Advantage India
Robust
Demand
*According to a report published by IAMAI and Kantar Research, India internet users are expected to reach 900 million by FY25, from ~622 million internet users in FY20, increasing at a CAGR of 45% until FY25.
*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 FY27.
Attractive
Opportunities
*The Indian entertainment sector could unlock an estimated Rs. 50,724 crore (US$ 6 billion) in unrealised value by FY30, according to a recent industry report. This growth potential is attributed to international collaboration, technology adoption, and strategic changes in content creation.
*India's Animation and VFX sector is projected to grow from US$ 1.3 billion in FY23 to US$ 2.2 billion by FY26, increasing its share of the media and entertainment (M&E) industry from 5% to 6%.
Policy
Support
* The Government of India has increased the FDI limit from 74% to 100%.
*In February 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the auction of 10,523.15 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum across bands at a reserve price of Rs 96,317.65 crores (US$ 11.60 billion).
Higher
Investments
*FDI inflows in the information and broadcasting sector (including print media) stood at Rs. 75,590 crore (US$ 11.70 billion) between April 2000-March 2025.
Introduction
The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is a sunrise sector for the economy and is making significant strides. The increasing availability of fast and cheap internet, rising incomes, and increasing purchases of consumer durables have significantly aided the industry. India’s media and entertainment industry are unique as compared to other markets. The industry is well known for its extremely high volumes and rising Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).
India is rapidly emerging as a global creative powerhouse, driven by its talent pool, cultural richness, and technological advancements. According to the EY report titled "A Studio Called India", the country's media infrastructure is expanding, with animation and VFX costs in India being 40% to 60% lower than in the West, supported by a workforce of around 2,60,000 skilled professionals.
This significantly aided the country’s industry and made India leading in terms of digital adoption and provided companies with uninterrupted rich data to understand their customers better. India has also experienced growing opportunities in the VFX sector as the focus shifted globally to India as a preferred content creator.
Proving its resilience to the world, Indian M&E industry is on the cusp of a strong phase of growth, backed by rising consumer demand and improving advertising revenue.
Market Dynamics
Between 2 to 2.5 million digital creators are influencing over Rs. 29,60,300 crore (US$ 350 billion) in annual consumer spending, a number expected to surpass Rs. 84,58,000 crore (US$ 1 trillion) by CY30.
In the Union budget of FY26 the Ministry of Information and broadcasting received Rs. 4,358 crore (US$ 515.5 million).
The Indian entertainment sector could unlock an estimated Rs. 50,724 crore (US$ 6 billion) in unrealised value by FY30, according to a recent industry report. This growth potential is attributed to international collaboration, technology adoption, and strategic changes in content creation.
Indian advertising revenues is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% to reach Rs. 1,58,000 crore (US$ 19.2 billion) in FY28, which is 1.4x the global average of 6.7%.
The online gaming and sports sector in India is growing at a CAGR of 19.2% and is projected to reach Rs. 39,583 crore (US$ 4.8 billion) by FY28. The total music (live, recorded and digital) revenue grew from Rs. 2,416 crore (US$ 293 million) in FY19 to Rs. 6,686 crore (US$ 811 million) in FY23. It is expected to cross Rs. 10,899 crore (US$ 1.3 billion) by FY28, growing at a CAGR of 10.3%. OTT platform revenues in India are projected to grow at a remarkable CAGR of 14.9%, the highest among the top 15 countries, to reach Rs. 35,061 crore (US$ 4.25 billion) by FY28.
India's Animation and VFX sector is projected to grow from US$ 1.3 billion in 2023 to US$ 2.2 billion by 2026, increasing its share of the media and entertainment (M&E) industry from 5% to 6%, according to a CII GT report.
Media companies are projected to achieve an 8% revenue growth, reaching US$ 7.14 billion (Rs. 60,000 crore) by FY27, driven by increasing contributions from the digital segment, according to a Crisil analysis of 20 companies that account for 55% of the media industry's revenue.
India's Entertainment and Media (E&M) industry is set to outpace global growth, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3%, projected to reach US$ 43.03 billion (Rs. 3,65,000 crore) by FY28.
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.
According to Media Partners Asia's Asia Pacific Video & Broadband Industry 2024 report, India's video market, encompassing both TV and digital, is projected to grow from US$ 13 billion in 2023 to US$ 17 billion by 2028.
In 2024, the projected revenue in the Digital Media market in India is expected to reach US$ 10.07 billion. It is expected to contribute 38% to the overall advertising industry in India, on par with television.
The OTT segment is likely to grow at a remarkable CAGR of 14.1% to reach Rs. 21,032 crore (US$ 2.55 billion) in 2026. Subscription services, which accounted for 90.5% of revenue in 2021, are projected to account for 95% of revenue by 2026.
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.
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.
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.
As per GroupM’s TYNY report 2023, India was ranked 8th by global ad spend and will continue as the fastest growing market among the top 10 ad markets in 2023.
Key growth drivers included rising demand for content among users and affordable subscription packages.
India’s media and entertainment industry is the fifth largest globally, valued at about Rs. 2,50,000 crore (US$ 30 billion) in FY24 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 7% to Rs. 3,10,000 crore (US$ 36 billion) by FY27.
The Indian mobile gaming market is poised to reach US$ 7 billion, in value, by 2025. The online gaming segment grew 22% to become the fourth largest segment of the Indian M&E sector in 2023, displacing filmed entertainment.
The music industry is expected to reach US$ 445 million by 2026 from US$ 180 million in 2019. According to a study conducted by Kantar and VTION, an audience measurement and analytics company, Gaana, the streaming service owned by Times Internet Ltd., had 30% market share, followed by JioSaavn (24%), Wynk Music (15%), Spotify (15%), Google Play Music (10%), and others (6%) in 2020.
By 2025, the number of connected smart televisions are 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. By 2025, ~600-650 million Indians, will consume short-form videos, with active users spending up to 55 to 60 minutes per day.
Recent development/Investments
Recent Developments in the Media and Entertainment Industry are :
- FDI inflows in the information and broadcasting sector (including print media) stood at Rs. 75,590 crore (US$ 11.7 billion) between April 2000 and March 2025.
- Pocket FM, an audio series platform, has raised $103 million in its Series D funding round, led by Lightspeed with participation from Stepstone Group
- Disney-owned Star India secured the TV broadcasting rights for the Indian Premier League from 2023 to 2027 through an online bid. During the same period, Viacom 18 won the bid for the digital streaming rights of the Twenty20 League.
- Major tech and e-commerce firms, including Google, Meta, Amazon, and Flipkart, saw their collective ad revenues rise 9% to over Rs. 60,000 crore (US$ 7.13 billion) in FY24.
- 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.
- 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 June 2023, India, for the first time participated at the Annecy International Animation Festival in France and showcased the strength its creative economy holds.
- In May 2023, Viacom18-owned streaming service Jio Cinema inked a multi-year content deal with NBCUniversal (NBCU) to bolster its premium content library. As part of the partnership, Jio Cinema will get access to thousands of hours of NBCU films and TV series in India.
- Media company Shemaroo Entertainment is planning to spend Rs. 75 crore (US$ 9.1 million) in FY24 to bolster its broadcast and over-the-top (OTT) businesses.
- Newly merged multiplex giant PVR Inox is ready with a plan to add up to 175 new screens and retrofit a host of existing ones at an investment of Rs. 700 crore (US$ 85.1 million) during FY24.
- 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.
- The online gaming segment grew 22% to become the fourth largest segment of the Indian M&E sector in 2023, displacing filmed entertainment.
- Music from South Indian languages such as Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu have witnessed the fastest growth in the vernacular in the last four years in FY23. The highest contributor to OTTA with the non-film genre was Punjabi music (39%) across all states.
Government Initiatives
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) approached the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, with a request to fastrack the recommendations on broadcasting, in an attempt to boost reforms in the broadcasting sector. The Government of India has agreed to set up National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Gaming, Visual Effects and Comics industry in Mumbai. The Indian and Canadian Government have signed an audio-visual co-production deal to enable producers from both the countries exchange and explore their culture and creativity, respectively.
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.
Digital audio-visual content including films and web shows on over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms, as well as news and current affairs on online platforms, have been brought under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in November 2020.
Road Ahead
The Indian M&E industry is on an impressive growth path. The industry is expected to grow at a much faster rate than the global average rate. This can be majorly credited to rising incomes, increasing internet penetration and a growing push toward digital adoption.
In the long run, growth is the M&E industry is expected in retail advertisement on the back of several players entering the food and beverages segment, E-commerce gaining more popularity in the country, and domestic companies testing out the waters. India’s rural regions are expected to be the next regions for growth. India has also gotten on board with 5G and is already planning for 6G well ahead of the future. This push towards digital adoption especially in the rural regions will provide advertisers and publishers with an immense opportunity to capture untapped markets and help grow India’s media and entertainment industry forward.
Note: Conversion rate used for July 2025 is Rs. 1 = US$ 0.012
References: Media Reports, Press Releases, Press Information Bureau, Department for Promotion of Industry, and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Crisil report, EY FICCI Report
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