The media and entertainment ecosystem has undergone a deep digital transformation in recent years and has virtually become unrecognizable. The sector has been using cloud technology to transform the way content is produced, distributed and consumed. Generation Z treats media and entertainment very differently from the previous generations. Consumers of content, today, are looking for faster and more convenient ways to consume information which has led to a spurt in demand for video-based delivery. The rapid progress of HD, 4K, 8K and VR has led to a great opportunity for immersive content, which has a ready market. The Media and Entertainment Symposium jointly hosted by CNBCTV18.com and AWS was a much-awaited day-long virtual event that was attended by the who’s who of the industry.

The event kicked off with an opening address by Mr. Puneet Chandok, President AWS, India and South Asia who spoke about AWS’ India Mission of “Empowering builders and businesses to build a better India”. India has over 800 million internet subscribers, and is expected to have nearly 1 billion screens by 2025 and a sector value of INR 2.23 trillion by 2023. There is a clear shift to digital media and customers are more than willing to pay for superior content. Being a diverse country with multiple languages, the regional content is also gaining traction and picking up volumes.

As Marc Aldrich, Vertical Leader, Media & Entertainment, AWS, puts it, “AWS has the most purpose-built capabilities and partner solutions for reinventing content production, media supply chain, broadcast, direct-to-consumer streaming and analytics”.

There was an interesting panel discussion on the “Next Billion Video Users” where the participants discussed the success of various short and long-form content formats and the target audience to which it appeals. The growth of user-generated content and the chance to discover some real talent via these platforms also came up. While the cost of technology continues to fall, the number of devices on which media can be consumed continues to increase by the day. Technology has made it easier for information to seep through to eager, discerning consumers. Whether it is entertainment, edutainment, news or sports, quality content is in high demand.

Vaishali Kasture, Head of Enterprise Business, India & South Asia, AISPL had a fireside chat on “Disrupting and Innovating Video News“ with Mr. Vikram Chandra, Founder of Editorji, Former NDTV Anchor and CEO. Vikram Chandra shared interesting insights on how Editorji Technologies has been built as a tech platform that uses AI to transform the way news is arranged and served to the customer in short newscasts or capsules, using AWS. Making AI holistic and not siloed is a challenge that needs to be addressed to ensure that the viewer is not flooded with content based on clicks. A combination of AI with human intervention addresses this challenge in the space of news content.

Prashant Khanna, Head Field Ops, Tech. Dev, Star Sports shared interesting insights on how technology has been used over the last eighteen months at sporting events like the IPL to provide viewers with a stadium-like atmosphere using tech interventions such as emojis. Subject matter experts from the industry shared thoughts on the role of AI in the content supply chain and the application of Machine Learning for next-generation Media and Entertainment businesses.

The next panel discussion focused on “How Tech is shaping the News Media business” is moderated by Shweta Jain. Technology has redesigned the way news is produced, delivered and consumed globally. Technology has simultaneously also disrupted business models; there have been changes in viewership and access and the devices where it is consumed, all of which has made news media more alive and fragile at the same time. In this real-time world of today, the media industry is undergoing deep transformations across its ecosystem to create a new avatar that can cope with a changing world and dynamically changing consumer preferences. The cloud has allowed media companies to experiment with new methods using APIs and figure out what works and what needs to be binned in a cost-effective way. Catering to the additional 200-300 million users who were added as a result of the drop in data rates has been challenging. Now content must be customised from the traditional offerings to suit the tastes and preferences of new consumers who do not accept everything that is dished out.

Media and entertainment have adopted cloud technology to be the vehicle for the next revolution and India continues to be in the thick of action, being home to the second-largest number of internet users in the world.

To watch the entire event, click right here.

This is a partnered post.