FICCI-KPMG-Report-13-FRAMES

74 The power of a billion: Realizing the Indian dream
Key industry challenges
Piracy
The issue of piracy remains a critical issue for the Indian
film industry. However, there are some changes that have
helped the industry battle this issue aggressively.
A few years ago, a film reached television and home video
only after six months of its theatrical release. Pirates could
take advantage of this delay, and would flood the market
with pirated DVDs/VCDs. Currently the theatre-to-television
window has been reduced to less than 3 months. The TV
premier of ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ happened only 3 months after its
theatrical release; while it happened in only 2 months for
‘Son of Sardar’. This has had some effect on the business of
pirated DVDs.
Also, with the shift in consumer preference to the Internet,
the business of piracy has also transformed. The physical
format (VCDs and DVDs) is disappearing and pirates are
therefore shifting online.
However, piracy continues to plague the industry. Indeed,
camcording incidents in theatres have significantly
increased in recent times. During January to September
2012, the Motion Pictures Association (MPA) had identified
53 forensic matches to camcording incidents in India, a 77
percent increase as compared to 30 camcording incidents
for the same period in 2011. The audit report of first nine
months of 2012 revealed that India accounted for 54
percent of all forensic matches in the Asia-Pacific region 54 .
• Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce (APFCC)
and MPDA have formed an alliance to promote content
protection. The alliance is working on initiatives to
tackle camcording, content theft online and on cable as
well as promote public awareness on the importance
of content protection. In June 2012, a joint operation
by MPDA and APFCC revealed two major organized
criminal syndicates that cost the film industry about
INR 250 million in lost revenues 55 .
• The Anti Video Piracy Cell (AVPC) of the APFCC has
also designed a web application to detect and report
online piracy. The application which is compatible
with all smartphones has educative information about
content piracy (both online and pirated CDs). People
coming across pirated material being sold on the
streets or video libraries, can leverage this application
to alert the AVPC instantly through their mobile phones.
Such efforts will be recognized and rewarded by the
industry 56 .
While the Government and other affiliated agencies have
made progress in developing response procedures to
copyright infringement, strict enforcement is lacking. In
developed economies, piracy is taken very seriously, with
people found guilty of such infringement subjected to
criminal charges.
Moreover, a major deterrent to piracy will come only from a
change in mindset on the part of consumers.
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“
Content theft at source, through camcording
in cinemas is an organised crime and remains
the biggest challenge for us and the industry to
combat. We need to build adequate deterrents
to combat piracy , starting with strengthening
laws and building consumer awareness.
Government and stakeholders need to
work together to build a robust regulatory
environment with specific and strong
legislation, which will provide law enforcement
the tools to arrest and prosecute criminals.
As per the Motion Pictures Distributors Association
(MPDA), India is among the top nations in the world in
terms of video piracy. MPA India estimates that the loss
due to piracy in 2012 was USD 1.1 billion, an increase of
15.79 percent from that in 2008.
“
- Uday Singh
Managing Director
Motion Picture Association, India
In this context, it is important that industries collaborate
and create efficient mechanisms for content protection.
With cooperation from the government and internet service
providers, site-blocking measures can combat online piracy.
The initiatives of Telugu film industry are a significant step in
that direction.
54. Industry discussions conducted by KPMG in India
55. ‘Bollywood no longer talks of piracy; but ignoring dangers of online can be costly’, The Economic
Times, February 2013
Under-penetration of theatre screens
While India leads world averages in terms of the number
of films produced each year and attendance, the under
penetration of theatre screens in India remains the biggest
challenge for the industry. There are just 8 screens per
million people, unlike in the United States, where there are
117 per million 57 .
“
We are still severely under-penetrated in terms
of number of screens per capita, especially
considering the number of movies we make
each year. The industry should look at doubling
the number of screens in the next 10 years.
Only once we have enough screens can the
industry truly take advantage of the content
democratization that has been enabled by
digital, both in production and exhibition.
56. ‘A new app to curb online piracy’, Times of India, March 2012
57. ‘Show time: Growth in multiplexes to be be driven by malls’, Business Today, May 2012
“
- Senthil Kumar
Co-Founder,
Real Image