Retail in the Indian Entertainment Industry

1. ABSTRACT

The Indian entertainment and media (E&M) industry has out-performed the Indian economy and is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. The E&M industry generally tends to grow faster when the economy is expanding. The Indian economy has been growing at a fast clip over the last few years, and the income levels too have been experiencing a high growth rate. India is the world's largest producer of films and other sectors of media and entertainment are coming rapidly as well. In 2009, India produced a total of 2961 films on celluloid that include a staggering figure of 1288 feature films. The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures and Warner Bros. Indian enterprises such as Zee, UTV, Suresh Productions, Adlabs and Sun Network's Sun Pictures also participated in producing and distributing films. Tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in India. By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock Exchange of India, making the commercial presence of the medium felt.

This paper attempts to discuss the current and anticipated future scenario of Indian film industry and other industries related to media and entertainment so as to realize their hidden potential and their growth. This is done by studying the FDI trends as well as the marketing strategies adapted by the media houses/production houses before and after releasing of their films. The cases of working of largest retail chains of multiplexes like Adlabs and PVR have also been analysed in the present context. The objective of this study is also to understand the process of building brand in Entertainment sector, to study the barriers to investment in Indian Media Industry and freedom of expression in Indian media vis a vis the western media.

Key Words - Retail chain, Brand Building, Film Marketing, FDI, Barrier to Investment, Expressing Freedom.

1.1 Objectives

We wrote this paper because we thought we are being unfair by not having many talks on the performance of Indian films. We wrote this paper to know where Indian Film Industry stands and the scope of it in coming future. With proper marketing tricks, Indian films can perform good business. We even aimed at discussing ongoing comparisons between single screen cinemas and multiplexes.

1.2 Research Problems

This paper discusses the problems Indian Films face in the market. We have discussed fault in marketing tactics. We have discussed Problems faced by Indian films in getting investment even though 100% F.D.I. is granted. We have even discussed the problem off retail unit – single screen cinemas face against giant multiplexes.

1.3 Methodology Used

We have used secondary data collection method. We have assembled information ffrom various articles, book and other published papers. We have been working under Dr. Mukul Rawat, director of Shamuk Entertainment and he has been kind enough to guide us on our research.

2. Introduction

The Indian entertainment and media (E&M) industry has out-performed the Indian economy and is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. The E&M industry generally tends to grow faster when the economy is expanding. The Indian economy has been growing at a fast clip over the last few years, and the income levels too have been experiencing a high growth rate. India is the world's largest producer of films and other sectors of media and entertainment are coming rapidly as well. In 2009, India produced a total of 2961 films on celluloid that include a staggering figure of 1288 feature films. The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures and Warner Bros. Indian enterprises such as Zee, UTV, Suresh Productions, Adlabs and Sun Network's Sun Pictures also participated in producing and distributing films. Tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in India.

3. Indian Films - Current Scenario

While 2011 saw only five films (Wanted, Ready, Ra One, Singham and Don 2) breach the 100 crore INR mark at the box office, the first eight months of 2012 have already seen a similar number of films surpass this new industry benchmark for blockbusters. This is even before some of the other films by big stars such as Salman Khan’s Dabangg 2, Aamir Khan’s Talaash, Shahrukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardaar, are planned for release in the last quarter of the year. However, even though India is the largest market in terms of the number of films produced and the number of admissions, it is only the eighth largest when it comes to box office collections. This indicates the industry’s continued inability to monetise its films better, even though the film industry is coming of age with increased acceptance in overseas markets.

Content driven films giving big budget films a run for their money The last year and a half has witnessed strong performance by films that have relied on strong and differentiated content. As against a few years ago, when the success of a film critically hinged on its star-cast, recent times bear witness to the fact that Indian audiences have matured and are appreciating films driven by strong content and not necessarily star power. These include The Dirty Picture, Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar and Vicky Donor, films that were able to rewrite rules and do good business at the box office.

Regional cinema producing some of their biggest hits, attracting Bollywood production houses While Indian cinema is synonymous with Bollywood, the regional film industry has continued to grow strong. In fact, large production houses that were largely producing mainstream Hindi film are now realising the huge potential that regional films offer. While UTV, Reliance, Eros and Yash Raj Films have all entered the Tamil film industry, the second biggest film market in India after Bollywood, Balaji Films produced and released its first Marathi film to packed houses. As per our research, about half of the films in UTV’s line-up for 2012 are in regional languages, while Eros Entertainment has a line-up of about 60 regional films in the next few years. Trade reports indicate that several regional films released during the last 1 – 2 years, have been highly successful. These include the following: - Jatt and Juliet, released in