Indian media industry has tremendous scope for growth in all the segments due to rising income and evolving lifestyle.
As per the latest report by the EY, India’s Media and entertainment Industry is expected to reach Rs. 2.34 trillion (US$ 29.2 billion), then grow at a CAGR of 10% to reach Rs. 2.83 trillion (US$ 35.4 billion) by 2025. In FY20, digital and online added revenue stood at Rs. 26 billion in the M&E sector and their contribution to the sector increased to 23% in 2020 from 16% in 2019. Between 2022-25, these segments are expected to witness growth as follows, Digital media (14.7%), Animation and VFX (21.1%), Online gaming (19.5%), and OOH (12.8%).
The country's entertainment and media industry is expected to see a growth of 9.7% annually in revenues to reach US$ 73.6 billion by 2027.
Revenue of the Indian video OTT market that is dominated by players such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar is set to double from US$ 1.8 billion in 2022 to US$ 3.5 billion by 2027.
The AVGC sector is estimated to grow at ~9% to reach ~Rs. 3 lakh crore (US$ 43.93 billion) by 2024, stated Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Mr. Piyush Goyal. India’s digital advertising industry reached a value of US$ 4.5 billion in 2022 from Rs. 18,938 crore (US$ 2.47 billion) in 2021.
India’s subscription revenue is projected to reach Rs. 940 billion (US$ 13.34 billion) in 2023, from Rs. 631 billion (US$ 8.95 billion) in 2020. India’s SVOD subscriptions reached 130.2 million in 2022 compared to 110.5 million in 2021.
According to EY-Parthenon, India’s publishing industry is likely to reach Rs. 80,000 crore (US$ 10.74 billion) by 2024. Key growth drivers included rising demand for content among users and affordable subscription packages. The Indian mobile gaming market is growing at a pace in tandem with the global trend and is expected to reach US$ 1.99 billion in 2024.
The music industry is expected to reach US$ 400 million by 2025 from US$ 199 million in 2019. Growth of the sector is attributable to the trend of platform such as YouTube that continues to offer recent and video content-linked music for free, which is expected to drive the paid OTT music sector reaching ~5 million end-users by 2023, generating revenue of ~Rs. 2 billion (US$ 27 million).
By 2025, the number of connected smart televisions is expected to reach ~40-50 million. 30% of the content viewed on these screens will be gaming, social media, short video and content items produced exclusively for this audience by television, print and radio brands. In the second quarter of 2021, smart TV shipments from India increased by 65% YoY, due to rising expansion activities adopted by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for their smart TV portfolios. By 2025, ~600-650 million Indians, will consume short-form videos, with active users spending up to 55 to 60 minutes per day.
According to the FICCI-EY media and entertainment industry survey, those who watch online videos through bundled packages (online video services bundled with mobile and broadband connections) will account for half of all online video viewers (399 million) by 2023, up from 284 million in 2020.
As of 2022, India registered ~527 million online video viewers, including streaming services and videos on free platforms such as YouTube. Mobile video viewers stood at 356 million in 2020, driven by rising number of users preferring video content over the last few years.
OTT video services market (video-on-demand and live) in India is likely to post a CAGR of 29.52% to reach US$ 5.12 billion by FY26, driven by rapid developments in online platforms and increased demand for quality content among users.
The Government of India has supported this sector's growth by taking various initiatives such as digitizing the cable distribution sector to attract greater institutional funding, increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit from 74% to 100% in cable and direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platforms and granting industry status to the film industry for easy access to institutional finance. FDI inflows in the information and broadcasting sector (including print media) stood at US$ 10.14 billion between April 2000-March 2023.
The Indian media and entertainment sector posted a robust 19.9% growth in 2022 and crossed the Rs. 2 trillion (US$ 24 billion) mark in annual revenue for the first time led by a sharp jump in the digital advertising mop-up.
PE/VC led 77% of the media and entertainment deals in 2022, contributing to 57% of the total funding, while 23% of total deals were led by strategic players in 2022.
In 2022 (January-July 2022), PE/VC investments In the media and entertainment industry was at US$ 3,389 million. As part of the expansion to include all digital platforms and digital (OTT) players under a single roof, in May 2021, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) announced the move to be renamed as the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF). As per the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, IBDF would also form a self-regulatory body (SRB) soon.
To ease filming in railways, the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) set up in the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) collaborated with the Ministry of Railways to develop an integrated single window filming mechanism to streamline the permission process for filming across railway premises. The government also announced that it is working towards creating a National Centre of Excellence for AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming and comics).
Mr. Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India announced that the government is working to soon bring an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) policy and create an AVGC Mission.
According to Inc42 Plus, the media and entertainment sector received a total funding of US$ 877.8 million across 85 funding deals in FY20, compared with US$ 561.27 million in FY19. This was led by online video start-ups such as SimSim, Trell and other TikTok alternatives and followed by gaming start-ups including SquareOff, Gamezop and WinZO.
In April 2023, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi commissioned Low Power FM Transmitters of capacity of 100 watt at 91 locations. These transmitters have been installed in 84 districts of 20 states. With this, the network of transmitters with All India Radio has increased from 524 to 615. The addition will further boost the coverage of AIR to 73.5% of the population of the country.
A partnership was announced in April, 2023 between the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Amazon India in the field of media, entertainment, and public awareness.
Indian Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms have demonstrated significant growth in the global market, witnessing a 194% increase in revenue from international viewers over the last two years.
According to CRISIL, print media’s revenue is anticipated to increase by 13-15% this year as a result of increased government and corporate advertising spending. In FY24, the revenue of print media is predicted to reach Rs. 30,000 crore (US$ 3.63 billion).
In March 2022, Game 24x7 raised US$ 75 million at a valuation of US$ 2.5 billion. This funding was led by Malabar Investments.
In March 2022, Pocket FM in India raised US$ 65 million and has plans to expand in new regional languages.
In March 2022, Krafton infused US$ 19.5 million in Indian audio content platform Kuku FM.
In November 2021, media consulting firm, Ormax Media launched an OTT Brand Health Tracking Tool called Ormax Brand Monitor (OBM). The tool is based on syndicated research conducted every month among SVOD & AVOD audiences across India, to track the performance of 16 OTT platforms on key brand measures.
In November 2021, social gaming platform WinZO, with Kalaari Capital announced a new investment initiative, ‘Gaming Lab’, to encourage and support India’s gaming ecosystem.
In October 2021, Prasar Bharati decided to auction its archives with the hope of monetising the content through sale to television and OTT platforms.
In October 2021, Star & Disney India signed advertising deals worth ~Rs. 1,200 crore (US$ 160.16 million), for the ICC T20 World Cup, marking a three-time rise over the last tournament, which was held in 2016 in India.
In October 2021, Toch.ai, a SaaS platform for the video content industry, raised US$ 11.75 million in Series A funding. Moneta Ventures, Baring Private Equity India, Mr. Binny Bansal, Ventureast, 9 Unicorns, Anthill Ventures, Cathexis Ventures, SOSV, Artesian and Innoven Capital participated in the funding round.
In September 2021, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) announced a plan to merge with Sony Pictures Networks India. As part of this agreement, Sony plans to invest US$ 1.57 billion in the merged entity.
In September 2021, Netflix India signed a multi-year agreement with Excel Entertainment to strengthen its original series share in India.
In the Union budget of 2022-23 the Ministry of Information and broadcasting received Rs. 3,980.77 crore (US$ 520.24 million). The allocation to Prasar Bharati stood at Rs. 2,555.29 crore (US$ 333.84 million). The budget for other autonomous bodies such as the Press Council of India stood at Rs. 27 crore (US$ 3.52 million), Films and Television Institute of India (FTII) at Rs. 55.39 crore (US$ 7.18 million) and Indian Institute of Mass Communication at Rs. 52 crore (US$ 6.79 million). The allocation for broadcasting under social services stood at Rs. 2,839.29 crore (US$ 370.98 million).
