India is witnessing a significant increase in content consumption due to an increase in availability and improvement in affordability.
Media: Fourth Pillar’ of democracy
Media is considered as the ‘fourth pillar’ in a democracy, which holds the power to secure or dethrone government, form public opinion about any policy or institution, and enhance or ridicule the reputation of an imminent personality. Over the years, in providing information and being the voice of India, the media has played an important role.
Over the last decade, the industry has increasingly been driven by rising digitization and higher internet use. For most people, the Internet has become a popular entertainment medium. Media is consumed by audiences 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 media industry has tremendous scope for growth in all the segments due to rising income and evolving lifestyles.
- According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India is gearing to emerge as the world’s sixth-largest OTT (over-the-top streaming) market by 2024. The market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 28.6% over the next four years to touch revenue of US$ 2.9 billion. According to the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), the gross revenue of online fantasy sports operators increased three-fold to US$ 350.40 million in FY20 compared to US$ 130.51 million in the previous fiscal FY19.
- According to the FICCI-EY media and entertainment industry report 2020, television advertising in India, on the other hand, is estimated to reach US$ 5.1 billion by 2022.
- According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the M&E industry will exhibit a CAGR of 13.5% during FY19–FY24. It is expected to reach around US$ 43.93 million by 2024.
- According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), digital advertising has emerged as the third-largest advertising medium in India. It generated revenue worth (US$ 2.21 billion) in 2019. Digital advertising will account for 29% of the ad market size by 2021.
As consumers have become more dominant than ever before, the advertising industry is based around the client. Organizations worldwide understand that the consumer is actually the king and should not be overlooked. They know that they have to keep the needs of the customers at the forefront of every decision-making if they want to survive and expand. Digital transformation drives organizations to be customer-focused. Today, consumer AI is primarily based on driving a better customer experience in e-commerce, retail, mobile, social, and other fields. Customer analytics is used to develop a customer engagement program, where customer data is put into advanced analytical insights that help to design customer-focused programs and strategies that drive customer retention, new acquisitions, cross-selling/up sales, and targeted marketing camp.
During the year 2020, television boosted its reach and engagement with the audience, retaining its position as the default entertainment medium for Indian consumers. Improving the availability of accessible data and content on digital platforms has increased online video consumption.
In 2019, the movie industry surpassed all the previous box-office records with strong performances in both domestic and international markets. According to Whistling woods international, more than 30 films crossed US$ 1 billion for the first time in history with Hindi movies accounting for 17 of them. Furthermore, according to the same source, footfall for Hindi films in 2019 was US$ 340 million. An increasing share of Hollywood content in the Indian box office and 3D cinema is driving the growth of the digital screens in the country. India’s video streaming industry is expected to witness a CAGR of 21.82% by 2023.
India: Large broadcasting and distribution industry
According to InvestIndia, India has a large broadcasting and distribution industry, comprising approximately 900 satellite TV channels, 6,000 Multi-system operators, around 60,000 local cable operators, 7 DTH operators, and few IPTV service providers.
One of the main reasons mobile streaming was increasingly adopted by people is because of the cut-down on ads. The volume of consumable content increased and made retaining users easier. But with the top studios of the global media industry shifting to video streaming, ad-supported content is expected to seep in soon. This is partly due to the pitfall of keeping subscription fees competitive. In Asian locations such as India and China, ad-supported videos are already a problem. But network owners need to curate enough consumer data for targeted ads for them to expect a sustainable future for media entertainment in India.
According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the Indian advertising industry is projected to be the second-fastest-growing advertising market in Asia after China. In June 2020, advertising revenue accounted for around 0.38% of India’s gross domestic product. By 2021, the Indian media and entertainment industry will reach US$ 23 billion. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC), television advertising saw its highest ever volume in week 43 of 2020, which began from October 24 to October 30. TV ads of 38,705,978 million seconds were reported for the period, which is the highest since week 16 of 2015. According to FICCI-EY, the TV industry grew in 2019 from US$ 7.40 billion to US$ 7.88 billion. Advertising on TV grew 5% to US$ 3.20 billion, while subscription grew 7% to US$ 4.68 billion. Shipment of TVs in India increased 15% annually to reach the highest-ever level of 15 million units in 2019.
The Indian Gaming Industry
The Indian digital gaming industry is growing rapidly, with investment in it by corporate giants such as Paytm, Tencent, Youzu, and Nazara. With the market for games on an upward curve, the industry is now worth more than US$ 890 million. The rise in the popularity of gaming is partly due to the increased accessibility that the public has to them; at the tap of a screen, one can download games onto a smart device. Many game developers such as Moon Frog, 99Games, PlaySimple, and Mech Mocha are trying to penetrate into the smartphone industry to build their businesses. Indian gaming industry attracted US$ 350 million from Venture Capital investments between 2014 and 2020.
The lockdowns and restriction on movement of people due to the Covid-19 pandemic have not only led to an increased demand for content but has also changed content consumption patterns. Although conventional and outdoor entertainment delivery media such as cinema theaters continue to be inaccessible, the digital media consumption at homes such as television channels and OTT platforms have gained even greater prominence and audience. Despite the growth in audience, unfortunately, sales are hugely affected due to the decline in ad spending due to the global recession.
According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India is gearing to emerge as the world’s sixth-largest OTT (over-the-top streaming) market by 2024. The market is expected to witness a CAGR of 28.6% over the next four years to reach a revenue of US$ 2.9 billion. Huge investments made in originals, as well as acquired content by OTT services such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ Hotstar, and others, will help subscription video-on-demand make up 93% of total OTT revenue (compared to 87% globally), rising from US$ 708 million in 2019 to US$ 2.7 billion at a CAGR of 30.7% between 2019-2024. According to Media Partners Asia (an independent provider of research, advisory, and consultancy services across the media, telecom, sports and entertainment sectors in the Asia Pacific region), in September 2020, due to the collaboration of Reliance Jio with Netflix India, Netflix India will close the year with 4.6 billion paying subscribers. Netflix India partnered with Jio to deliver a free mobile-only subscription to post-paid subscribers with plans starting at US$ 5.3 per month (Rs. 399/ US$ 5.36) and above. Subscribers are presented with an option to switch to traditional plans. Netflix is available to bundle with Jio's fixed broadband service, with free access for consumers who opt for data plans to begin at US$ 20 a month (Rs. 1,499/US$ 20.13) and above. In September 2020, BenQ (a display technology devices manufacturer) launched a new Home Entertainment Projector TH585 to meet the increasing demand for a content-viewing experience at home and enhance the OTT market in India.
- According to FICCI-EY, in May 2020, as per the media and entertainment industry report 2020, television advertising in India, on the other hand, is estimated to reach US$ 5.1 billion by 2022.
- According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), 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.
For instance, in November 2020, in order to mentor startups working in the media and entertainment space, multiplex chain operator PVR Cinemas linked up with business accelerator company India Accelerator (IA). Selected startups will get access to PVR-IA’s technological and business infrastructure, mentoring, and network-building opportunities.
There are various initiatives that were taken by the Indian Government.
The Government of India supported the M&E industry’s growth by taking various initiatives such as digitizing the cable distribution sector to attract greater institutional funding, increasing FDI limit from 74% to 100% in cable and DTH satellite platforms, and granting industry status to the film industry for easy access to institutional finance.
In September 2020, the Government of India announced its strategy to create an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comic (AVGC) Centre for Excellence in collaboration with IIT Bombay. In the next 1-2 years (2021-2022), the center is expected to be opened.
In April 2020, 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. In 2018, the Indian Government introduced National Digital Communication policy for affordable digital communications infrastructure and services
