Indian media industry has tremendous scope for growth in all the segments due to rising income and evolving lifestyle.
The Indian Media & Entertainment (M&E) sector is set for substantial growth, with a projected 10.2% increase, reaching Rs. 2.55 lakh crore (US$ 30.8 billion) by 2024 and a 10% CAGR, hitting Rs. 3.08 lakh crore (US$ 37.2 billion) by 2026. In 2024, the projected revenue in the Digital Media market in India is expected to reach US$ 10.07 billion. The country's entertainment and media industry are expected to see a growth of 9.7% annually in revenues to reach US$ 73.6 billion by 2027.
According to a report by ICRA, the revenue for the print media industry is expected to grow by 8-10% in FY24.
In the Indian OTT Video market, the number of users is projected to reach 634.3m users by 2029.User penetration is forecasted to be 34.1% in 2024 and is projected to increase to 42.2% by 2029.
In the year 2023, the revenue from subscriptions for over-the-top video platforms across India amounted to approximately US$ 0.88 billion. This was expected to peak at over US$ 1.2 billion by 2026.
India’s gaming sector is currently valued at around US$ 3.1 billion and expected to grow to US$ 8.92 billion in the next five years.
As per EY-FICCI report, the number of employees in the online gaming sector was 100,000 in 2023, and this figure is projected to increase to 250,000 by 2025.
As per the COTT Annual Report of 2023, the digital revenue for the year stood at an Rs. 63,200 crore (US$ 7.59 billion). Out of this revenue, there was a significant contribution from various streams with Rs. 31,800 crore (US$ 3.82 billion) were generated from AVOD (Advertising-based Video on Demand) and SVOD (Subscription-based Video on Demand) platforms, with AVOD accounting for Rs. 21,900 crore (US$ 2.63 billion) and SVOD for Rs. 9,900 crore (US$ 1.19 billion) respectively.
As per the EY report over the past three years, the online gaming industry in India has grown at a CAGR of 28%, reaching Rs. 16,428 crore (US$ 1.97 billion) and is likely to reach Rs. 33,243 crore (US$ 3.99 billion) by FY28.
Media and entertainment industry is expected to see a growth of 9.7% annually in revenues to reach US$ 73.6 billion by 2027, according to a PwC report.
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 subscription revenue is projected to grow at a CAGR of 2% and reach Rs. 432 billion (US$ 4.94 billion). India’s SVOD subscriptions reached 130.2 million in 2022 compared to 110.5 million in 2021.
Key growth drivers included rising demand for content among users and affordable subscription packages. The Indian mobile gaming market is poised to reach US$ 7 billion, in value, by 2025.
The music industry is expected to reach US$ 445 million by 2026 from US$ 180 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).
The Ficci EY media and entertainment report 2023 said that in 2023, music streaming in India had an audience of approximately 185 million of which the paid subscriber base was just around 7.5 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. Video viewers increased 7% (36 million) in 2023 to reach 563 million, which is around 98% of smartphone owners and wired broadband subscribers. Total online video content investment in India stood at Rs. 125 billion (US$ 1.51 billion) in 2023, representing a 52% increase over 2022 due to more than a twofold growth in sports rights values.
By 2025, ~600-650 million Indians, will consume short-form videos, with active users spending up to 55 to 60 minutes per day.
OTT video services market (video-on-demand and live) in India is likely to grow US$ 4.1 billion in 2024 and reach US$ 7 billion by 2027, driven by rapid developments in online platforms and increased demand for quality content among users.
India’s Direct-To-Home (DTH) Services market is expected to expand to US$ 7.59 billion in 2029 from US$ 6.48 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 2.8%.
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$ 10.91 billion between April 2000-December 2023.
India's media and entertainment industry is the fifth largest market globally and is growing at the rate of 20% annually, according to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Mr. Anurag Thakur.
2023 recorded US$ 575 million in PE/VC investments in the media and entertainment sector, an 84% decline y-o-y.
The Indian gaming sector has raised a total of US$ 2.8 billion from domestic and global investors, over the last five years.
In Q3 of CY23, eight deals were recorded in the media and entertainment sector of India at US$ 269 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.
In August 2023, Netflix inked a “first-of-its-kind” deal with Jio Platforms to bundle the streaming service with the carrier’s two pay-as-you-go plans as the American giant pushes to expand its subscriber base in the key Asian market.
In April 2023, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi commissioned Low Power FM Transmitters with a 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. This addition will further boost the coverage of AIR to 73.5% of the population of the country.
The Star-Viacom18 merger deal signed on February 28 will create an US$ 8.5 billion media goliath with a dominating presence in both TV and digital segments.
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 EY, print media’s revenue is anticipated to increase by 3.4% between 2023-2026 as a result of increased government and corporate advertising spending.
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 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 Interim budget of 2024-25 the Ministry of Information and broadcasting received Rs. 4,342.55 crore (US$ 523.20 million).
The allocation to Prasar Bharati stood at Rs. 2,808.36 crore (US$ 338.36 million) in FY23.
Under the Union Budget 2023-24, 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).
