KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has the potential to prosper in the global digital content market, said Venture capitalist Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV) Bhd.

It said the market is estimated to grow to US$644bil (RM2.25 trillion) within the next three years, which makes getting a slice of it a worthwhile goal.

The country has 125 digital-content companies, including animation studios, design houses and games developers, said MDV.

Twenty of these, it said, are world-class companies that are more than able to compete with their international rivals.

IN DISCUSSION: (L-R) Toh, Astro Productions Sdn Bhd general manager of productions Har Kok Kit, Low, Multimedia Development Corp vice-president of creative multimedia Kamil Othman, and Maxis Communications Bhd head of product and infotainment business Kugan Thiruavakarasu discussing problems faced by the content industry.

There are limited marketing options for digital content, according to content development company Vision New Media.

Low Huoi Seong, its chief executive officer, said industry players participate in international trade shows, such as the recent Hong Kong Filmart and Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival, to push their wares.

"This alone is not enough," he said, adding that taking part in such events was also an expensive risk for these companies.

"Not many of them can afford it, and there's no promise of a return on investment," Low said.

Telenor Research and Development Centre Sdn Bhd, a research organisation, said many content developers, especially ones new to the industry, do not know how to market their products or do not have proper platforms from which to market them.

Oon Yeoh, a senior research scientist at Telenor, suggested that content developers market their products on the Internet, which would also allow them to get feedback from potential customers quickly.

This, he said, would be especially helpful to those dealing in online content. "User feedback is important and the Internet can facilitate this," he added.

On the matter of funding, content developers blame venture capitalists for having a different set of priorities.

Content developers need funds to grow their business, which may take awhile, while venture capitalists expect a return-on-investment over a shorter period of time.

Technology columnist Toh Mei Ling said it takes about seven years on average for content developers to break even in the business, let alone turn a profit.

Venture capitalists do not understand this, she said.

"They should employ people from the content development industry to help them gain deeper investment insights," said Toh.

The speakers were participating in a roundtable discussion on addressing the issues and challenges of digital content development in Malaysia, organised by MDV.

Also there were representatives of the industry, academia and government agencies.