“The Time Is Right To Create An Alternative To Television”: Uday Shankar On India’s Digital Revolution – APOS
27.09.2023 - 04:49
/ deadline.com
Bodhi Tree Systems co-founder and former Disney APAC chief Uday Shankar outlined how his new venture – along with Reliance’s JioCinema – are building an alternative to legacy media in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, on the first day of Media Partners Asia’s APOS conference in Bali, Indonesia.
Talking to MPA executive director Vivek Couto, Shankar recounted how Reliance Jio created a “fundamental digital revolution” in India with the introduction of low-cost data plans in 2016.
“I was created by and love television, but its limitations have been exposed for a long time,” said Shankar, who headed Star India before serving as president of The Walt Disney Co APAC until 2020.
He is now invested in the next stage of India’s media evolution through his partnership with James Murdoch in Bodhi Tree Systems – part of a consortium of investors that are building out the JioCinema streaming service.
Over the past few years, the platform has made a series of splashy content deals including the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket and programming from Warner Bros Discovery and NBCUniversal. The service has also folded in the streaming channels of Viacom18 (jointly owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance and Paramount Global).
“We were able to see that opportunity very clearly. When you have a population of 1.4 billion, and leave aside the top segment of the population, the rest have been completely bypassed – most of them have only looked at video on their mobile phones. The appetite has always been there but it’s been limited by access and affordability of the content,” Shankar said.
“What we believe is that you can create an alternative to television, and I’m not talking about just one streaming service or channel, but