The opportunity and challenges of taking Indian TV content overseas - Indian Television

The opportunity and challenges of taking Indian TV content overseas

Viacom18 head - distribution & International Business and Sun18 COO- North

Indian broadcasters earn over Rs 10 billion every year from subscription and advertisement revenues and content sales from the International markets. This number has been steadily increasing over the last decade and should continue to grow.

Since this revenue source has started making substantial contributions to the bottom line of broadcasters, it is important for all to understand this opportunity and its related challenges in greater details.

The opportunity of taking Indian television content abroad can be simply explained with the 3 ‘E’s – Enormity of audiences, Emotional link and Economic value.

Enormity of audiences: The estimates for the NRI and PIO populations range between 25-30 million spread over 100 countries. There are more than 25 countries where the Indian overseas population crosses the hundred thousand (100,000) mark, and close to 60 countries where the population is above ten thousand (10,000) individuals. These numbers make for an attractive business opportunity for broadcasters to tap into this audience base. This becomes even more compelling since the Pareto principle applies here perfectly with the top 20 markets (of the 100+countries where Indians reside) accounting for over 80 per cent of the overseas Indian population, making it relatively easier to reach out to the larger audience pools.

Even regional content finds dedicated audiences with large linguistic pockets in countries like Malaysia and Singapore (Tamil), the Middle East (Malayalam), Canada and UK (Punjabi) for example.

Emotional links: Indian content is a very important tool for these communities to connect with their cultural roots. Thus the emotional involvement with Indian content is very high and Indian channels become a ‘must have’ for most of these families, thanks to shared cultural backgrounds.

Economic Value: The economic opportunity for broadcasters becomes significant as many of these large Diaspora markets have a fairly attractive ARPU (average revenue per user) – especially in the context of what the Indian broadcasters are used to back home. Given such high ARPUs, the license fee per channel (at least for the mainline GECs) in UK, US, Middle East etc can range from $1 per sub to as high as $ 7 per sub (especially on some a-la-carte options). This is a very different scenario from the domestic market (in India) where the consumer currently pays less than $4 for 80-100 channels to the cable operator and only a fraction of that gets passed back to the broadcasters.

The economics become even more attractive as the incremental costs to expand into overseas territories are largely limited to transport and marketing costs with content costs being minimal - largely because most Indian broadcasters own the content IP around the world for perpetuity (or at least multiple years in case of movies and events, etc)

However, this opportunity to get incremental revenues is not without its share of challenges. The big challenges impacting this business today are several.

Competition, clutter and bandwidth constraint: Given the attractiveness of the overseas market, most broadcasters after reaching some level of size, scale or maturity in the domestic market look at expanding
operations. However, the platforms (DTH or cable) in most markets cannot dedicate enough bandwidth to distribute all of these services. In many cases the platforms don’t see the need to go beyond offering a few channels and covering only the most critical genres like GECs and Movies. Thus for several channels and especially the late entrants, this reticence is a major entry barrier. And in many markets, very often when platforms add more services to existing packages/bouquets, they are doing so at the same retail price forcing the channels to further divide the revenue pie to accommodate the new players

Advertising opportunity remains limited: For most Indian broadcasters operating in the international arena,
subscription revenues tend to form the larger part of the revenues with the advertising sales revenues playing more of the support role. The key reason for this is the fact that the ‘desi’ channels target only the Diaspora audiences and not the mainstream viewers, thereby limiting the audience base. Given the small base, to keep cost per contact at manageable and affordable levels, the advertising-sales rates are extremely low.

Secondly as competition grows (and fragmentation increases), the same advertising dollar gets divided. And with the considerable slowdown in the global economy in the last few years and the recessionary trends in many of the large markets for Indian channels, that has also impacted the advertising revenues for the Indian broadcasters.

Piracy: This remains a huge and ever increasing threat to revenues for both the broadcasters as well as platforms. Internet streaming as well as the proliferation of many illegitimate OTT services poses a huge
danger for pay TV revenues.

The above challenges, along with the growing cost of local operations in many overseas territories, make it a tough task for many broadcasters looking to expand their international operations.

At Viacom18, in the short span of two years, Colors content has reached audiences in approximately 120 countries using a combination of channel distribution and content sales. For the key markets like the US/Canada, UK, Middle East, South East Asia and Australia/New Zealand/Fiji with their sizeable Indian audiences, we have set up three international feeds and local ad sales operations.

Colors, as a channel, is now distributed in close to 50 countries. This is complimented by our content sales in those markets where our audiences are the local mainstream audiences and not necessarily the Indian Diaspora. With the popularity of Bollywood transcending language and cultural barriers, more audiences are sampling Indian content which is amply demonstrated by the fact that our content is syndicated in 20 foreign languages in over 100 countries and where one of our leading daily soaps will now be produced locally in one of the African countries for the local audiences there – a first for an Indian show. In addition we are also subtitling our feeds in English and other local languages to cater to these mainstream audiences and bolster our subscription and ad-sales revenues.

In the final analysis, the challenges notwithstanding, it is essential for mainline Indian broadcasters to have an international strategy in place, the careful execution of which will result in substantial revenues to compliment their domestic businesses.

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Business beyond borders - taking a global approach - ZDNet

If companies are to flourish, their perspective needs to be global—not only in driving toward higher profits but in their operating principles.

Commentary -As the world becomes more dependent on technology, and as trade borders become seamless, how can boards acquire the tools and skills necessary to be effective and relevant in the global market? In a time of great change, shouldn’t the boardroom transform its internal composition and address the changes that are occurring globally?

One of the board’s responsibilities is to assess, validate and oversee the company’s strategy. It has the fiduciary duty to provide the oversight, governance and platform for the company to build a successful global presence that will stand the test of change and still be on target, on budget and on time. Without the expertise in international business, how can boards today anticipate change in global decision making and execution? How can boards make decisions and assess global trends without the appropriate experience on how to respond to differences between internal corporate culture and the target culture?

How will you keep your eye on the ball if you don’t know the rules of the game?
Going global is similar to embarking on a new adventure, a bold mission, and you are the commander. Consider the Titanic’s tragic encounter with an iceberg on the Northern Atlantic waters in 1912. On a clear night, in a calm sea, under the command of a seasoned captain, disaster struck. Even after warnings of iceberg sightings, disaster struck! However, damage to the ship wasn’t caused by the iceberg’s tip, which rose visibly above the water’s surface. Rather, the fatal damage was caused by the massive section of iceberg, hidden from view, beneath the surface of the water.

This great tragedy serves as a vivid illustration of the dangers that lurk beneath the surface for businesses embarking on global expansion. While every business prepares elaborately for perceptible issues, few businesses take the initiative to develop an awareness and sensitivity to all that lies below, hidden from view, and waiting to cause chaos. It’s the same today as it was in 1912. People don’t know what they don’t know. Worse yet, no one can plan for something that has never been anticipated.

With a less than 50% success rate of middle market US companies going global, boards need to know how to successfully plan and assess opportunities for the company to thrive in a complex and constant changing global economy. If you don’t have the right experience on board to cover all bases, how can you take the responsibility to make a decision that will shape the company’s future?

The motive
By 2020, 95 percent of the world’s customers will be outside of the U.S. To reach global markets companies, and therefore the board, need to adopt a multinational mindset with the drive to not just survive, but to thrive in our ever-flattening business world. Going global is a necessity and not a choice to ponder. The board and the CEOs need to look at the global market, because that’s the only chance for survival. And instead of feeling panic and fear, they should look at the global market as an opportunity.

Multicultural and multinational boards are the new diversity. It is a necessity. No doubt about that. For many companies a big chunk of their revenue originates from outside the United States, yet they have hardly anyone on their board that is either a non-U.S. member or someone with global experience who can guide them through or even bring up the relevant points on global expansion strategies or how to craft successful global actionable decision making. Then there are the companies that are contemplating global expansion, but really have no one on the board to help assess and make the decision. How can companies overcome this barrier to success, and make informed, sustainable and relevant decisions on global strategic growth?

The means
U.S. boards are mostly homogenous from the point of view that members are U.S.-homed and honed. Global and multicultural are the new board skills for a new global world where U.S. companies have to compete. It is not about being risk averse. It is about knowing how to manage risk in global markets, looking at the right data and making decisions that are well grounded. Boards need people with a global perspective, who have the ability, experience and expertise to question assumptions using a global prism, and dive deeper to see what’s underneath the iceberg.

Strategic planning is about leadership while matching resources match against best opportunities. Someone needs to bring the global reality to the board and provide the strategic focus in terms of clarity, cultural expertise and the ‘savoire faire’.

Whether the board is actively participating or merely evaluating the CEO’s plan, international expertise is a necessity. Would you consider having a board without the financial or legal expertise among the directors? Why do boards think that they can make it up as they extemporize an expansion strategy without having anyone from a different country or with any global experience?

You cannot predict the future, but you can position your company to be successful in a changing global business environment. Positioning the company globally, and having the right lens through which to view, forecast and interpret market developments is crucial.

The opportunity: Looking In all the right places
The good news is that global growth challenges can all be overcome using the right planning and execution tools, as well as adding global expertise in the boardroom. This will help dealing with global mindset when doing business internationally, as well as managing employees and executives from another culture.

Whether that candidate possesses direct industry expertise or cross-industry experience, having this global component on your board will add a competitive advantage, and will help manage the risk and set the company on the right track. If you are not aware of the minefields you are likely to encounter, how do you then make informed decisions without people on board that can bring the knowledge, confidence and experience? Who is the person that understands not only the ‘hard facts’, but the soft skills, knowing how to navigate cultures? Since it is what you don’t know that will land you in trouble.

If companies are to flourish, their perspective needs to be global—not only in driving toward higher profits but in their operating principles. Only then will they find a greater understanding of their foreign counterparts, which, through mutual interdependence, can then lead to higher profits. To attain a global perspective, boards need to adapt their current operating principles to a more encompassing, more cosmopolitan viewpoint of business. Much remains to be done in both corporate and entrepreneurial America for this worldwide perspective to take hold, and much is at stake. The very success of the economy in the United States tomorrow depends on the ability of today’s leaders to change thinking patterns by developing a global mindset and strategies that bridge the widening gap of opportunities domestically and abroad. With the right leadership, and the right people in the right places, U.S. businesses can look at the global market and see opportunities, not obstacles.

biography
Mona Pearl is a global strategic business development expert as well as the founder and COO of Beyond A Strategy, Inc., a company providing expertise to plan and implement cost effective and sustainable global growth that improves a company’s bottom line and helps realize seamless international operations. In addition to Beyond A Strategy, Inc., she has also founded and operated 2 additional businesses and sits on the board of several organizations.

View the original article here

Business beyond borders - taking a global approach - ZDNet

If companies are to flourish, their perspective needs to be global—not only in driving toward higher profits but in their operating principles.

Commentary -As the world becomes more dependent on technology, and as trade borders become seamless, how can boards acquire the tools and skills necessary to be effective and relevant in the global market? In a time of great change, shouldn’t the boardroom transform its internal composition and address the changes that are occurring globally?

One of the board’s responsibilities is to assess, validate and oversee the company’s strategy. It has the fiduciary duty to provide the oversight, governance and platform for the company to build a successful global presence that will stand the test of change and still be on target, on budget and on time. Without the expertise in international business, how can boards today anticipate change in global decision making and execution? How can boards make decisions and assess global trends without the appropriate experience on how to respond to differences between internal corporate culture and the target culture?

How will you keep your eye on the ball if you don’t know the rules of the game?
Going global is similar to embarking on a new adventure, a bold mission, and you are the commander. Consider the Titanic’s tragic encounter with an iceberg on the Northern Atlantic waters in 1912. On a clear night, in a calm sea, under the command of a seasoned captain, disaster struck. Even after warnings of iceberg sightings, disaster struck! However, damage to the ship wasn’t caused by the iceberg’s tip, which rose visibly above the water’s surface. Rather, the fatal damage was caused by the massive section of iceberg, hidden from view, beneath the surface of the water.

This great tragedy serves as a vivid illustration of the dangers that lurk beneath the surface for businesses embarking on global expansion. While every business prepares elaborately for perceptible issues, few businesses take the initiative to develop an awareness and sensitivity to all that lies below, hidden from view, and waiting to cause chaos. It’s the same today as it was in 1912. People don’t know what they don’t know. Worse yet, no one can plan for something that has never been anticipated.

With a less than 50% success rate of middle market US companies going global, boards need to know how to successfully plan and assess opportunities for the company to thrive in a complex and constant changing global economy. If you don’t have the right experience on board to cover all bases, how can you take the responsibility to make a decision that will shape the company’s future?

The motive
By 2020, 95 percent of the world’s customers will be outside of the U.S. To reach global markets companies, and therefore the board, need to adopt a multinational mindset with the drive to not just survive, but to thrive in our ever-flattening business world. Going global is a necessity and not a choice to ponder. The board and the CEOs need to look at the global market, because that’s the only chance for survival. And instead of feeling panic and fear, they should look at the global market as an opportunity.

Multicultural and multinational boards are the new diversity. It is a necessity. No doubt about that. For many companies a big chunk of their revenue originates from outside the United States, yet they have hardly anyone on their board that is either a non-U.S. member or someone with global experience who can guide them through or even bring up the relevant points on global expansion strategies or how to craft successful global actionable decision making. Then there are the companies that are contemplating global expansion, but really have no one on the board to help assess and make the decision. How can companies overcome this barrier to success, and make informed, sustainable and relevant decisions on global strategic growth?

The means
U.S. boards are mostly homogenous from the point of view that members are U.S.-homed and honed. Global and multicultural are the new board skills for a new global world where U.S. companies have to compete. It is not about being risk averse. It is about knowing how to manage risk in global markets, looking at the right data and making decisions that are well grounded. Boards need people with a global perspective, who have the ability, experience and expertise to question assumptions using a global prism, and dive deeper to see what’s underneath the iceberg.

Strategic planning is about leadership while matching resources match against best opportunities. Someone needs to bring the global reality to the board and provide the strategic focus in terms of clarity, cultural expertise and the ‘savoire faire’.

Whether the board is actively participating or merely evaluating the CEO’s plan, international expertise is a necessity. Would you consider having a board without the financial or legal expertise among the directors? Why do boards think that they can make it up as they extemporize an expansion strategy without having anyone from a different country or with any global experience?

You cannot predict the future, but you can position your company to be successful in a changing global business environment. Positioning the company globally, and having the right lens through which to view, forecast and interpret market developments is crucial.

The opportunity: Looking In all the right places
The good news is that global growth challenges can all be overcome using the right planning and execution tools, as well as adding global expertise in the boardroom. This will help dealing with global mindset when doing business internationally, as well as managing employees and executives from another culture.

Whether that candidate possesses direct industry expertise or cross-industry experience, having this global component on your board will add a competitive advantage, and will help manage the risk and set the company on the right track. If you are not aware of the minefields you are likely to encounter, how do you then make informed decisions without people on board that can bring the knowledge, confidence and experience? Who is the person that understands not only the ‘hard facts’, but the soft skills, knowing how to navigate cultures? Since it is what you don’t know that will land you in trouble.

If companies are to flourish, their perspective needs to be global—not only in driving toward higher profits but in their operating principles. Only then will they find a greater understanding of their foreign counterparts, which, through mutual interdependence, can then lead to higher profits. To attain a global perspective, boards need to adapt their current operating principles to a more encompassing, more cosmopolitan viewpoint of business. Much remains to be done in both corporate and entrepreneurial America for this worldwide perspective to take hold, and much is at stake. The very success of the economy in the United States tomorrow depends on the ability of today’s leaders to change thinking patterns by developing a global mindset and strategies that bridge the widening gap of opportunities domestically and abroad. With the right leadership, and the right people in the right places, U.S. businesses can look at the global market and see opportunities, not obstacles.

biography
Mona Pearl is a global strategic business development expert as well as the founder and COO of Beyond A Strategy, Inc., a company providing expertise to plan and implement cost effective and sustainable global growth that improves a company’s bottom line and helps realize seamless international operations. In addition to Beyond A Strategy, Inc., she has also founded and operated 2 additional businesses and sits on the board of several organizations.

View the original article here

Taking chance on franchise opportunities - Chicago Sun-Times

By David Sharos For The Sun January 10, 2012 12:40PM

Marcelo Alvarez owns The Entrepreneur’s Source, which helps would-be entrepreneurs identify interests as well as explore possible franchise opportunities. | Submitted

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Updated: January 10, 2012 3:11PM

The history of American business was founded on the backs of entrepreneurs. Today’s economy is influencing some to consider whether working for themselves might be better than leaving their future in the hands of someone else.

That’s the thought process of Phil Trabaris, 54, a Naperville resident who plans to open a new Sports Clips franchise in nearby Wheaton by mid-January. Trabaris worked with Marcelo Alvarez, a franchise coach who runs The Entrepreneur’s Source — also a franchise. Alvarez’s business helps would-be entrepreneurs identify interests as well as explore possible franchise opportunities.

“We try to give people ideas about things they could do that they haven’t thought of as well as provide assessments of their interests — you could sort of look at us as a ‘matchmaker,’” Alvarez said. “We’ve placed people in a wide range of businesses from document shredding to teaching kids to draw.”

Trabaris works as a contract worker and project manager for BP setting up IT systems. But the work isn’t as steady as he would like, and Trabaris and his wife, Julie, “are looking for something more long term for their future.”

“I want something to do as well as have a source of income once I retire, and I feel the ‘Sports Clips’ franchise is a good, wholesome model,” he said. “I mean, it’s all about guys going in and watching sports and getting their hair cut. It’s not a technology-driven sort of thing, and the basic process has remained the same for hundreds of years.”

Trabaris said he hopes to eventually open three franchises, including one in Naperville, although the market here is fairly saturated, he said.

Alvarez, whose franchise is in Downers Grove, opened his business in 2006. During the past five years, he said, he has worked with “25 to 30 individuals living in Naperville.”

“Not all of them have gone on to open franchises, but my territory has mainly been in the Naperville market,” he said. “People want to use our service either because they have lost work or they aren’t as happy as they’d like to be in their current job.”

Another local entrepreneur is Scott Brady, 48, who operates a Naperville franchise of CertaPro Painters, which he bought in 2010. A former CFO and finance consultant, Brady said FranChoice in Naperville helped him find the franchise opportunity. It’s a service similar to the one Alvarez runs. Brady said he underwent some “psychological testing” to determine his interests and was allowed to shadow certain individuals already involved with franchise businesses to see if he liked them.

“I would never have known about painting as I’m a businessman, but I’ve actually employed as many as 12 to 15 crews and had 60 painters working for me in the busy season,” he said. “I still do some financial consulting and tax work, but I wanted to build something as a retirement vehicle and be my own boss.”

Another Naperville resident who has established himself in a start-up business is Atul Akhand, 46, who said Alvarez and The Entrepreneur’s Source were critical in launching Captivating Signs, at 670 W. 5th Ave. in Naperville. Akhand said he voluntarily left an IT management and consulting business, and started working in signs “to control his future.”

“I was provided with a number of possible work opportunities from The Entrepreneur’s Source as well as given background on the potential of various businesses and whether owners had to be passive or active,” Akhand said. “I wanted a business that had no geographic restrictions, and my sign business does not. I received some training and materials and access to suppliers. From this point on, the business and its success is mine.”

Akhand admits he launched his business “during the beginning and height of the current depression” but said “providing good customer service and quality products” always makes for a successful business.

“I’ve been doing this now for three years and my clients are very satisfied,” he said.

For those who are considering taking the entrepreneurial leap, Brady offers a few bits of advice.

“When you start, you want to tread slowly and learn as much about the job or business as you can,” he said. “If you should hire sales people, you need to know the business and the product well. And if you do buy into a franchise, don’t try and change things and reinvent the wheel. There’s a reason why that franchise is there, and it’s because the model works. You need to follow it.”

© 2011 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit http://www.suntimesreprints.com/. To order a reprint of this article, click here.

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