Technicolor CEO Outlines India’s Pivotal Role In Its Transformation Strategy

Last year, Technicolor Creative Studios spun off as an independent company from the main entity. This brought it back to its core, which is the work you have been doing for studios, creating film and episodic content, and also gaming and advertising content. It was a year of change that impacted the company. Could you take us through what this will mean for Technicolor in the year ahead?

It was a year of change for Technicolor and also for the media and entertainment (M&E) industry. One of the major events, for example, was the ‘summer of strikes’ as it was being called, where writers, actors and other workers in Los Angeles brought to light the impact of technology and how it was changing the industry. I would call it a transformative year. 

While the likes of generative AI (artificial intelligence) are showing that we can go faster, at the end of the day, people are indeed using content differently. The industry acknowledged that media and content studios are drastically changing and the way to rebuild the future by building new content, whatever the distribution outlet may be, will be different. Everyone is contemplating the next generation of what we must do.

At Technicolor, you are right in saying our growth journey brings us back to where we began back in 1915 in terms of our services for studios. And we had a tough year. We had operational issues even ahead of the LA strikes. When large structural changes are made, one can lose momentum in the day-to-day focus. 

What was happening around us also pointed to the need to evolve our solutions management. We look at it as a good year because we got the unique opportunity to reinvent ourselves and align with newer industry needs. It set into motion what I believe will drive our next growth phase, help regain our momentum and accelerate our transformation.

Tell us more about your transformation strategy.

Our transformation strategy is two-fold. It acknowledges that we are a high-end, specialised company and while we have to continue to invest in tech, we need to fast-track it, as generative AI is picking up and newer tools are coming to the fore. There is a platform transformation backed by strong investment. 

The real transformation is how we are going to address the markets. We have been a US-based, LA-focused company for over a century. This has worked for us and we will continue to serve the major studios. But we have to refocus on where the new content will be delivered. 

We are exploring how to develop local content for local markets. A market such as India, for instance, is larger than Europe or the U.S.. We intend to better serve markets in Asia, where the media and content industry is evolving extremely fast but we lack presence.

The strategy is to continue to fuel our tech-enabled company with advanced tools and top-skilled people so that we can continue to deliver high-end products and we intend to widen our client base. 

While it makes sense to grow the footprint, one may argue that this is a competitive sector. India is a major player, not to mention markets such as China as well. How will you make it work?

These are very competitive markets but there are contracyclical variables at play. If you do not have a large base of customers, you do not have a resilient business in this space. How we adapt, how flexible we are, how good are services are, the quality of the work, on-time delivery and the right customer interfacing are all important components.

We already have a strong client base but if can evolve it and add a newer client base, we add resilience. With our global know-how and our skillsets, we are in a good position to achieve this. That is also why India is an important market for us. While there is a thriving market here, our set-up in India can develop the business for the rest of the world.

What do you see India’s role as in your transformation game plan?

India is our core platform to create these services and deliver them. We have all the services here and now we have to leverage it. In India, we are organised by business units but there is a common layer on how to manage our people and invest in tech. We are well-positioned to service global client demands and are hoping we can see the first proof of how partnerships and diversification in the Asian markets will work for us from India.

Are you considering any acquisitions?

I believe more in partnerships and working in an ecosystem than acquiring. For example, we will not build generative AI-led solutions ourselves but work with partners who have already developed them. We will be partnering more with our clients as well. Unless something unique is on the horizon, we are unlikely to look at acquisitions right now.

So will 2024 continue to be a tough year?

Global M&E demand has declined and we have entered a flatter growth curve. But it will continue to be a transition year for the industry. Major studios will have to balance between the features they will release, what are streaming platforms doing and where they need to invest money for quality content. Business models are changing. It would be a recovery phase and we will see the evolved model in 2025. Companies would have created a new competitive edge and there would be stability.