 "Sameer Ganapathy")
While Disney India's movie production has seen success, its interactive services arm has ramped up, slow and steady, over the past couple of years. Apart from developing games to promote Disney's movies, it is now tying up with other brands; for example, the apex cricketing body for a cricket game. Sameer Ganapathy, vice-president & head, Interactive, tells Urvi Malvania what makes it tick. Edited excerpts:
Where does gaming figure in Disney India's strategy in India?
Our endeavour is to leverage technology and develop high-quality and engaging content for our consumers across platforms. Gaming is a preferred form of entertainment in India, with 67 per cent of time spent on tablets and 39 per cent on smartphones in playing games. Hence, gaming forms an integral part of our overall strategy. Our focus will be to strengthen our understanding of the consumers through research and investing in global IPs (intellectual properties or gaming properties) that will be inspired by Indian themes.
Recently, we launched the official video game of the ICC (International Cricket Council) Cricket World Cup 2015 for computers, with a shorter version for smartphones and DTH (direct-to-home) users. It can be played across multiple screens and garnered 700,000 downloads during the world cup.
Bollywood is another theme that resonates very well with the audience. We also focus on creating film-led gaming experiences. Some recent successes include games based on PK, Kick, Chennai Express.
How are you positioning yourself? Any innovation to set you apart?
In line with our global principles, we are incorporating the best of technology and tapping into the evolving ecosystem in India. There are two factors which establish our unique positioning: Consumer insight and content uniqueness.
Our varied offerings across multiple businesses and our constant engagement with the consumer across multiple platforms give us the opportunity to delve deep into consumer behaviour to understand our consumer needs.
Our interactive experiences are unique to our consumers and we will continue to build our IP pipeline with high-quality content with immersive experiences.
As monetisation of digital properties is a challenge in India, what are your plans?
Today, consumers demand quality content as they are privy to world-class games through global marketplaces. The demand will put the roles of content creators to constantly test. Monetisation is heading in the right direction and there are a lot of opportunities with the rise in smartphone users. India is set to become the second-largest smartphone market.
Are you looking at partnerships with other movie studios, music companies and sports entities to promote gaming as a marketing tool?
Disney India has a multitude of brands - Disney, UTV, Indiagames, bindass and Marvel. We will continue to explore opportunities for branded digital experiences with each of these.
For ICC Pro Cricket 2015, we reached out to the ICC, as it is the best when it comes to cricket. In the past we have worked with Indian Premier League (IPL) teams for four consecutive years to develop their official cricket games.
On movie-based games, we will work with our studios to identify those that lend themselves to engaging gameplay.
What are the challenges and opportunities?
Let me start with the opportunities. Mobile gaming has seen major growth in 2014. With the smartphone boom and evolution of digital advertising, the market looks promising.
Reduced prices and increased memory of handsets will have a positive impact on mobile gaming standards. Consumption of mobile data is increasing and the revenue from data services has risen to 12-15 per cent of mobile service revenue, for the top telecom operators.
A key challenge remains connectivity and the evolution of more alternative payment mechanisms.
