Atul Jain: The future is streaming

Growing adoption of smartphones is leading to personalisation of content

The recent report put out by Ficci at its last Frames conference states the Indian media and entertainment sector is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of of 14.3 per cent to touch Rs 2.26 trillion by 2020. Buoyed by these facts and forecasts, major cinema theatre companies have been on an acquisition and consolidation spree. PVR acquired DT Cinemas while Cinepolis, a Mexican chain of movie theatres, found it worth their while to acquire E-City Ventures’ Fun Cinemas. Inox, the second largest owner of screens, acquired Fame Cinemas and Satyam Cineplexes. Now that’s Scene 1 of the entertainment serial.

While movie outings continue to be popular, the urban pressure cooker lifestyles of people make them hard-pressed for time. This, along with the digital revolution, is altering the way entertainment — be it movies or serials or sporting action — is getting consumed by viewers. Now unfolds Scene-II, where the stage has changed and the props are completely different. The entertainment industry is being driven by increasing digitisation and higher internet usage. Smartphones have become, well smarter, which means they have almost become mainstream medium for entertainment. Entertainment is now therefore a social engagement or an intensely personal experience and consumers get to choose. The two are at opposite ends of the spectrum, yet now appear to coexist.

The increasing emphasis on user experience and the deployment of artificial intelligence today mean that entertainment on your smartphone can be personalised to an extent that was unimaginable before. This has led to spiralling demand for content that can be consumed on-the-go . This accounts for the recent spate of investments in online content companies. US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management LLC acquired a 25 per cent stake in The Viral Fever, an online video content creator. Similarly, Balaji Telefilms Limited has raised Rs 150.08 crore to fast track the growth of ALT Digital Media, a digital content business segment of the group.

As high-speed internet connectivity becomes freely available and with nearly one-fifth of the India’s 1.3 billion population now online, another development has set on fire the digital content consumption story. As user demand for consuming content-on-the-go increases, network providers have stoked the flames by offering reasonable (read low or no cost) data packages. Reliance has been leading that with its Jio Sim offering. And as a media house, Reliance is betting big on content too. Airtel and Vodafone too have joined the telcos’ content war with apps that provide access to different content libraries.

This is the gold mine that is being happily exploited by content apps such as YouTube, Hotstar, Netflix, Apple Music, Saavn and Hungama.

If telcos and content App brands like Voot and Hotstar are engaged in a fierce war for Indian consumers’ attention, can screen manufacturers or smartphone and TV companies be far behind? It is believed that the next battle for smartphone domination will be fought on the battlefield of integrated services, which will include content streaming increasing usability for users.

These are exciting times. Cinema will still continue to beckon viewers, because who can ignore the magic of the big screen and the hush of darkened theatres before the movie begins. We are at the intersection of hardware and software and from here onwards, an ecosystem approach will perhaps lead the way.