Media and Entertainment Service Industry

The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is a sunrise sector for the economy and is making significant strides. 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. The industry has largely been driven by increasing digitisation and higher internet usage over the last decade. Internet has almost become a mainstream media for entertainment for most of the people.

Media is consumed by audience across demographics and various avenues such as television, films, out-of-home (OOH), radio, animation, and visual effect (VFX), music, gaming, digital advertising, and print.

The Indian advertising industry is projected to be the second fastest growing advertising market in Asia after China. At present, advertising revenue accounts for around 0.38 per cent of India’s gross domestic product. By 2021, Indian media and entertainment industry will reach Rs 2.35 trillion.

India ranks 15 in the world in the music industry and is expected to enter the top 10 music markets by 2022.

Market Dynamics

The M&E industry will grow at a CAGR of 13.5 per cent during FY19-FY24. It is expected to reach around Rs 3.1 lakh crore (US$ 43.93 million) by 2024.

India’s advertisement market is projected to grow 10.62 per cent y-o-y to Rs 85,250 crore (US$ 12.06 billion) till 2021. India’s advertisement spending touched Rs 67,603 crore (US$ 9.67 billion) in 2019, up 11 per cent y-o-y. Digital advertising has emerged as the third largest advertising medium in India. It generated revenue worth Rs 15,467 crore (US$ 2.21 billion) in 2019. Digital will contribute 29 per cent of the ad market size by 2021.

The online video market in India is estimated to reach US$ 4 billion by 2025, with subscription services contributing more than US$ 1.5 billion and advertising adding US$ 2.5 billion.

The Indian film industry reached Rs 100 billion (US$ 1.43 billion) in 2019. Increasing share of Hollywood content in Indian box office and 3D cinema is driving the growth of digital screens in the country. India’s video streaming industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.82 per cent by 2023.

Recent development/Investments

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow in the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) sector (including Print Media) for the period April 2000 – March 2020 stood at US$ 9.20 billion as per the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

• In 2019, the sector witnessed a total of 21 mergers and acquisition (M&A) worth US$ 240 million.
• Shipment of TVs in India increased 15 per cent annually to reach the highest-ever level of 15 million units in 2019.
• In April 2020, Hotstar, owned by the Star network, was rebranded as Disney+Hotstar. It plans to localise Disney+ movies and shows by dubbing or adding subtitles in Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
• Bharti Airtel’s direct-to-home (DTH) arm Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV merged by end of August 2019.
• As stated in Union Budget 2019-20, Government was to launch a dedicated channel for start-ups.
• Spotify will launch lite version for low-end Android phones in India.
• As of January 2019, Zee Studios launched a digital content arm Zee Studios Originals, to globally produce premium, original content and create new (IPs) Intellectual Properties for all digital platforms.
• As on July 2019, SonyLIV, India’s first premium video on demand platform (VOD) crossed the 100 million app download on Play store.

Government Initiatives

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is set to approach 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.

The Government of India has supported M&E industry’s growth by taking various initiatives such as digitising the cable distribution sector to attract greater institutional funding, increasing FDI limit from 74 per cent to 100 per cent in cable and DTH satellite platforms, and granting industry status to the film industry for easy access to institutional finance.

Road Ahead

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.

Growth 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. Rural region is also a potentially profitable target.