Exclusive and premium content is the key to succeed in the digital world. India was fast moving towards digitization but monetizing digital content was still a challenge for stakeholders. The key players in the sector were now engaging the audience to grab a bigger share of the digital market.
This was the shared view of Mr. Aroon Purie, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, The India Today Group; Mr. Arthur Bastings, President and Managing Director, Discovery Asia-Pacific; Mr. Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18; Mr. Siddharth Roy Kapur, Managing Director, Disney India; Mr. Vikram Chandra, Executive Director & CEO, NDTV Group and Mr. Neeraj Roy, CEO, Hungama, in a session on ‘Change or Perish: Surviving the Digital Divide’ at the 17th edition of FICCI FRAMES.
Mr. Purie said that there was a need for improvement in analytics of consumer behaviour in media to create relevant and quality content. The fundamentals have remained same for digital which was content needs to be exclusive. He added that today organisations do not have a choice and need to adopt digital given that the number of consumers of the medium was humungous.
Mr. Bastings said that in the digital sector, the players were still looking for a way to drive the emerging medium. The business plans were still evolving. He added that the consumption measurement system of television was bad and there was a need for a better and more reliable method.
Mr. Vats said that on the digital platform it was easier to measure and gauge the number of actual users, track the content consumption and pattern of consumer behaviour in comparison to traditional media like television, where the consumer behaviour was based on a small sample of consumers.
Speaking on the relevance of the big screen in the era of emerging digital platforms, Mr. Kapur said that cinema was being consumed on small screens but big screens will continue to exist. However, the type of content will play a critical role while audience will decide to choose a medium to watch a movie.
Mr. Chandra said that with a correct mind set it was possible to monetize digital content. It must be realized that online was a separate entity. Content must be created keeping in mind the consumption behaviour which can be measured by analysing the number of site visits and preferences of consumers.
Mr. Roy said that the digital platform was on the cusp of a transformation which would be driven by innovative content, technology and distribution and monetization. He added that micro payment was the future as digital consumption was increasing and micro transactions were taking place.
The session was moderated by Mr. Pranjal Sharma, Editorial and Knowledge Advisor – The Outstanding Speakers’ Bureau.
