MUMBAI:  It’s a good time to be in India for someone in the media and entertainment industry, be it in print, digital or television, especially for the next five years. As per PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2016-20 report, India will be one of only seven countries to achieve double-digit growth. Could India be a major M&E destination by 2020 because of that?

The industry is set to surpass USD 40,000 million by 2020 growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 10.3 per cent, whereas the global M and E industry will grow at 4.4 per cent in the next five years, from USD 1.7 trillion in 2015 to USD 2.1 trillion in 2020. Assuming this estimate is correct, Indian media and entertainment industry will contribute almost 2 percent to the global revenues by 2020. A number of international players already have presence in India. The PWC report statistic could entice newer players as well encourage the existing players to take India more seriously with come up with some serious expansion investments.

“Given India’s overall growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and Per Capita Income (PCI), it is not surprising that India is amongst the top 10 markets for growth in the Sector. Although, in India traditional media like newspaper publishing and cinema, has always shown strong growth, we expect that even in terms of absolute total USD spend, it should get into the top 10 in the early part of the next decade. What would be more interesting, however, is how rapidly India would catch up with global trends, where traditional media is finding it hard to remain relevant, and the digital sector is leading the growth trajectory and consequently bringing in continuous disruptions. That will all depend on how quickly the Indian digital/broadband ecosystem matures, and how the Indian players adapt and drive business models in what would be a rapidly changing environment for consumption of data/content fashioned largely by India’s under 35 population,” shared PwC India Partner & Leader - Entertainment & Media Frank D’Souza.

With all eyes on India’s smartphone blitzkrieg and internet penetration, recently emerged digital businesses banking on the medium's growth can expect mobile advertising to grow at a rate of 18.5 per cent CAGR as per the PwC forecast.

“Paid search Internet advertising revenue will rise to USD 492 million by 2020. Online spend on display ads in India has witnessed strong growth in the historic period and revenue has almost tripled since 2011, reaching USD 200mn in 2015,” the report pointed out.

Keeping in line with what several industry veterans believe, the digital explosion in the country will only augment the television sector, with digital upgrades focused on the cable and satellite industry.

“India will be one of only seven countries to achieve double-digit growth over the forecast period at an 11.7% CAGR driven by its television advertising revenues.  This will generate revenue of USD 5.54bn in 2020, compared with USD3.19bn in 2015,” the report read.

The report also pointed out that with no DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) launch, TV advertising revenue is driven primarily by the subscription sector. “Multichannel TV advertising revenue reached USD 2.91bn in 2015 and will grow at a 12.1 per cent CAGR to generate revenue of USD 5.13bn in 2020,” report highlighted.

As far as the publishing industry is concerned, global trends of advertising in the magazine, books and newspaper publishing are at near flat or negative growth trajectory. However, there is still much hope in the industry’s Indian counterpart as Indian publishing remains one of the fastest growing in the world. The growth could be credited to the increasing literacy rates, educational needs, and strong desire to consume news and content in local languages, combined with nascent digital/broadband penetration, that would further fuel the growth and keep it relevant over the 2016-20.  In 2015, the overall publishing revenues were at USD 6133 million, an increase of USD 302 million over 2014 as per the report.

(Source: Highlights of PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2016-20 released on its website)