The proverbial moment of truth is less than two months away for Arré, the new age media venture that marks the return of Ronnie Screwvala, and his partners B. Saikumar and Ajay Chacko, to the media and entertainment business. Combining experience with experiment, Arré has chalked out a large-scale plan where technology meets high-quality content, and differentiation will be seen not only in content type and format but also in marketing, distribution and platform.
With digital as its central nervous system, Arré will essentially be a content-first company, where all forms of content must pass the Arré filter. “There are perhaps eight or nine expressions that Arré stands for — ranging from surprise and shock to awe and wow. The content must make the consumer respond with at least one of these — that is the brand filter. People must start expecting this kind of content from us and that is how a brand is built,” says Ronnie Screwvala, chief of Arré. Arré will not be limited by formats and hence would be in video, audio or text — any medium that is best-suited for the content. Arré is also contextual — so whether it is information or entertainment, there will always be an underlay of relevance and context.
The keyword for Screwvala however is ‘experiential’. “Content must entertain, enthrall, evoke emotion, but our attempt would be to take that experience to a higher form,” he says.
Arré’s content mix is also making room for branded content, which would be one of the three key streams of monetisation for the company. The other two being advertising, especially premium-video advertising and subscription — a conundrum that not many media companies in India have been able to solve yet.
Digital ‘Pennies’: Still A Reality In MediaIn Indian media, subscription has been a tough nut to crack per se, but some market statistics, including India being the largest DTH market globally, has encouraged Arré to seek subscription revenue, though one would need to look at lateral ways of approaching this. “If consumers think that is a treat, we need to redefine treat,” says Screwvala.
“Any kind of direct consumer monetisation comes down to customer inertia and convenience. The shift can only come from compelling, premium content and the ecosystem. In India, the latter is already changing dramatically — whether by wallets or other online payment mechanisms. Any shift of this kind has to be structural. The rollout of 4G, hi-speed WiFi & broadband and device becoming singular — all point out that the payment ecosystem will work out sooner than later,” says Saikumar.
He is also optimistic about the manner in which branded content, and its various forms, have evolved in India. “On the one end of the spectrum is something as vanilla as advertiser-funded programming, but on the other end is crafting brand solutions, especially in the backdrop of traditional forms of media being questioned. Lines in media are merging very quickly and digital is the enabler, since it is non-linear, knows no format and is advertiser friendly,” he adds.
Going For Scale: Striking Right ‘Partnerships’Whether it is content, production, technology, marketing or distribution, Arré will take a collaborative approach to business. “Ideas can come from anywhere, so will audiences. We are very clear on what we want, but the idea can come from a brand, a creative head, a production house or anyone else. We will also partner with social media — be it YouTube or Facebook as well as telcos and over the top content providers for content discovery and audience aggregation. The creative triggers would be inclusive of the universe. We will deeply collaborate with creators across relevant medium, on the back of a clear brief from Arré,” says Saikumar.
An advantage for Arré is the Rs 150 crore funding that came from UDigital. According to Saikumar, investments are funneled towards areas that will help build scale and growth in the long term — content, technology and distribution.
“We are investing in creating long-term partnerships with talented writers, directors, film makers — both fresh and experienced as well as co-creating a cost effective production ecosystem. I believe these are fundamental to building a long term scalable media set up,” he adds.
In the digital world, competition is not limited to similar-field players but to any entity that claims consumer’s attention. Screwvala has a concise but clear view on what is Arré’s competition. “I am only interested in consumption and not competition,” he remarks, adding, “Consumer should get comfortable with the medium. The more the consumer uses the Internet, increasing from half hour a day to four hours, it will help us — it will drive the shift in consumption pattern. Our idea is to be able to work with as many people as possible because the change of mindset matters. That is when key decision makers will not be able to ignore the medium.”
Facing Ground RealitiesFor the initial period, Arré has listed out some tough, tangible internal benchmarks that will guide the company towards success and way forward. “Some of the currencies going around today are puff like unique views and so on. Gross merchandise volume in e-commerce, for instance, has only corrupted the whole system. We are not going to fool ourselves. Our benchmarks would be revenue, where people want to partner us for content, marketing or distribution; we will have very measurable parameters,” says Screwvala.
Another truth, however, is that for all the statistics in India, and the promised digital future, the market still has to show success in monetisation in media. Neither of this deters the Arré team. “I am an India bull and born optimist. We have to look at things half full if we want the next 10 years to mean anything to anyone. The market is just about shaping up in India. People are consuming and paying for content. We are seeing global tech honchos coming to India from all over the place — some of them taking three steps ahead of others. For us, the digital game board in India has only just been set,” says Screwvala.
noor.warsia@digitalmarket.asia;
@NFWarsia
(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-12-2015)
