Before the recent slowdown, an ebullient economy, along with favorable demographics, meant that the entertainment & media sector was one of the fastest growing in the country. Rapid expansion, buoyed in part of record advertising revenues led to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16% during 2004-08.
Price Water House Coopers'(PWC) recently launched annual report on the E&M industry preicts that the sector will record a CAGR of 10.5% during 2010-2013. The print media is also expected to grow with the launch of new magazines & steady growth in newspaper publications which accounts for the majority of the segment.
However its emerging media segment such as the Internet & the digitised content platforms, that are set to grow drastically. Such predictions are hardly new but whether or not digital content can transform the E&M scene like in the West remains to be seen. KPMG's report on the E&M industry earlier this year too hailed digital content both print & interactive as a possible way forward. But while news publications have increasingly gone online for free, interactive media platforms such as games & movies are yet to make a real impact. One reason to remain cautious about Internet advertising is that many Indians simply do not have adequate access to the Internet at reasonable prices but this is set to improve with additional investment.
PWC's bright picture of the E&M industry in India augurs well for investors both foreign & domestic who still believe in the region's growth potential. India has whethered the global recession better than most countries. Its GDP grew by 5.8% during the last quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007 & by the same amount in the first quarter of 2009, which is encouraging for those who link GDP with ad spends. However with the decline in per capita income levels post-slowdown from 6.9% in 2007-08 to 1.4% in 2008-09 it makes one wonder whether or not consumer sentiments have changed after the recent slump.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
World at your fingertips
When a friend of mine lost her Nokia handset in January, her life seemed to come to a standstill- not because of the cost of acquiring a new phone, but because her lifeline to the world was cut off. Apart from calls, her mobile had allowed her to check her e-mail, update her Facebook profile,send text messages through MSN messenger & also play video games. And when she travelled, she could Google for her information research- all done, while she walked, talked & surfed.
Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in India's Tier 2 & Tier 3 towns, are at the epicenter of a wireless revolution. 2 years ago, Internet access meant cyber cafes or a PC at home with bad Internet connection. Or, if you were lucky, you could get an occasional peek in someone's office. But now, all that is changing with the mobile Internet revolution, which is slowly overtaking the country. In a sense, even in the remotest part of India, access to the worldwide net is at your fingertips because of the cellphone. For consumers, mobile service providers & cellular manufacturers, a magic box of infinite opportunities has been opened.
Cell phone connections in Tier 2 & Tier 3 towns are growing. Data from Cellular Operators' Association of India shows that, in January 2010, Tier 2 had 150.7 million subscribers as compared to 99 million in January 2009. Similarly, the Tier 3 subscriber base has risen from 34 million in January 2009 to 59 million in January 2010. A study conducted by the Internet & Mobile Association of India & IMRB in January 2010 found that 127 million subscribers in India use the Internet through their mobile devices. While online communication is the main attraction, 60% of them use mobile Internet for social networking or m-blogging too, while 23% use it for information research.
"The misconception that Indian consumers only want to talk on the mobile is wrong," says Alok Goel, product manager, mobile, Google India. "Falling GPRS prices have seen a massive rise in data usage over mobile phones. The industry is growing & innovative packages are needed to attract consumers."
Within the Tier 2 & Tier 3 segments, 70% of mobile Internet consumers fall in the age group of 18-35 & use mobile Internet to access google.com, orkut.com, yahoo.com, gmail.com, rediff.com, wikipedia.org, songs.pk etc, for chatting, social networking, search & mobile blogging. Quite a few mobile Internet users, like farmers, use mobile Internet to access data on land records, feed prices & weather reports. One factor that has contributed to this growing trend has been the falling prices of general packet, radio service ready, mobile handsets. One priced at Rs. 10,000, a GPRS-enabled mobile phone handset can be acquired now for as low as Rs.4000-Rs.6000.
All this is happening because in terms of reach, mobile handsets have, to a significant extent, penetrated the remotest areas in the country, making anything accessible. And the race has now started among mobile service operators to provide a host of value addition services. Cellular manufacturers are also coming up with more and more innovative products that can satisfy consumer demand for information on the move. Cellular companies such as Airtel, Tata Docomo & Aircel are hoping to lure customers from Tier 2 & Tier 3 areas to avail of their services with tariffs of less than Rs.100 a month. Aircel's Rs.98 per month pocket Internet card allows unlimited browsing, gaming & music. Airtel's data plan for Rs.95 per month also is specifically targeted at Tier 2 & Tier 3 towns, where broadband connectivity is poor.
Tata Docomo has gone one step further. Its monthly pack for Rs.48 has a 30-day validity, with 100 MB transfer during the day & 2 GB transfer during the night. Other offers also include a package of Rs.5 per day for unlimited Internet access.
Approximately 45% of consumers opt for GPRS. It's mostly teenagers who go for social networking & mobile Internet is their best option to keep in touch anywhere all the time.
To meet this demand, many cellular operators are opening their own application stores, where customers can download what they want on their GPRS handsets. Aircel has tied up with Infosys to produce a range of applications for Aircel's customers, whereby Infosys will provide the IT backbone & software. Airtel plans to use IBM's service development platform from a host of 100 companies such as Indiagames, Mobile2Win, Versa, Symbiotic, Pyro, Hungama & OnMobile, to provide applications & services for its customers.
Customers today want a variety of applications because it's no longer just walk and talk, it's much more with personal requests. Through these applications, the consumers have the power to choose what they want to have & live their lives the way they want to, at the click of a button.
Mobile phone manufacturers too are in the race. Nokia, with 1,80,000 developers, is witnessing over 1 million downloads everyday. So popular is its app store Ovi, that Nokia is templating a desi version, with content in local languages, for the Indian market. Others like Samsung, RIM, Motorola & Sony Ericsson are all set to launch their app stores in India soon.
People are looking for a converged multimedia device that will suffice their growing communications & entertainment needs & give them instant access to the external world. People in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities & towns have started realising the utility of owning a mobile device & are moving from voice & SMS to a host of value added services. Rural VAS, such as commodity pricing, holds huge potential.
With cellular companies offering cheap & innovative plans, where consumers can access the world anywhere, demand for mobile Internet is expected to skyrocket. So, be it cellular operators, cellphone manufacturers or even consumers- the world now revolves around someone's fingertips.
Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in India's Tier 2 & Tier 3 towns, are at the epicenter of a wireless revolution. 2 years ago, Internet access meant cyber cafes or a PC at home with bad Internet connection. Or, if you were lucky, you could get an occasional peek in someone's office. But now, all that is changing with the mobile Internet revolution, which is slowly overtaking the country. In a sense, even in the remotest part of India, access to the worldwide net is at your fingertips because of the cellphone. For consumers, mobile service providers & cellular manufacturers, a magic box of infinite opportunities has been opened.
Cell phone connections in Tier 2 & Tier 3 towns are growing. Data from Cellular Operators' Association of India shows that, in January 2010, Tier 2 had 150.7 million subscribers as compared to 99 million in January 2009. Similarly, the Tier 3 subscriber base has risen from 34 million in January 2009 to 59 million in January 2010. A study conducted by the Internet & Mobile Association of India & IMRB in January 2010 found that 127 million subscribers in India use the Internet through their mobile devices. While online communication is the main attraction, 60% of them use mobile Internet for social networking or m-blogging too, while 23% use it for information research.
"The misconception that Indian consumers only want to talk on the mobile is wrong," says Alok Goel, product manager, mobile, Google India. "Falling GPRS prices have seen a massive rise in data usage over mobile phones. The industry is growing & innovative packages are needed to attract consumers."
Within the Tier 2 & Tier 3 segments, 70% of mobile Internet consumers fall in the age group of 18-35 & use mobile Internet to access google.com, orkut.com, yahoo.com, gmail.com, rediff.com, wikipedia.org, songs.pk etc, for chatting, social networking, search & mobile blogging. Quite a few mobile Internet users, like farmers, use mobile Internet to access data on land records, feed prices & weather reports. One factor that has contributed to this growing trend has been the falling prices of general packet, radio service ready, mobile handsets. One priced at Rs. 10,000, a GPRS-enabled mobile phone handset can be acquired now for as low as Rs.4000-Rs.6000.
All this is happening because in terms of reach, mobile handsets have, to a significant extent, penetrated the remotest areas in the country, making anything accessible. And the race has now started among mobile service operators to provide a host of value addition services. Cellular manufacturers are also coming up with more and more innovative products that can satisfy consumer demand for information on the move. Cellular companies such as Airtel, Tata Docomo & Aircel are hoping to lure customers from Tier 2 & Tier 3 areas to avail of their services with tariffs of less than Rs.100 a month. Aircel's Rs.98 per month pocket Internet card allows unlimited browsing, gaming & music. Airtel's data plan for Rs.95 per month also is specifically targeted at Tier 2 & Tier 3 towns, where broadband connectivity is poor.
Tata Docomo has gone one step further. Its monthly pack for Rs.48 has a 30-day validity, with 100 MB transfer during the day & 2 GB transfer during the night. Other offers also include a package of Rs.5 per day for unlimited Internet access.
Approximately 45% of consumers opt for GPRS. It's mostly teenagers who go for social networking & mobile Internet is their best option to keep in touch anywhere all the time.
To meet this demand, many cellular operators are opening their own application stores, where customers can download what they want on their GPRS handsets. Aircel has tied up with Infosys to produce a range of applications for Aircel's customers, whereby Infosys will provide the IT backbone & software. Airtel plans to use IBM's service development platform from a host of 100 companies such as Indiagames, Mobile2Win, Versa, Symbiotic, Pyro, Hungama & OnMobile, to provide applications & services for its customers.
Customers today want a variety of applications because it's no longer just walk and talk, it's much more with personal requests. Through these applications, the consumers have the power to choose what they want to have & live their lives the way they want to, at the click of a button.
Mobile phone manufacturers too are in the race. Nokia, with 1,80,000 developers, is witnessing over 1 million downloads everyday. So popular is its app store Ovi, that Nokia is templating a desi version, with content in local languages, for the Indian market. Others like Samsung, RIM, Motorola & Sony Ericsson are all set to launch their app stores in India soon.
People are looking for a converged multimedia device that will suffice their growing communications & entertainment needs & give them instant access to the external world. People in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities & towns have started realising the utility of owning a mobile device & are moving from voice & SMS to a host of value added services. Rural VAS, such as commodity pricing, holds huge potential.
With cellular companies offering cheap & innovative plans, where consumers can access the world anywhere, demand for mobile Internet is expected to skyrocket. So, be it cellular operators, cellphone manufacturers or even consumers- the world now revolves around someone's fingertips.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
MANANIMITY- Sometimes it is a loss
This is an incident when I was around 15 years old. I had gone to purchase some daily need items with my Father. There at the shop I chose to remain outside the shop as there was rush in the shop. So my Father went inside the shop leaving me outside in our car. Then a small boy approximately of age 10-11 years came to me. He then began asking for 1 or 2 rupees from me. He said that he has lost his Parents & now there is none to take care of him. So he need money to satisfy his hunger. I got very much touched by his condition so I gave him a coin of Rs.2.
On the same day I happened to cross the same place at night around 11:30 P.M. I was with my family & we were returning to home after attending a marriage. I coincidentally saw the same boy playing the game of cards with some other people including the kids of his age as well as some adults. The boy was also smoking & the other persons were consuming liquor. Some money was also there. I suppose that they were gambling at cards.
I described the whole incident to my brother. He just smiled and said sometimes magnanimity gets converted into losses & misfortunes for some persons. By this incident I realized that no matter I got satisfaction that by helping that boy I have done a great job but my magnanimous behavior proved a loss & misfortune for that small boy as he wasted the money collected by so many people like me in his misdeeds & wrong doings & this is not only a loss & misfortune for the future of that small boy but also a loss & misfortune for the future of our nation as the young boys & girls are the future of our nation.
Everyday a lot of persons like me encourage begarry knowingly or unknowingly in one or the other way. I agree that some beggars are really in need of money & beggary is the only option before them to make their both ends meet. But a lot of other people try to take advantage of the magnanimous behavior of human beings & try to make money without much efforts. So it becomes a duty & responsibility of every citizen of India to try to help only those beggars who are actually in need of money & the government plus the citizens should try to help sending the kids who are beggars to some orphanages or NGOs so that these kids can become the assets of India & not the liabilities of India.
On the same day I happened to cross the same place at night around 11:30 P.M. I was with my family & we were returning to home after attending a marriage. I coincidentally saw the same boy playing the game of cards with some other people including the kids of his age as well as some adults. The boy was also smoking & the other persons were consuming liquor. Some money was also there. I suppose that they were gambling at cards.
I described the whole incident to my brother. He just smiled and said sometimes magnanimity gets converted into losses & misfortunes for some persons. By this incident I realized that no matter I got satisfaction that by helping that boy I have done a great job but my magnanimous behavior proved a loss & misfortune for that small boy as he wasted the money collected by so many people like me in his misdeeds & wrong doings & this is not only a loss & misfortune for the future of that small boy but also a loss & misfortune for the future of our nation as the young boys & girls are the future of our nation.
Everyday a lot of persons like me encourage begarry knowingly or unknowingly in one or the other way. I agree that some beggars are really in need of money & beggary is the only option before them to make their both ends meet. But a lot of other people try to take advantage of the magnanimous behavior of human beings & try to make money without much efforts. So it becomes a duty & responsibility of every citizen of India to try to help only those beggars who are actually in need of money & the government plus the citizens should try to help sending the kids who are beggars to some orphanages or NGOs so that these kids can become the assets of India & not the liabilities of India.
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