Continuing its 'Digital India' initiative, the government plans to increase advertising spend on digital, while lowering its ad spend on traditional media such as print including newspapers.
Speaking at the ‘CII Big Picture Summit 2015' held at Taj Palace, New Delhi, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister for State of Information and Broadcasting, said, “The idea is to increase the government’s presence in the digital media. Besides increasing advertising on digital media, the government would also be present on popular platforms such as YouTube.”
Moreover, the government plans to lease out prime-time band that is from 8 to 11 pm to private broadcasters to enhance the quality of programming on national channel Doordarshan. Additionally, there are plans to start DD’s terrestrial digital broadcast. “It is important to make DD channels available across all platforms. As digital plays an important role in this plan, with this DD channels will be available on smartphones, which is increasingly becoming an important medium for consumption of content,” he said.
Rathore also spoke about the government's plan to create a single window for granting permission for international film production companies to shoot in India. “While our collaboration with countries such as Canada, China and Australia has benefited the industry, as Indian films are now shown in theatres in these countries, the idea is to further build it as a revenue stream,” Rathore said.
The government also plans to set up a university for special effects and gaming. Rathore said the government has been talking to the industry for the past six months and needs the industry's support to build it.
On the need to create more movie theatres in the country, he said, “With high real-estate prices, movie theatre companies should look at out-of-the-box offerings such mobile movie vans or building smaller movie theatres.”
