Fervid fans fuelling South Indian films' stellar growth

Driven by distinct and inimitable ardent fan following, the South Indian film industry is seen clocking compounded annual growth rate of 11 per cent over the next five years.

According to Deloitte-Ficci’s report – Promising Signs Ahead: Media & Entertainment in South India – with zealous fan base and strong star following as core strengths, the industry will grow from Rs 2,600 crore in 2013 to touch Rs 3,550 crore by 2015.

The study comes in the backdrop of a two-day ‘Media & Entertainment Business Conclave 2013’ that gets underway in Bangalore on October 29 and 30.

According to Ficci Media & Entertainment Business Conclave South chairperson actor Kamal Hassan, “This year’s conclave will focus on effective proliferation of meaningful content in the backdrop of digital technologies and an array of new media.”

The conclave, according to him, will also discuss how to make meaningful cinema and look into crowd funding of films, with the case study of Kannada film Lucia.

The past decade, he notes, every segment in South India media and entertainment industry witnessed change in several aspects such as audience preferences and towards newer content formats. These new trends are largely driven by discerning audiences craving for quality of content and flawless viewing experience. In the face of competition from Hollywood and Bollywood films, narratives in South Indian films are shifting from traditional methods to using more advanced audio-visual special effects.

Fans’ preference for and attachment with their regional stars, provides necessary backbone and fillip for South Indian film industry, which, says Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd Senior Director & Leader (Strategy & Operations Consulting) Sachin Sondhi, helps provide rich repertoire of films and offers right mix for its diverse populace.

 Further, says Sondhi, thanks to fans loyalty, many new-age trends are gaining traction such as adoption of audio-visual technology, advent of several corporates and big studios into film production.

 Says Sony Music Entertainment (I) Pvt Ltd president (India & Middle East) Shridhar Subramaniam, compulsive consumers passion and involvement with regional content allows for new and unique ways to market and build new consumption models and platforms.