So far Netflix, HBO and Hulu were operating in the streaming entertainment market. Disney, AT & T’s Warner Media and Apple propose to enter this market creating shows which cost as much as the big budget movies.

An episode of streaming entertainment costs $ 8 million-$15 million, thus surpassing the cost of an average TV show. There are additional marketing and miscellaneous expenses. Over many seasons, the total costs may cross $ 150 million, thus equalling the cost of putting a new Spiderman movie in theatrical circuit nationwide.

Initially, an episode of House of Cards (Netflix) used to cost in 2013 $ 4.5, and was considered expensive. These days an episode of Disney’s The Mandorian approaches $ 15 million. Amazon spends $250 million to buy the rights of Lord of the Rings series. There are massive star costs, cost of exotic film locations, state-of-the art special effects. Therefor, budgets shoot up.

In pre-streaming era, the actor salaries were the main cause of the rising costs of the TV shows. The ad revenues were utilised to cover the production costs. The return for a big budget streaming show is still intangible.

Google’s business model depends on ads. A vast majority of Google’s revenue is derived from contextual advertising delivered on search. That type of advertising virtually requires no personal information. It is contextual information, i.e. if you run a search for a particular product, they can show you ads for related products or some other products that will be of interest to you simply based on the most recent query that you ran. They do not need to know who you are or your past behaviour on other websites to run these ads.

They do run interest-based advertising, and in the context of that, there is personal information that is processed.

While doing so, the model provides the strongest privacy protection for users around the world.

As the underlying technology is so dynamic, it is very difficult to envisage a legislation to anticipate the future problems and address them now. There should be data minimisation — the ability to do with less data. There has to be a balance between the interest of users and third-party developers.

Podcast is a word coined by British journalist Ben Hammershey by combining iPod and broadcast. It gained popularity in the West around 2004. These are the audio files which can be streamed or downloaded over the Internet. It fulfills the need for fresh fanny and informative content. It should keep the audience engaged.

IVM podcast in India started in 2015. It targets 18-50 age group. There is Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts and Headfone.

Podcast content is unregulated. It encourages taboo topics, stigmatised issues and uncomfortable conversations. As against this radio content is highly regulated. Podcast fills the gap. Radio is capital intensive business. Producing a podcast requires a portable recorder, a good mike and some editing software. Podcasts are easy to make and economical.

In podcast eco-system, a listener can easily become a creator of content. There are online recording facilities made available.

Podcasts are meant for off-screen consumption. The content moves with you. You can tune in and tune out. You can multi-task.

Since content of podcasts in India is free, it funds itself through ads and brand sponsorships. It is a good medium for targeted advertising.

To stream a podcast, you need a smartphone and specific applications that can be downloaded. In iPhone, podcast is an in-built feature.

Podcasts are mostly in English but are also available in other Indian languages.

Digital Publishing : Podcasting

When you listen to a friction series, an article, interview, a research paper or a piece of music online, it is called podcasting. It is the best way to increase the time spent or what is called engagement. There are hosts who distribute and monetise podcasts. In video dominated world podcasting has immense possibilities in digital publishing.

Apart from podcasting, in digital publishing, there is role too for AI and advertising.

Podcasts Abroad

During the road trips in the USA, you come across podcasts. In fact, podcasting started in the US. The tipping point was Serial in 2014 which traced real life crime cases. It has been extensively downloaded.

Internationally, there are more than 5-lac podcasts. Almost 64 percent plus Americans have listened to at least one podcast. In India too, podcasts have been gaining ground. National Public Radio (NPR) podcasts have been downloaded in 2018 in India by 3-lac plus people. Indian language podcasts are yet to explode.

Revenue models could be multiple sources such as advertising, subscriptions and content marketing.

Podcast listenership is increasing. The FM fare is standard, and hence boring. There is an opportunity here for podcasting. Podcasts are making smartphones smart really.

Podcasts Wave in India

There is a podcast wave in India — NDTV, Network 18, BCCL, Quint and IE are launching podcast services. Podcast audience consists of young influencers. Advertisers are flirting with the medium by setting aside ‘experimental budgets.’ Listening to a podcast is like listening to a person across the table. How to monetise podcasts? Ads could be inserted dynamically as on YouTube. Another way is where the host reads out the ad adding his or her flavour. Third is to use branded conent.

Podcasts are used mainly to build brands and not necessarily for conversions. Dynamic insertions of 15-20 seconds for a month in 150 episodes could cost around Rs. 9 lac. Individual show rates range from Rs 32000 to Rs. 4 lac. Content creators work on ad sharing basis, usually 50:50 with podcast networks.

There are 18 podcast aggrerators, and the medium is fragmented.

There is lack of awareness about the medium, and hence it is difficult to scale up. There are efforts to start regional podcasts. The measurement system for podcasts has not been standardised. These are audio ads and collecting data from aggregators is a manual process.

These are the days of social media memes. Yet the cartoons have survived. They have the power to provoke and shape opinion. Cartoons are inherently an art of ridicule. As an art, it emerged from the streets. It is one-sided communication. In the newsroom, it has been made more gentlemanly. If you fear that the cartoon has the potential to offend, the cartoon is likely to become aseptic and bland. Why to have such a cartoon?

Political cartoons originated in the 18th century London. Colonial India has a thriving tradition of graphic satire. David Low’s cartoons made an impact on the public. Shankar is the father of Indian cartooning.

Cartoonists draw ire across the political spectrum. A cartoon often speaks louder than a 100 editorials. The words and caricatures have to jive. They cannot stand alone. Cartoons have the constraints of space and attention. Within a few square inches, it has to arrest the attention of the audience.

This is a popular TV show which came to an end on Monday, May 20th, 2019. Game of Thrones, apart from its story line is very popular for its larger-than-life locales. It is an epic fantasy saga. It captured the imagination of TV audiences the world over through its 73-episode saga. It is an adaptation of the ongoing book series, A song of Ice and Fire, by George RR Martin. It received 47 Prime Time Emmy Awards, most by any drama series. The show started in 2011 and continued for nine years. It was in its 8th season then, and the concluding part had been shown in a few hours In May 2019.

The story is about power struggle. Every player has to win , because a loss means death here. Every power struggle in history is marked by violence.

It is a story of Westeros empire. It could be decided into two parts. To north Stark of Winterfell ( Rules of North), Rules of Riverland and Rules of Whale and to south Rules of the Westerland,Rules of the Stormland, Rules of the Rich and Rules of Drone. These seven divisions constitute Westeros. The capital is Kings Landing. The King sits on Iron Throne and the plot moves around this throne.

In the previous seven seasons, each division was introduced. Each division is assertive. The weaker families wither away gradually. The three surviving families are Lannister, Stark and Targaryen. Lannister rules Winterfell. Stark and Targaryen have a prolonged fight to survive. The eighth season revolves around these three families.

There are many characters, but none can be called heroes or villains. They respond to contemporary forces. They prove their heroism accordingly. Stark overshines others. They are king-queen and their six children. The king is Eddard Stark. He is friends with Robert, King of Landing. He got Westoros empire with the assistance of Edward Stark. However, the king dies and Stark family faces changing times. The wife of Robert Sercy comes to rule and she tries to finish Stark family. In the struggle, the royal couple, and their two children get killed. The surviving four children Sassa Stark, Aiya Stark, Bryan Stark and John Stark disperse in four different directions. They keep the identity of the Starks alive by struggling. They are the real attraction of Games of Thrones. Another important family is that of Lannister . They are the richest. They keep their rule in fact by using resources. However, repeated attacks have made them fragile. Sarsy Lannister is the Queen of Westeros. However, her position is vulnerable as her two brothers leave her.

Targaryen family is the third most important force. The princess of this family Daenerys Targaryen alone fights valiantly. She has fire breathing dragons. It is difficult to subdue her in warfare. She is known as Mother of Dragon and is a strong claimant for the iron throne.

There is non-human White Walker, a kind of zombies. The Night King rules these zombies. These attack Westeros every 100 hundred years. This time all the clans combine to fight the White Walker and destroy them. Right from the first season, these were advertised as ‘the winter is coming’.

Since the Lumiere brothers first showed their films in 1890s, the projection technology has evolved at a slow pace. Movies were shot on 35 mm film, and projectors cast them on white screen, the humble parda or vinyl screen in dark theatres.

The film reels were assembled from different cans. They were spliced with tape. After every show they were reversed. It was hard work. It was a mechanical past. There was a whir of analague projectors owing to the sprockets locking into their holes, and there was a beam of golden light overhead.

There was a shift to digital technology towards the end of the 20th century. It was a big shift from celluloid to digital. In the last 20 years, projection technology has changed faster than in the whole century before. Digital projectors were introduced around 1999. The resolution was 2K. A decade ago, 4K digital projectors were installed. They show brighter and sharper images. Old timers still feel the analogue projectors gave immersive experience. Though digital projection is faultless, it is synthetic and false. Since projected image is a reflected image, it is more soothing for the eyes.

In 2018, the first LED screen has appeared in partnership with Samsung at PVR in Delhi. It replaces projectors. It is a giant TV screen with high visual quality. It was launched in Korea in 2017. It is called Onyx screen. The LED screen is not affected by ambient lighting. You could view a movie in a non-darkened theatre. Each LED screen costs Rs. 7 crore.

Mass advertising communicates with a large audience using mass media. It is necessary to understand mass. It has become stereotypical. There is a jingle and celebrity endorsement. It ends with a logo or some woolly ideas like soch, zindagi, tomorrow, future etc. At times they are 30 to 60 to 90 second ads. They are forgotten after being played. Mass advertising becomes associated with mediocrity in idea, execution and effectiveness. Anyone can make such advertising. It does not capture imagination. It is not retained. It does not build the brand. It does not rise above the clutter. It is not persuasive enough. We have to ask whether it could be called mass or ordinary advertising. Mass advertising must have a simple idea but still a valuable insight. It should be executed beautifully. People should relate to it. It has to be different, and yet inclusive. It can be made by highly creative team. It will be effective as well as memorable. It will transcend the usual parameters. It is real mass advertising. Mass is not ordinary.

There is competitive intensity in the ad business. The commissions too are shrinking. That prompts ad agencies to solicit new business aggresively. They do so by pitching which has gone up significantly.

Clients call agencies for pitch presentation. Ideas and strategies are exchanged during these meetings. However, that may not result into the award of business to the agency. In such a situation, what happens to the ideas? They might find way into ad campaigns by some other agency. This is unacceptable.

There are charges of copying and plagiarism. However, there is no copy right over the ideas. There could be an agreement at the time of creative pitching that a stiff fee would be charged to the client before they part with the ideas. Pitch fees could be a deterrent to clients seeking ideas through presentations. Another way out is to boycott pitching by the top 10 ad agencies. But such collective action is not practical.

The recent Vivo ad featuring Amir Khan has involved a dispute between Vivo and Ogilvy. Here surprisingly the client has been drawn in the dispute for the first time. The matter is subjudice.

Efforts are being made to build the first quantum computer. Quantum computer is a machine far more powerful than today’s computers. Quantum computing is based on quantum mechanics — the science that explains the strange behaviour exhibited by extremely small particles of matter.

In traditional computers transistors store ‘bits’ of information and each bit is either a 1 or a O. Those are the fundamental slices of data that tell a computer what to do.

Some types of matter, when they are extremely small or extremely cold, behave differently. That difference allows a quantum bit ( qubit) to store a combination of 1 and O. Thus these sub-atomic particles exist in two different states simultaneously. Qubits achieve a mixed state called superposition. This ambiguity or the ability to be and not be is the key to the power of quantum computing. Two qubits can hold four values at once. As the number of qubits grows, a quantum computer becomes exponentially more powerful.

Qubit could be considered as an electron into a magnetic field. It could be in alignment with the field, called spin-up state or opposite to the field, called sin-down state. Each qubit could take a superpostion of both 0 and 1.

Quantum computer could break the encryption that protects digital information. The whole e-commerce and government data bases are at risk. Therefore simultaneously, researchers are working on quantum security techniques. These techniques would thwart the code breaking abilities of the quantum computers. China has a clear lead in quantum encryption.

Quantum encryption too relies on the non-intuitive behaviour of very small objects. The codes that keep data secret are sent by photons. With the right equipment, it is easy to tell if they have been tempered with or not.

A visible quantum encryption network cannot be built over long distances. However, there are experiments in this direction. There is quantum communication network between Beijing and Shanghai. They want the Chinese built networks to spread across the world. Quantum networks cut the number of vulnerable spots to a few dozens.

Apart from this, mathematicians are working on new forms of encryption that can stand up to a quantum computer by using mathematics. Here we do not need a new infrastructure.

Does positioning really count? There are divergent views. Some feel that the whole idea of positioning is old-fashioned and under threat. It is assumed that a brand claims something and the target audience believes it. But this may not be valid always. Majority of people do not trust the marketers, but believe the feedback of their friends, online community or colleagues. In research, what is prioritised is the feedback about the product, rather than the company claims.

Earlier, there was the brand, consumer and a brand facilitator. There is a fourth factor — online community which has greater influence than the brand itself. The thumb rule now is 1c +9 c +90 c which means one per cent creates, 9 percent curates and 90 per cent consumes. While building the brand, the influencers and bloggers must be on your side.

There are positioning mistakes too. That happens when there is clutter in a category. If there are options, for each option, a different segment is tried. Where segmentation stops, positioning starts. Wrong positioning is able to create a market for the rival brand.