MUMBAI: The Indian media and entertainment industry has the potential to touch the $ 60 billion mark in the next 10 years! speaking at the Valedictory session on the concluding day of FICCI FRAMES, Zee Network chairman Subhash Chandra said that if the media and entertainment industry compete yet cooperate with each other, then we would be hitting the $60 billion mark in the next 10 years.

Chandra added, "Today the Indian M&E market is pegged at $12.50 billion. If all stakeholders of this business had worked hand with each other, we would have been a $20 billion industry today and 10 years from now, we would stand at $ 35 – 40 billion if we continue to work the way we have been until now. However, if we collaborate with each other, that number could touch as high as $60 billion in the next 10 years."

Chandra further noted that the television industry today had become a TRP game. "Programmers are providing content for ratings and not for audiences. Today, in the film industry, Yash Raj Films’ success rate has been four – five times more than that of other producers. The reason for that is because they make films for audiences whereas most other producers are making movies for distributors who are writing their cheques."

Interactivity and digitisation, Chandra said, is the future whether it is in films or television. "In five – six years time, technological development will enable reduction in costs and increase interactivity and provide more control in the viewers’ hands than the programming person who prepares the FCP at television channels."

He also informed that Zee has been in the process of digitising all of its content for the last two years so that it can be made available at the push of a button. "Digitising the content can help in pushing it on mobile, Internet or any other handheld device. This will give us more opportunities in the future."