ZEE UK’s Parul Goel champions key challenge faced by media industry in 2023

The Future of Media Summit was an exclusive invitation-only meeting of UK media industry leaders, held on the 12th and 13th of October 2022. The Summit was held under the theme – Rise Up and Build the Future, with the focus on disruption, inclusion, courage, and excellence in the UK media industry. It brought together the crème-de-la-crème of the media industry in the UK as they debated, discussed, and provided invaluable insights into the future of media in the UK and across the globe.

On the first day, in the very first debate of the UK Media Leaders, there was a preliminary poll held on the top 10 issues before the debate started, such as diversity, inclusion, talent crisis, Inflation/ cost of living crisis, which is going to affect the media in the UK. Out of the Top 10 key issues, Inflation & Cost of living crisis were at the bottom two of the list.

Notable media executive, Parul Goel, Head of the UK Territory – Zee was invited to speak and he along with Mike Shaw, Director, International Ad Sales – Roku chose the topic – Inflation and the cost-of-living crisis. There was a second poll taken after all the speakers debated their chosen topics to identify three key issues which would be championed by the leaders of the media industry. The three challenges which the select audience voted to see championed in 2023 were – inflation and cost of living as top priority, followed by diversity and inclusion as well as the talent crisis.

It’s Mr Goel’s experience and in-depth understanding of the media market and economy, identified the biggest challenges in the current environment of the UK media industry with regards to inflation and cost of living. Not only did he discuss issues of advertising spends and choosing the most efficient mediums and platforms by the advertisers but also subscriptions and SVoD.

Goel said, “Higher costs are carving out significant margins and not all media houses are able to increase their prices to counter this effect, either by increasing sponsorships or prices of SVoD monthly subscriptions.” He stressed on focussing on consumer preferences, by collaborating as an industry and creating solutions which should be beneficial to all. And if required, approach the regulatory bodies, to allow or relax certain regulations which would help the Media industry navigate the inflation crisis effectively.

All esteemed panel leaders were extremely insightful and voiced their opinions on key issues which if implemented could greatly benefit the media industry overall.

Speakers: Josh Krichefski, Global COO – EssenceMediacom, Caroline Foster Kenny, Global CFO – Wunderman Thompson, Becky Moffat CMO – HSBC, Parul Goel, Territory Head – UK & Europe/ Americas -Zee Entertainment, Mike Shaw, Director, International Ad Sales – Roku