The three time National Award winner and the Founder- Chairman of Reliance Entertainment recently spoke to Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor in Chief, BW Businessworld & exchange4media Group.

Amit Khanna is one of the most prominent names in the Media & Entertainment space and is known for his commendable work spanning sectors like radio, television, films, theatre, music and journalism. 

The three time National Award winner and the Founder- Chairman of Reliance Entertainment recently spoke to Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor in Chief, BW Businessworld & exchange4media group about the future of  cinema, the rise of digital platforms as primary go to platforms for content consumption, future of traditional media organisations and more. 

Excerpts:

Over the last 11 months movie theatres were closed in most parts of the country and we saw a phenomenal rise of OTT. In this context, what do you think is the future of traditional cinema?

India makes on an average 2000 feature films a year. We have only a ballpark figure of 10,000 screens for these films. It is not possible for 2000 films to find screen time in the 10000 cinemas. So, cinemas won’t close down and this is a mad race between OTT and cinemas which seems to be fake to me. 

With what the pandemic has done along technology is that they have accelerated the speed of change.  Most media organisations are not prepared for monetising the potential that technology is putting before them. 

What are some of the trends that will become mainstream and bigger in digital and may replace certain other ways of consuming content?

The biggest gainer in the next few years is going to be gaming and it will become the second largest segment of the media and entertainment industry after broadcast TV, and will eventually overtake broadcast in revenue by the year 2025. 

In this financial year gaming will overtake cinema and in the next two years it will overtake print. This year it may end up with revenue close to 20 thousand crores.  

Additionally, the subscription model for online news should go up. But the limitation to this is how much a consumer can consume.  We must learn that mere diversification will not enable growth. Enlarging the catchment might not get you the fish but one needs to have more deep diving fishing.

How do you see the future of print media, will it be able to reinvent and stay relevant? 

Let us look at New York Times, this year the digital subscriber revenue will overtake the global advertising revenue. They have reinvented themselves. Whether any Indian publication will do this in the next 5 years is what I am doubtful about. They cannot just re-purpose material which is written for the print and use for digital. The print and the broadcast will have to have the confidence in themselves to create alternate content from the same resources that is where the growth and revenue will come from.

How do you see the valuation of media companies? Have media and entertainment companies been able to factor their potential and pivot?

We are under-capitalised and under-valued. The first thing is to enlarge your vision. Think big, invest bigger money and aim higher as there is a lot of liquidity that already exists in the market.