While the TV screen population is now approaching 200 million and nearly 80 million of those are DTH/digital cable screens, the number of mobile phone screens are almost 800 million. While these are mostly ‘dumb’, the rise of the smart phone screen will soon overtake TV screens. India, as always, is leapfrogging into a multi-screen environment—more than 900 million Indians will experience the internet for the first time in their life not via a conventional computer but via a phone or tablet device.
The rapid speed with which digital screens are spreading boggles the mind. Technology is playing catch-up, trying to create the affordable bandwidth and architecture to enable hundreds of millions of users to simultaneously consume video on their multiple screens via a variety of access points. The big advantage with mobile is that it has a ready-to-use wallet and billing system in place. So what do digital screens, the VOD application and a billing mechanism offer the consumer and creator alike? Millions of niches of content without the tyranny of a broadcaster’s schedule or an individual programming head’s taste.
Direct-to-consumer first saw the incredible rise of social media. Now direct-to-consumer, with billing in place (DTH, mobile, even e-commerce giants aspire to distribute and retail video), creates amazing new opportunities for content creators. That’s what makes the future of digital video so exciting.
- The Indian Express Mumbai | Posted: November 21, 2014 1:00 am
Mr.Sameer Nair - The author is Group CEO, Balaji Telefilms
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