Indian media industry to grow at 10.6%, exceed Rs 2,91,000 cr by 2021: PwC

TV to continue to rule advertising, massive push to newspapers from vernaculars

The Indian media and entertainment industry is expected to grow much faster than the global M&E industry according to the PwC's 2017 Global E&M Outlook. The report pegs the global entertainment and media industry to clock 4.2 per cent CAGR from 2016-21 while India is expected to grow at 10.6 per cent. The Indian M&E industry is expected to exceed Rs 291,000 crore by 2021.

The key takeaways from the report are in line with major industry trends: TV advertising will continue to command a huge share of the advertising pie, though internet advertising will emerge as the fastest growing advertising platform. Also in line with current trends, the report predicts India to be among the largest and fastest growing newspaper markets in the world, owing to the popularity of vernacular publications, and increasing literacy rates.

Growth forecast: India vs Global for 2016-21
Sector	India CAGR (%)	Global CAGR (%)
TV Advertising	11.1	2.8
Cinema	10.4	4.4
Internet Advertising	18.6	9.8
Newspapers	1.1	-2.7
Internet video	22.4	11.6
TV subscription	11.6	1.3
Total M&E*	10.6	4.2
Source: PwC’s 2017 Global E&M Outlook *Total M&E not a sum of sectors listed. Radio, books, magazines, music, gaming also considered in total revenue

Frank D'Souza, Partner & Leader-Entertainment & Media, PwC India, comments, "Unlike the global economy, which will see a shrinking contribution from the Entertainment and Media sector over the Outlook period, in India the sector's growth rate will outpace the overall GDP growth rate. Being a relatively under-developed market in terms of per capita spend on entertainment and media, will allow India to grow at 10.57 per cent over the next five years to an overall size of Rs 2,90,539 crore."

He adds, "Also, being the least digitised market, will allow the traditional media to grow without being disrupted by digital competition. Whereas one may be tempted to conclude that India's growth in this sector is divergent from the world's, it will do well for Indian players to keep their eyes on changing landscape globally and prepare for its eventual impact on the Indian market."

Television (TV) subscription revenue is expected to grow at 11.6 per cent (global - 1.3 per cent) CAGR from Rs 52,755 crore in 2016 to Rs 90,713 crore in 2021. Though subscriber numbers are still growing, the report predicts that the explosive growth levels of the recent past will not be replicated in the future. While cable market is approaching a saturation point it will continue to account for over 55 per cent of the total pay-TV market in 2021. TV advertising will continue to hold the larger share of the pie from Rs 21,874 crore in 2016 to Rs 37,315 crore in 2021, growing at 11.1 per cent. Globally, TV advertising is expected to grow at 2.1 per cent for the forecast period.

India is ranked eighth in the Asia Pacific region in the internet advertising market. While the segment is growing faster than any other advertising platform at 18.6 CAGR it is still an immature online ad market due to lack of Internet access among Indians. Fixed broadband penetration remains low at 6.9 per cent in 2016. However, this is double the global growth, estimated at 9.8 per cent. Currently mobile Internet advertising comprises 27.6 per cent of total online spending, marking a clear gap between Indians with mobile access and brands reaching out to the mobile audience.

India's internet video segment revenue in 2016 was Rs 560 crore in 2016 and will grow at 22.4 per cent CAGR (global - 11.6 per cent)to reach Rs 1540 crore in 2021 according to the report. Going forward, transactional video-on-demand is expected to account for over 61 per cent of total Internet video revenues in 2021, with many households not wanting to commit to the regular payments of subscription video-on-demand. In other words, the content providers will see more traction by breaking content into snackable segments and charge only for those, rather than give only long format content. For example, people would be more willing to pay for the highlights of a cricket match than watch the whole match on a paid platform.

Box office revenue is expected from INR 10,957 Cr in 2016 to Rs 18,047 crore in 2021, at a healthy CAGR of 10.4 per cent. Globally, it is estimated that box office revenues will grow by 4.4 per cent CAGR with mature markets like the US already facing challenges while attracting footfalls to the cinema halls. In India, admissions will rise from an estimated 200 crore in 2016 to 230 Cr in 2021 (at a CAGR of 2.4 per cent) and ticket prices will rise at a CAGR of 7.9 per cent in the same period. This is one of the few major cinema markets in which 100 per cent digitisation of screens has not yet been achieved - and it is not expected to occur over the forecast period.

Publishing in India is expected to grow from Rs 38,601 crore in 2016 to Rs 44,391 crore in 2021 at a CAGR of 3.1 per cent. Book publishing is projected to grow at 6.1 per cent CAGR over 2017-2021 whereas magazines are expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.3 per cent for the same period. The Indian newspaper industry continues to grow from Rs 23,161 crore in 2016 to Rs 24,447 crore (1.1 per cent) in 2021, distinctly positive when compared to the segment's degrowth globally (2.7 per cent) predicted by PwC for the forecast period.