because we are India...

We ought to among the first to condemn the assassination of Ms. Benazir Bhutto.

It is, definitely, another assault on democracy, but very unfortunately, it is an assault carried out by the democracy itself. It is an assault that finds its roots in the democracy that Pakistan has carved out for itself since independence.

We send to the people of Pakistan our love, goodwill, and friendship.

We hope that you will find yourselves as a nation, and realize that your enemies aren't across the border, or in far-away western lands.
Your enemies reside in your midst, and they are blinding you with acts of hatred and cowardice because they have no face to show to you.

They have no agenda, but to thwart your growth. They have no peace, except that which they feel when they see you in pain. They have no joy, except to revel in your misery. They want you to fight each other, and they want you to believe that you are fundamentally different from each other.

Don't give in. Don't give up. You are a nation, and you live in an age that is meant to build the wealth of nations.

Don't go searching for a democracy. Let it find you. And find you, it will.

Good luck.

A quarter life on YouTube

I was reading this article by Brian Stelter, in the NY Times this morning.

The title is an indication of everything that's wrong about how people view online video: "Can NBC do for 'Quarterlife' what YouTube could not?"

What YouTube(a la the online video marketplace) can do for you isn't measurable in the same time frame that NBC(a la TV markets) are measured. Remember that if the space is different, then surely there has to be some variance in the temporal context as well.

I think Quarterlife on the web is a brilliant idea. If nothing, even when the show has reached its shelf life on NBC, and is still circulating on the web, there will always be someone watching it. And maybe buying or renting the DVD of the show thereafter. And that's just my simplistic view of a potential opportunity in the Web >> TV space.

Truth is, there's plenty of room to innovate in this new world, and to be really successful, one has to shed every inch of old school in them, and approach the opportunity with a great deal of imagination.

Off the top of my head, 4 strategies for building the first quarter of shelf life for Web >> TV content:

[a]. Diversify your Internet markets- don't just bank on YouTube. Use other videos sharing sites, build your own platforms, cross promote, moblog, vlog, flog...whatever. Leave no stone unturned in reaching different audiences(markets), just like you wouldn't when promoting your exclusive TV content.

[b]. Incentive-ize creation: Don't worry about mainstream viability. If you produce top quality content, it'll be a hit right away. If you produce mediocre content, it won't be a hit, but over a little longer time line(depending on the level of mediocrity...! =) ), you will probably still make as much money as you did from the hits. (says Chris Anderson, Editor-in-chief at Wired Magazine).

So your best bet, even on the creative front, is to encourage content creation. That's one thing that'll probably never change, no matter how grand our business models get....content is king.

[c]. Understand Distribution 2.o: Anything YOU can distribute, millions of web users can distribute better.
Think of it this way- the first thing you'd do before you build your marketing and distributing strategy is to identify(and we know how much fun that can get) the best possible markets/audiences for your content.

Well, I'm a relative nobody in the Internet space, and I have about a few hundred friends on the Internet(who I also happen to know in real life...), each of whom, on average, will at least have a couple o' hundred friends each. Do the math on the orders of magnitude...what happens when I send out a video to all my friends, and some of them decide to do the same to all their friends?

And then remember that I'm a relative nobody in the Internet space. I'm just one guy. There're millions like me all over.
Reach out to us. We'll distribute for you- with no incentive at all. And at no cost to you. Beat that.

[d]. Help make connections: The more handshakes you can facilitate, the better the chances of people re-connecting a second time, over similar interests. This is probably only feasible when you're building your own distribution platform, but a lot of people don't think too hard about this. And it's totally worth some thought.

Technology makes it possible today to group people with similar tastes, preferences, viewing history, etc. It's a really cool way to stimulate virtual on-demand markets. If you help me find 50 people just like me on your network, then chances are that when I see something that's interesting to me, I'll share it with those 50 new friends I've made...first.
And the same applies to each of those 50 friends. And each of their friends. And their friends' friends.
Think about it.
And all you did was help people identify folks with similar tastes.

---

I could probably cook up a few more. But then, I'd have to move into consulting and leave behind our startup. And that wouldn't go over too well, of course. :)

--->

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

'Kaushik Roy' vs. 'Aamir Khan'

No more than a couple of months ago, first-time director Kaushik Roy made his foray into independent cinema with "Apna Aasman"- a real-life tale of an autistic child.
It was very well received and while the film didn't have a lot of box-office success(of course it didn't..after all, who's Kaushik Roy?!), it definitely made an impact, however small.

Last night, one of our team-mates reported back to me about "Taare Zameen Par"- a similarly constructed tale...only this time, the plot centers around dyslexia.

I know of Kaushik Roy personally, and I love Aamir Khan. But I don't see why "Taare Zameen Par" pulls heartstrings, and "Apna Aasman" has to worry about being commercially responsible.
While Aamir's brand value as a director and an actor carries 'dyslexia' across, does Roy's lack of brand value necessitate the relative insignificance of 'autism'?

That Indian mass markets are drive by hits and brand value is no surprise- what IS a surprise is that Mr. Roy is shocked at the lack of backing for independent cinema and double standards in the industry.

I write this post in the fervent hope that it reaches Mr. Roy and hundreds of other independent film-makers across India who are trying to make films that sing to the masses.

I say to you:
"Please don't sing to the masses! Please make the masses sing to you. You have brilliant ideas, and you are covering issues that need to be covered.
We are here to help you monetize your work. We will show you a mass market you wouldn't ever have dreamed of.
We are India. We welcome you."

More Bollywood? And another Box?!!

I thought startups these days (especially the Internet ones) knew that boxing things up, especially for Internet services, isn't a fun thing to do any more.

The Media Center, Akimbo, Dave Networks' XPORT.....they've all failed miserably, burning through millions and millions of dollars, so I was a little frazzled to read about Tinselvision heading down the same path.

Anyway, the gentleman mentioned towards the end of the article probably sums up my perspective on "Bollywood Abroad on Demand".....I'm bored of talking about it. People have too many places to find Bollywood content and you have to be doing something really different with your service to compete with the likes of Rajshri.com.

I guess my big dilemma about Bollywood on demand is this: an average Bollywood film is about 1.5 times the length of a Hollywood film. That's a good 1.5GB per file. Compress that really well, and you could get away with a 1.2GB file. On an average download speed of 500 Kbps in the US(and I'm being very generous here), that's a 60 minute download. That's like a drive to the local video rental store and back, with groceries in between.
How is that "on demand"?

And I know CDNs are expensive, so am sure hoping Tinselvision has its profitability map worked out, because if you're serving 1600 full length downloads a day........on a CDN....whew. Lots of luck, gentlemen.

'We are India' call for submissions

Folks,

We've just announced our first call for submissions.
You'll find the release here: http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/film/200712176239.htm

And because there's room here....

"We are India.TV" calls for submissions

We are pleased to announce WeareIndia.TV: an avenue for film-makers of Indian origin to distribute their work on the Internet.

Berkeley, CA, USA, 2007-12-18 13:09:31 (IndiaPRwire.com)

In an era where Indian cinema comes across solely in the form of Bollywood, a startup out of Berkeley, California has come forward with an innovative proposal: WeareIndia.TV

At face value, this is an Internet video service for folks interested in Indian media. Come a little closer, though, and you will experience their reason for being.

This is a service that is exclusively dedicated to popularizing non-mainstream film.......film that you wouldn't see on TV, DVDs or movie theaters. These are the film makers who win small awards all year long in distinguished non-commercial avenues across the world, but never really find their way out into the world of mainstream film for a variety of reasons. Says Preetam Mukherjee, Chief Instigator of this (Ad)venture, "Commercialization via mainstream channels often dilutes the quality of their work, since the focus shifts from producing film, to producing profitable film. We're here to provide an opportunity to these very film makers to monetize their work, without them having to modify the art form for the sake of commercial gain."

It is, indeed, an interesting proposition. Now, film-makers can publish their work on WeareIndia.TV on a completely non-exclusive basis, share monthly ad revenues from their content, and have an accessible presence on the Internet.

And that's not all this service is about. It is a comprehensive web 2.0 service platform, with a clear-cut plan for a methodical roll out of creation and distribution services. "That's the big reason we're all so excited", claims Harshal Dhir, CTO at WeareIndia. "We're talking about a lot of film here...really...a LOT. How do we make sure that everyone visiting us can find exactly the films that are of interest to them? How can we minimize the time spent in browsing and searching...and instead help our viewers watch more film in that duration? How do we make sure our publishers have the maximum possible exposure for their content? How do we make sure that it's the art that's driving the revenues, and not the other way around?"

All excellent questions, and even if a few of them are answered, we are definitely in for a treat. After a very long time, audiences across the world are faced with the prospect of being able to watch niche Indian cinema- the kind that goes into the depths of India and brings out the best(and the worst) of the largest democracy in the world. Ranging from documentaries, music videos, short films, and animations, WeareIndia.TV is now actively looking for film-makers, distributors, producers, publishers, et al. to come out and sign up to be a part of the opening night on February 14, 2008.

Once again, it's free to sign up and publish your films on WeareIndia. The site makes money by displaying advertisements next to your content, and shares those revenues with you on a monthly basis. You can remain a publisher for as long as you like, and can request removal of your content at any time.

On the web: http://www.WeareIndia.tv

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