[TechSparks 2020] What is the future of entertainment and media in an era of hyper-personalisation?

Time was when entertainment was a family affair, with people coming together in front of the TV every evening. That has changed completely - entertainment has gone from a community-based experience to an individual-led experience.

Phones are ringing in the change by providing access to creation and consumption at a massive scale. And every person is choosing to watch their choice of entertainment due to a drop in entry barriers.

Rising consumer expectations of increasingly individualised entertainment have led industry leaders to explore AI and machine learning-based solutions.

At TechSparks 2020, Anirudh Pandita, Co-founder of digital media entertainment company Pocket Aces, spoke to YourStory about the evolution of content and creators, the importance of the individual, and what lies in the future.

“Today, content is global, and people will go to great lengths to consume it. You need to serve good content as viewers now have options from across the world,” Anirudh said.

Young people are choosing where and when they will consume content. It could be TikTok, which resonated strongly with millennials, or PubG, which lets them hang out on their own or with friends in the virtual world.

"One of our streamers is a competitive player in the first-person shooter game genre. He teams up with people from other countries though he has never met them. People watch these games too just like you watch games in a stadium. It is about the individual now,” Anirudh says.

Pocket Aces, which “wanted to solve boredom”, tracks a consumer’s daily journey and serves meaningful content and provides tools to create content. This has been possible because of the proliferation of smart phones.

“We can quickly provide content for different type of communities. This is very different from TV networks. People have moved from one or two screens to multiple screens, which is why modern apps keep making a lot of content,” Anirudh said.

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Growth of virtual community

Even as demand grows, the world is witnessing a spurt in the virtual community with the consumer and creator equation changing continuously. Some apps function as hangout spots, places where skill meets strategy.

“People want to know what brings out the best in a player, why they perform well in certain pitches or weather conditions. This is the new broadcast where people want to serve this virtual community,” Anirudh said.

The entertainment market is huge.

IBEF predicts that the Indian media and entertainment industry will grow at a CAGR of 13.5 percent during FY19 and FY24. It is expected to reach around Rs 3.1 lakh crore by 2024 while India's advertisement market is projected to grow 10.62 percent year on year to Rs 85,250 crore till 2021.

Digital advertising has emerged as the third largest advertising medium in India and generated revenue worth Rs 15,467 crore in 2019. Digital will contribute 29 percent of the ad market size by 2021.

The old media landscape of control is evolving. With advertisers seeing a transition to digital, they are waking up to the need to monetise differently.

The opportunity is there for many startups like Pocket Aces to tap.

"Not having this hubris of you know everything really helps. You need to keep track of what is happening and have the humility to build a company in the media and entertainment space. My own posting online is very small. I am not an influencer. Yet, I and the other co-founders have created a large business," Anirudh said.

For more information on TechSparks 2020, check out our TechSparks 2020 website.  

TechSparks - YourStory's annual flagship event - has been India's largest and most important technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship summit for over a decade, bringing together entrepreneurs, policymakers, technologists, investors, mentors, and business leaders for stories, conversations, collaborations, and connections that matter. As TechSparks 2020 goes all virtual and global in its 11th edition, we want to thank you for the tremendous support we've received from all of you throughout our journey and give a huge shoutout to our sponsors of TechSparks 2020.