Publication Name: Rapid TV News
Date: August 2014
Author:Shyam Ananthnarayan
Television has become the preeminent form of entertainment in India during the last three decades, despite strong competition from other forms of entertainment. In the said period, India’s television distribution capacity and content production have grown, leading to a rise in total television viewing time. “Strategy Analytics” forecasts that the Asia-Pacific market, driven by India and China, will account for 42% of all connected television sales by 2016, with the penetration in India reaching 14%. In addition, pay TV’s annual revenues in India are expected to increase from $5.1 billion in 2012 to $8.3 billion in 2016. India has a huge television services market with over 550 broadcasting TV channels and 132 million houses connected to TV services.
Evolution of Connected TV
But the introduction of connected TVs and more recently Smart TVs has brought a whole new dimension to the way TV is not just viewed but also perceived. It brings convergence of old-fashioned television watching with the modern experience of surfing the web bundled together on the same screen with the convenience of 10-feet viewing experience. These connected televisions enhance the everyday experience of watching television by offering a better viewing experience for your favourite programmes and films, as well as an alternative way to interact with music and photos. According to Digital TV Research, there will be more than 759 million televisions connected to the Internet worldwide by 2018.
Connected TV is positioned to drive content consumption bringing opportunities for Pay TV operations, advertisers, content aggregators, broadcasters and application developers to exploit the new distribution and consumption model. Some of the Connected TV apps are Automobile news, photos, reviews, Travel, Local language apps, Property (Real estate) and Games - Cricket, Bowling, Memory. The possibilities, though, are endless. Companies like Tata Elxsi have been working with leading companies to help them build ‘ custom ‘ connected TV experience for their Indian market audiences. Some of the features Tata Elxsi have built for the connected TV ecosystem include Web 2.0 features, content discovery and playback and Interactivity.
India scenario
Today, India is home to one of the world’s most exciting television markets. With TV sets in 167 million households (second only to China) and a government plan in place to increase the number of internet users from 94 million (out of a population of 1.2 billion) in 2011 to 175 million by 2017 and 600 million by 2020, the prospects for growth are enormous.
About the Author
Shyam Ananthnarayan, VP-Marketing, Product Engineering Business, Tata Elxsi
Shyam is the head of marketing for the product engineering division, the largest division of Tata Elxsi. He has been with the company for the last 4 years. He has held various general management positions at Tata Elxsi including marketing, key account management and business unit management. Currently his responsibilities include steering all marketing activity for the product engineering business. Prior to Tata Elxsi, he has held various senior management positions globally at HP, Ness including product management, marketing and operations management. He has over 10 year’s senior management experience and 17 years overall experience.