Overview Of Media & Business Environment.

-By NADIM AHMED

Media and Entertainment Business in INDIA.

The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is a sunrise sector for the economy and is making high growth strides.

The media and entertainment industry has poised to grow at a CAGR 13.9 percent, to grow from INR1026 billion in 2014 to INR1964 billion by 2019.

India’s entertainment and media sector is expected to grow steadily over the next five years as per CII-PwC’s report, titled ‘India Entertainment & Media Outlook 2014’.

Proving its resilience to the world, the Indian M&E sector is on the cusp of a strong phase of growth, backed by rising consumer payments and advertising revenues across all sectors.

India’s entertainment and media sector is expected to grow steadily over the next five years as per CII-PwC’s report, titled ‘India Entertainment & Media Outlook 2014’. The industry is expected to exceed Rs 227,000 crore (US$ 36.49 billion) by 2018, growing at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent between 2013 and 2018.

The media and entertainment industry in India consists of many different segments under its folds such as television, print, and films. It also includes smaller segments like radio, music, OOH, television, animation, gaming and visual effects (VFX) and Internet advertising.

Entertainment industry in India has registered an explosive growth in last two decades making it one of the fastest growing industries in India.

Lets gets started in detail about various sectors/parts of M&E WORLD…

PRINT MEDIAFor about 600 years printing has been the basic tool

of mass communication, storing and dissemination of information and knowledge.

The modern printing in India originated in Goa in 1550 by Spanish Coadjutor, Brother John de Bustamante, also known as Indian Gutenberg.

In India the concept of the freedom of the press can be referred back to the Mughal Era.

The first attempt to start a newspaper in India was made in Kolkata in 1766 by William Bolts, the well known author of consideration on Indian Affairs.

Cont.…The first major newspaper in India—The Bengal

Gazette—was started in 1780 under the British Raj by James Augustus Hickey.

Other newspapers such as The India Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Madras Courier (1785), The Bombay Herald (1789) etc. soon followed.

The Times of India was founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Company, a colonial enterprise now owned by an Indian conglomerate.

 The Times Group publishes The Economic Times (launched in 1961), Navbharat Times (Hindi language), and the Maharashtra Times (Marathi language).

Cont.…

In the 1950s 214 daily newspapers were published in the country.

This number rose to 2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209 English dailies.

The total number of newspapers published in the country reached 35,595 newspapers by 1993 (3,805 dailies).

Print Media mainly consists of :

oNewspapers oMagazines

NEWSPAPER

Indian newspaper evolution is nearly unmatched in the world of Indian press history.

Today the structure of Indian print media maintains a product line which is amazingly diverse array of languages, management setup, topics and news contents.

The rapid challenges being faced today and to be faced in near future need dynamic and quick adaptation for the growth and effective survival of Indian print media.

The Indian newspapers are compelled to delicately balance the twin challenges namely how best they can adapt to and gain from digital distribution and advertising revenue and how to meet the state of fourth estate.

In India almost all big newspapers are accessible through internet and provide up-to-date information not only related to India but also around the globe.

The distortion, disinformation, ‘paid news syndrome’ have aimed to gain certain interest and suppression of news and concerns of other interests have became a usual feature in India.

Some of the top newspapers: (Regional)

Some of the top English newspapers:

Top 10 INDIAN dailies according to their circulation:

Top dailies and their owners: NEWSPAPERS OWNERS / MANAGING

DIRECTORS1) DAINIK BHASKAR Dainik bhaskar group.

M.D – Sudhir Agarwal.2) HINDUSTHAN TIMES HT Media

Editor-in-chief – Sanjoy Narayan3)MALAYALA MANORAMA Malayala Manorasma Company Ltd.

Editor-in-chief – Mammen Mathew4) AMAR UJALA Amar Ujala Publications Ltd.

M.D – Rajul Maheshwari5) THE TIMES OF INDIA Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd.

M.D - Vineet Jain 6) LOKMAT Lokmat Media Ltd

Editor-in-Chief - Vijay Darda7) DINA THANTHI Daily Thanthi Group

Cont…

8) RAJASTHAN PATRIKA Rajasthan Patrika Pvt Ltd.M.D – Nihar Kothari

9) MATRUBHUMI The Matrubhumi Printing & Publishiung Company Ltd.M.D – M.P. Veerendra Kumar

10) DAINIK BHASKAR Dainik Bhaskar GroupM.D - Sudhir Agarwal

Key facts about the Indian Print Media Industry in the year 2014-15 :

Newspaper continued to be the biggest contributor to the revenue of print industry in 2014 which stood close to be 95 percent of total print revenue.

In 2014, the print industry witnessed rapid expansion in the regional markets in the term of both circulation & advertisement revenues.

Total circulation of Hindi publications reached 226.4 million and vernacular publication touched 147 million far greater than that of English publications which stood still at 64.4 million in 2013-14.

In the year 2015 it is expected to grow at the rate of 8 percent and touch INR 284 billion by the end of year.

It is expected that print industry contributes 19.7 percent to M&E Industry by year 2019.

Sorce : FICCI-KPGM 2015

Revenue sources for newspapers:

Advertising: Advertising holds a significant part in total revenue pie chart and continues to be the growth driver of the industry. Advertising industry is expected to exhibit higher growth rate owing to the macroeconomic environment. The print sectors share in the overall advertisement pie remains the higher than other forms of media. Having grown by 8.5 per cent in 2014, the print advertising revenue crossed INR176 billion. The advertising revenue have grown at CAGR of 8.8 percent. The advertisement revenues have continued to be the main source of revenues for the print industry, contributing 67 per cent to the industries revenue.

Circulation: Circulation is the most common way of distribution of newspapers in India. Circulation revenue was higher than advertising for Hindi and English markets last year. The industry has witnessed noticeably uptrend in earnings, with one of the reasons being an increase in circulation revenues of major players. The industry witnessed 7.9 per cent rise on the circulation revenue. This growth is coming from Tier II and Tier III cities with regional language editions.

What is Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) ?Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is one of the several

organisations of the same name operating in different parts of world.

The ABC founded in 1948 is a not for profit, voluntary organisation consisting of Publishers, Advertisers and Advertising Agencies. It has done pioneering work in developing audit procedures to verify the circulation data published by those newspapers and periodicals which have earned the right to display its emblem.

ABC as it is called and understood by all, is a founder member of the International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations. The main function of ABC is to evolve, lay down a standard and uniform procedure by which a member publisher shall compute its net paid sales. The circulation figure so arrived at is checked and certified by a firm of Chartered Accountants which are approved by the Bureau. The Bureau issues ABC certificates every six months to those publishers whose circulation figures confirm to the rules and regulations as set out by the Bureau.

The Bureau (ABC) certifies circulation figures of member publications every six months i.e. for the audit periods January to June and July to December. The Audits of circulation figures are carried out by empanelled firms of Chartered Accountants as per the prescribed Bureau's audit guidelines and procedures.

Qualifications required for publications to be the part of ABC membership:

The Publisher should be a Member of Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and the Publications should be registered with Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI).

Publisher members must maintain essential books and records to facilitate a proper ABC audit and also appoint an independent firm of Chartered Accountants from amongst the approved panel of auditors named by ABC. Admission of publishers to ABC membership is subject to a satisfactory admission audit. ABC has a system of recheck audit and surprise check audits of publications to be carried out as and when ABC deems appropriate.

The Bureau certifies audited Net Paid circulation figures of publications enrolled with it for a continuous and definite six-monthly audit periods and supplies copies of the ABC Certificates issued for such publications to each member. Free distribution and bulk sales are also shown on the certificates provided the relevant records are adequately maintained. Such records are checked and facts and figures are scrutinized by impartial Auditors, and only then is the Certificate of Net Paid Circulation issued.

Challenges faced by Newspapers :

MAGAZINES

Most magazines look more or less the same at first glance, but Consumer: magazines targeting general reading audiences who are subsets of the general public with special interests.

There are consumer magazines that cover homes, sports, news, fashion, teen gossip, and many more groups of readers.

The government passed the Gagging Act of 1847and the Vernacular Press Act in 1876.

Trade and professional magazines targeted  people working in trades, businesses and professional fields. These periodicals provide news, information and how-to articles for readers working in specific industries with advertising content focused on those industries or trades including job notices.

In 2014 though newspapers total print revenue was close to 95 percent, magazines category struggled to share 5 percent of the total revenue pie.

While general interest magazines recorded a dip in their growth, niche magazines holded strong among both readers and advertisers.

Several magazines players have now launched digital version of their magazines either in the form of mobile app or e-magazine.

With the rise of vernacular dailies the size of the magazines segment in the overall revenue pie is expected to shrink in the coming years.

According to latest research, in recent years general interest magazines are losing readerships steadily and this backfall is expected to grow in coming years.

While, niche magazines are earning well by targeting particular segment for limited readership audiences at high cover price.

Challenges in Print Media :

1) There is lack of a robust measurement standard. Hence there is a need for a measurement standard that can offer an analysis across socio economic classes across regions of the country experiencing different levels of growth.

2) There is serious need of re-skilling of talent to adapt to organisational changes. Companies need to strike a right balance & adopt a mixed strategy to embed the digital culture within the organisation by investing in adequate training.

3) Current regional and vernacular competitive languages restricts organic growth.

Sources & References:FOR NOTES:• Wikipedia• www.indianbusiness.nic.in• www.kpmg.com• www.makeinindia.com• Shainasnotebook.blogspot.in

FOR IMAGES:• FICCI FRAMES 2015 Charts & Graphs.