Sixth INMA South Asia
Conference 2012 concludes in New Delhi
Stimulating to change with
thriving media business models
India is currently ranked third in terms of its number of internet users, behind China and the US. Of the 100+ million Indians online, nine out of 10 utilise social media and 20 percent benefit from mobile internet. India now has the world’s fastest growing telecom market (233 percent year-on-year) driven by cheaper data rates and improved handsets. Within three years, more than half of the country’s internet users will access the web from their mobile phones.
With the two days of thought-provoking deliberations by the speakers and the interactive discussions on the various facets of newspaper business, the sixth INMA South Asia Conference concluded in New Delhi under the theme ?Complexity Advantage?. Held during August 7-8, 2012, the event stimulated the attendees towards evolving a road-map to be winners by converting newspaper organization to content organization, going hyper local with customized content, creating collaborations, giving greater importance to curation, etc.
Opening with welcome address and overview presented by Sanjay Gupta, president, INMA South Asia, and CEO, Jagran Prakashan Ltd, and inaugural address by Ravi Dhariwal, president, INMA Worldwide, and CEO, The Times of India, the conference not only deliberated about the on-going new practices to gain strategic foresight, but prognosticated the future of news dissemination. In his keynote address ?on succeeding in a volatile environment?, Nandan M Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India, Planning Commission, Government of India, pointed out multifaceted challenges in businesses, led by technological disruptions resulting in inter-category migration of attention and revenue, shifting consumer preferences and attention deficit. Earl J Wilkinson, executive director and CEO, INMA talked about the new growth path and how to get there. Sharing his observations about Indian newspaper market he suggested what publishers need to prepare for the seismic changes to come.
Interactions in full swing! Earl J Wilkinson and Bhaskar Das (standing),
and Sanjay Gupta, Jacob Mathew and MJ Akbar (sitting) interacting
with the attendees at the event.
Newspaper shall persist due to expertise in content generation, with making changes in content presentation (?thali of news?) as per need of the day, was the essence of panel discussion on ?The future of news?. Moderated by Jacob Mathew, executive editor, Malayala Manorama and president, WAN-IFRA this panel included: MJ Akbar, editorial director, India Today and Headlines Today, and Sanjay Gupta, CEO, Jagran Prakashan Ltd, trying to explore the right business practices.
With lead speaker and moderator Jehil Thakkar, partner, head- media & entertainment, KPMG India, and panelists: Santosh Desai, MD & CEO, Future Brands India Ltd; Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, The Times of India; and DD Purkayastha, CEO, ABP Pvt Ltd, a session on ?Media 2020: a future backward kaleidoscope? prognosticated the scenario of newspapers industry in the next decade. Jehil Thakkar suggested to move towards a consolidated industry from fragmented one by collaborating in a big way, focusing on analysis and opinion, and shifting from newspaper organization to content organization. Ravi Dhariwal pointed out that people tend to consume more media, which will continue increasing even after 2020, with radical change providing much more information. In this scenario, editors need to be the best curator, making newspaper a source of entry to lives of people. DD Purkayastha underlined the importance of going hyper-local, while newspaper is becoming digital, global and customized.
Youth’s expectations from newspapers! Ashwamegh Banerjee, a young
journalist, and student panelists - Sourya Donkada, Aakash Kapoor, Tuhina
Kapoor, Rajat Sakhuja, Vatsala Shrangi, shared their views about ‘creating
a newspaper that youth would like to read’ during a panel discussion on
‘walking through the mind of the post-90 born’.
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With advertisers doing well in their respective sectors, the media establishments reap the benefit. But with the advertiser's business model also under constant pressure due to technological disruptions and growing intensity of competition, the volatility of the media establishments multiplies. So, with the fortunes linked to each other, most media houses are finding it difficult to grow their top-line. In such a scenario, what may be appropriate business models to win the ad growth challenges were deliberated by a panel moderated by Ashish Pherwani, partner- advisory services,
E&Y Pvt Ltd, with panelists - Bharat Bambawale, director, Global Brand Bharti Airtel Ltd; Mayank Pareek, COO (marketing & sales), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd; and Shashi Sinha, CEO, LodestarMedia.
A panel comprising Mohit Jain, executive president, supply chain, BCCL; Pawan Agarwal, non executive director, Bhaskar group; Piyush Gupta, group CFO HT-Media; Ashish Pherwani, partner-advisory services, E&Y Pvt Ltd , tried to find out the answer to: is cost deflation a utopian expectation? It was revealed that stagnating the cost structure would be a critical priority for every organization to neutralize any lukewarmness in top-line growth through a disciplined cost management.
With consumer becoming increasingly format neutral, is there a case for re-inventing the conventional distribution model to catch present and potential audience anytime, anywhere? Is distribution only about the delivery of hard copies or connecting with audiences through soft copies too? Moreover, with rising ambitions of the next generation of the hawkers' families, will there be a supply squeeze on hawkers or will the growing militancy of the hawker community queer the pitch of smooth distribution in the coming days? A panel discussion moderated by Sanjeev Vohra, executive president, audiences, BCCL tried to explore answers to many such vexing questions, examining the suitability of traditional newspaper distribution channel to nurture it for the future. The panelists - Mateen Khan, product head, Lokmat Samachar; OP Rajgarhia, chairman & MD, Overnite Express Ltd; Rakesh Sharma, Aaj Samaj & ITV Group; and PS Venkat, vice president, circulation, The Hindu ? shared their views in this regard.
The importance of measuring ?media access?, with increased circulation, dwindling readership, was discussed in a session moderated by Lynn de Souza, chairman & CEO Lintas Media Group, with panelists, including: Paritosh Joshi, independent media professional & board member of MRUC; LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research Pvt Ltd; and Basant Rathore, vice president-strategy, brand and BD, Jagran Prakashan Ltd.
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One of the most interesting sessions of the two day conference was about managing complexity in south Asian markets, during which Javed Jabbar, chairman & chief executive, JJ Media (Pvt) Ltd and former federal minister, Pakistan; and Matiur Rahman, editor & publisher, The Daily Prothom Alo, Bangladesh shared their experiences with media industry in their own countries. Moderated by Bhaskar Das, president and principal secretary to MD, The Times Group, who also took turns as conference moderator, making the event more viable and fruitful with his comments over almost every topic discussed on the occasion, this session gave an opportunity for the INMA delegates to gain visibility and exposure to the volatility of the operating environment and business complexities in India?s neighbouring countries.
Besides, Santrupt Misra, CEO, Carbon Black Business and group HR director, Aditya Birla Managment group also made an interesting presentation on managing Cultural Assymetry in a Multi-Media Organisation. Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, chairperson, corporate strategy & policy area, IIM- Bangalore spoke about evolving a sustainable and thriving media business model that can successfully withstand the vicissitudes of business environment.
