The world of creators and their economy is going through a fundamental change, Minister of Information & Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw observed while interacting with news media in Mumbai ahead of the maiden World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES).

 Scheduled in Mumbai from May 1 to 4, the WAVES media interaction was attended by about 20 media houses from the national as well as regional news media houses on Saturday.

Talking on the challenges faced, the Minister said that with the advent of technology, the old model is giving way to the new model, creating opportunities as well as challenges. The shape of the media world  is changing, he said, adding that it was the collective need as a country to respond to the new model.

Giving an example, Vaishnaw, according to an official statement, said that gone are the days when a big studio was needed for creating content. Today a creator from a remote village from Jharkhand or Kerala can create good quality and get millions of views.

Pointing out that the creator’s economy is growing exponentially, the Minister said that Prime Minister Modi acknowledged the work of the creators and their contribution to the economy by promoting India’s soft power globally. WAVES seeks to evolve itself as a global platform for media and entertainment, just as Davos serves as a global platform for economic policies, he added.

The Minister stressed that WAVES would emerge as a global connector between creators, buyers and markets for scalable creative solutions. He also paid the M&E industry complement saying that WAVES would turn out to be a grand success because of active participation from the industry, while the government was just a facilitator or acting as a catalyst.

Participating in the interaction, heads of various media organisations congratulated the government for conceptualising a novel concept in the form of WAVES to bring policy makers, creators, industry stalwarts, tech giants and start-ups in the M&E sector on one platform.

MIB Secretary Sanjay Jaju highlighted the significance of collective dialogue in shaping the future of the media landscape, emphasising the Ministry’s commitment to engaging with stakeholders across platforms.