Content creators are closest to consumer demand

With WAVES 2025, the government aims to unite filmmakers, influencers, animators, investors and tech innovators under one roof. Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju talks to Shruti Tripathi and Deepsekhar Choudhury about the government's vision to turn content into commerce and creators into global brands. Edited excerpts

- Shruti Tripathi and Deepsekhar Choudhury

What do you want to achieve with the inaugural edition of WAVES 2025?

The prime minister thinks that the media and entertainment industry is very vibrant and important. It's the right time for this industry to become global. We are the world's biggest content creator and content consumer. We have a history [of storytelling], which dates back to 4,000 years, across oral, written and visual traditions. Starting from the sound of Om to our Vedic scripts to Natya Shastra to films.

So, it's important that we create an event where we can bring global eyeballs. With this vision that the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit has been planned. And this is going to be one of the world's first convergence events across all forms of media and entertainment.

On one hand, we are bringing together traditional media such as radio broadcasting and films; on the other, we're also embracing the new-generation platforms—social media, OTT, content creators and influencers. In addition, we're including emerging segments like visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality.

The tagline of WAVES is "Connecting Creators, Connecting Countries".

Do you think the creator economy has enough depth to financially support over 4mn creators?