MUMBAI: With an increasing demand of on the move streaming services, the new cloud based services are slowly yet steadily penetrating into the Indian eco-system. The use of cloud technology in a collaborative work of production in media and entertainment space, was the key discussion in the technically charged session at Ficci Frames 2012.
Highlighting the key aspects, the panel comprised of Adobe System South Asia Regions MD Umang Bedi, Tata Communication Media & Entertainment head sales Richard Craig Mcfeely, UTV Interactive Sr VP Sameer Pitawalla, Jigsee Digital Media founder and CEO Ray Newal, Reliance Entertainment digital business Manish Agarwal, was moderated by Intel, Golbal content policy & standard strategist Ravindra Velhal.
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Agarwal opened the floor emphasizing on the fact that constraints of cloud has increased because of the excessive on-the move demand of consumers. The service is crafted to allow patrons to store its personal information including music, videos, secure password storage and more in virtual storage which can be accessed through various devices.
As cloud recognizes users in a profiled customs, the monetization model for the service is quite modest and can be divided into three means – Monthly subscription fee, Advertisement and Premium.
According to Pitawalla, every device embodies self-monetizing model like subscription fee for mobile services and advertisement for websites. With the availability of cloud, providers have received plethora of platforms as they no longer have to transcode content for different devices. The cloud streams content simultaneously on all platforms and is relatively easier to acquire as its been store on a defined playlist.
With diverse availability, the providers receive business through subscription as well as through advertisement and premium. For the past three months, 30 percent of YouTube consumption took place through mobile with around 200-400mn video views. Relatively the subscription revenue has gone up than the advertising revenue.
Considering the easy access of cloud on various devices, the adoption of this engaging technology is a challenge in India due to limited access and technological backwardness. The service which works majorly on broadband is laid back in the country as the broadband usage is too low when compared to GPRS usage on mobile.
Newal said, “The Indian market has to understand the value of internet before entering into 3G or 4G market. The cloud service requires appropriate broadbands, which is an area of concern in India. More than 60 percent of Indian virtual market still survives on GPRS connectivity.”
Agreeing with Ray’s point of view Craig further stated, “Indian content is on great demand in the international market leading to huge opportunity for monetization. It has great perspective but needs to build on the availability of infrastructure as there is some problem on the connectivity with the avail of only one device for accessing virtual content.”
The session also considered the raging piracy issue which can be a threat for virtual services like cloud in India. Bedi ended the panel on positive note stating that piracy won’t be the point of concern for cloud users as the consumers would be the king of the market. He stated, “Piracy won’t be an issue for me, but privacy of users personal content might be, as Indian law on privacy is not as precisely defined as it should be. There won’t be any need for piracy as the content will be easily available. Content will be available in surplus on cloud which a consumer can use and reuse it. Adobe itself is planning to introduce some new softwares on cloud in a minimum price. Also the connectivity problem will improve soon with availability of evolving digital entertainment in India.”
