lower subscription rates coupled with easy installation will increase the popularity of PVRs. Another feature of the PVR is that it allows for pausing and then replaying live content. What we found is that 75 per cent of content that is replayed is done so that same day. This way the message of the advertiser is still relevant.”
He also touched upon the issue of reality television. ” The jury is out on whether it can save the broadcast networks. The fact of the matter however is that not all reality content works. The Next Joe Millionaire failed to replicate the success of the original. While reality shows are cheap to make the problem for the syndicate networks is that there is no sign that there are many residual benefits.”
News Broadcasting
Mihir Bhatt appointed as chief content officer at News18 Studios
The media veteran brings two decades of experience across television, digital and radio to one of India’s biggest broadcast networks, Disney+ Hotstar, Discovery+
NEW DELHI: Network18 has a new strategist in the building. Mihir Bhatt, one of Indian media’s more versatile operators, has joined News18 Studios as chief content officer, stepping into a role that will see him shape content strategy, build multi-platform properties and drive brand partnerships across the network.
Bhatt brings more than two decades of experience spanning television, digital and radio, with a track record of doing something rare in Indian media: combining editorial ambition with hard commercial results. At Times Network, where he served as managing editor and chief business officer of Times Influence, he built one of the industry’s more respected content studios, launching marquee properties such as the India Economic Conclave, the Times Now Summit and Leaders of Tomorrow. He also pushed the network into premium OTT territory through tie-ups with Disney+ Hotstar and Discovery+.
His resume stretches well beyond the studio. Bhatt has led Global Investor Summits for multiple state governments, worked alongside the World Economic Forum and played a pivotal role in launching the Indian Pickleball League. Earlier, as editor of Zee Business, he pioneered investor education initiatives that are still cited as industry benchmarks.
At News18 Studios, Bhatt will report to chief executive S Shivakumar and will oversee the studios execution vertical alongside revenue verticals covering emerging markets and campaigns. Sidharth Saini, Hemanth Kumar and Nimar Sarkaria will work under him.
Rahul Joshi, managing director and editor-in-chief of Network18 Group, made the announcement in an internal communication. “Mihir’s ability to build enduring brands, foster strategic partnerships and navigate a rapidly evolving media landscape will be instrumental as we continue to strengthen our position and explore new avenues of growth in the Studios business,” Joshi said.
In a media industry lurching between disruption and reinvention, Network18 has bet on a man who has spent two decades thriving in exactly that chaos. Whether he can do it again, at greater scale, is the question worth watching.
