WHILE Nollywood is still being spoon-fed by President
Goodluck Jonathan’s largesse, the Indian entertainment industry, according to a
new study, is soaring in commercial maturation, and is expected to double its
revenue to $37.2 billion by 2018, growing at a compound annual rate of 15
percent.
An annual report by consulting firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers India and the Confederation of Indian Industry said that
in 2013, the Indian entertainment industry recorded revenue of about $18.3
billion, a 19 percent gain over the previous year.
The entertainment industry has contributed strongly to
India’s economy, according to other recent reports. And interestingly too,
while TV is predicted to be a big growth driver, the film business reportedly
will also grow steadily.
Against the backdrop of digital migration in 2015, one
begins to wonder what will happen in the Nigerian entertainment space when the
spectrum is further enlarged for more contents.
As laudable as the interest of the Federal Government is
in the entertainment industry, everything seems to me like a political romance.
And as directors, producers and distributors jostle for their shares of the
N3billion film intervention fund, actors, who may not have logical reason to
access the fund, are playing smart by going into politics where they can tap
directly into what they have come to see as a national cake regime.
Nowadays, films like Being Mrs Elliot, which has no
direct national significance, are finding their ways to Aso Villa in the name
of presidential premiere. This film, I have on good authority, is not doing
well in the cinema, despite hype by its promoters. I honestly believe
that we have lost it, and there is no effort from any quarters to call us back
from this path of mediocrity.
Back to the forecast for India, it is said that the
subscription trends are robust, as television continues to dominate the overall
industry pie. Total TV revenue (including advertising) reached $7 billion in
2013, up about 15 percent from $ 6.1 billion in 2012. By 2018, TV revenue is
expected to double from existing levels to about $14 billion. International
production companies have taken note of the growth and looked at opportunities
in India.
The film industry was estimated at about $2.06 billion in
2013 and is projected to grow steadily at a compound annual growth of 12
percent by 2018 to touch $ 3.6 billion. The report states that higher domestic
and overseas box-office collections and cable and satellite TV rights for
movies will continue to propel film revenue.
The fastest growth is seen in the digital space, with
Internet access revenue touching about $4.2 billion in 2013, up 47 percent over
the previous year, thus becoming the second highest revenue generator for the
overall industry after TV. Internet access revenues were slightly higher than
total print revenues (advertising and subscription), which hit about $3.8
billion in 2013, signifying the growing dominance of digital over traditional
media in India.
Similarly, Internet advertising revenue is also a strong
contributor, growing at 26 percent. It is slated to become the third largest
segment, with a 16 percent share of the overall advertising revenue pie by
2018.
Total advertising revenue reached $5.73 billion in 2013
and is expected to rise to $9.8 billion by 2018, registering a compound annual
growth rate of 13 percent.
Given the growth of new media, the report predicts that
the share of print revenues in the overall industry pie is likely to fall from
20 percent in 2013 to 14 percent by 2018. Similarly, the share of the film
industry is also expected to drop slightly from 11 percent to 10 percent over
the same time period.
Here at home, practitioners seem to have succeeded in
blackmailing the government with their chorus of “We got Nollywood to this
stage without government support”. I no longer hear that phrase, and it is just
an error to imagine that the kind of support we are talking about here is by
giving filmmakers money to go and make commercial films, when the most
realistic aspect of support could have been policies that support co-production
treaties, subsidising the importation of film equipment and instituting
auditable structures through proper distribution framework.
Although we keep hearing that plans are on to direct the
larger chunk of the N3billion grant on distribution, there are no visible marks
of seriousness on this aspect from the fund managers like the training of
filmmakers on short courses abroad and giving producers money to make films.
What becomes of these films without the distribution frameworks, which is the
only hope for returns on investments? Isn’t this another case of putting the
cart before the horse?
Trust me; the money spent on training directors may not
yield good results. I believe too that only few producers would use their share
to make good films, if they ever make the films. The reason is simple: most
Nigerian filmmakers are tired and only desire shortcuts to make a living.
Source: The Nation
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