Media Industry Overview

Kamal Nath, the Minister for Commerce and Industry has always maintained that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in India is reckoned to be amongst the most liberal as compared to the all other emerging economies. It is because of these policies that the media industry in India is growing at a stupendous rate. According to a report by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) the media and entertainment industry in Indio grew by 17 percent and touched the mark of $ 11.92 billion in 2007. What is noteworthy is that there is not one part of media that is booming at present but all the subsets of media like print, radio, television (TV), cinema etc. are have witnessed an upward trend.

The first mass medium to flourish in India was print. Way back in the year 1780, the first formal newspaper was launched in India called - ‘The Bengal Gazette'. After which many newspapers, periodicals, magazines, tabloids and journals made their presence felt. However, in the recent times it is television that has been the star. In 2007, TV contributed 42 percent of the total turnover for the media and entertainment industry. Of lately, there is a lot of buss around Internet, which is a relatively new form of media.

The functioning of the entire media and entertainment industry is closely monitored by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B). Although there is no real apex body for the individual segments of media yet they all have their respective associations like Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) which is formed by the leading industry associations of the advertising and television industry.

Initial thrust

Various forms of media like radio, newspapers and cinema have been around for years yet the major turnaround for the growth in the sector came from television. In 1991 Indians became exposed to cable and there has been no looking back since then. In the same year Rupert Murdoch's Star TV made its debut in India. A year later India's media mogul - Subhash Chandra started the Zee TV.

However, the boom in the media industry can be easily accredited to the various reforms that the Government and I&B Ministry have initiated from time to time. The first step in this direction was taken in 2002 when the government allowed 26 percent FDI in the print media. Furthermore, in 2008 the government also approved a revised policy that would allow Indian editions of foreign magazines in the news and current affairs category. Although the FDI cap in this segment continues to be 26 percent, it is expected to be raised to 49 percent in the near future. Another remarkable step in this sector was to enhance the FDI in the non-news category to 100 percent from 74 percent. Some of the international magazines that have established themselves in India are Marie Claire, Vogue, Good housekeeping, Fortune etc. Apart from these, there are a host of other news and now news magazine like Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, Inc, Technology Review, Playboy, GQ, Business Week, et al that are currently drawing up plans to enter India. The excitement is not just restricted to the magazine segment as in the year 2007, Wall Street journal collaborated with HT Media Ltd. to bring out a business tabloid called - Mint. The success of Mint is further leading many international media companies to eye the tabloid space in the country.

For the growth of the Indian cinema, the government has permitted the foreign investment cap to be upto 100 percent under automatic route in the film industry (i.e. film financing, production, distribution, exhibition, marketing and associated activities relating to film industry).

However, this is not the case with TV news channels where the government has permitted FDI to the limit of 26 percent only. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended an increase this ceiling to 49 percent. In case of private FM radio channels, the government itself is keen to increase the FDI limit to 24 percent from the existing 20 percent.

It is projected that the global entertainment industry would be worth $1.8 trillion by the year 2015 and India by the same time would be contributing about $200 billion. To enable the same it would be essential for the government to further increase FDI caps and continue to support the sector like it has. Also the newer and emerging forms of media would also facilitate growth in this sector.

Impediments

Lower penetration of media especially in the lower socio economic classes (SECs) might prove to be one of the biggest obstacles in the growth of media in India. Apart from this, low literacy level in the country continues to be a big challenge for the further growth of print media. Also inadequate electricity supply is one of the major hurdles for the growth of most modern media like television, radio and even Internet.

Careers in media

Since late 2007, there have been many new tabloids, magazines and journals that have been launched and the success of these new publications have helped instigate further expansion in print media segment. However, there are a few prerequisites for a person seeking to make a career in the print domain like command over the language and good writing/ communication skills.

With the introduction of DTH, it would not be wrong to state that the TV industry is currently on a roll. Every other day there is a new channel being launched and the passage of time would yield many more niche and regional channels along with the present genre of channels. So there are a wide range of job opportunities like journalist, actors/performers, production controller, location manager, director, cameramen, editors, soundmen, lighting crew etc. up for grab. Knowledge of respective domain is essential in this field. There are also similar opportunities that are there is the film and cinema stream but getting an entry in film industry is tough because of a stiff competition.

On the radio front too, there have been talks about rolling out the second phase of radio licenses which would mean an increase in the number of radio channels. In the entire media and entertainment industry, radio is currently the hottest sector for investments. All this would ensure that there would be a good demand for programmers, editors, station head and RJ's in the times to come as well.

The period between 2007 and 2008 also witnessed as many as three reputed international agencies (BBDO, Wielden+Kennedy and BBH) making a beeline for India. With the Indian advertising pie doubling itself every five years, there is no doubt that there would be many more international agencies looking at setting up their shops here. As a lot is already being said about the talent crunch in advertising, it would help many young people with creative bend of mind to make their mark here. The fresher roles in advertising constitute of media planners, account executives and copy desk.

Interestingly, all the media organisations be it print, radio, TV and even Advertising etc. have a sales & marketing team and for selling their ad space and so they do visit the B-schools to hire people with the required skill sets for these posts. Although there are not as many positions for HR and admin staff yet even these jobs are given to MBAs. Almost all media organisations also provide ample opportunities for fresh people to do their training and internships in their company.