YouTube remains the crown jewel of India's video-streaming market

YouTube remains the largest video streaming service in India with Rs 14,300 crore in revenue. Meta, JioStar, and Netflix come next.

 

The subscription-driven video on demand (SVoD) market bounced back in 2024, adding an estimated 15 million subscriptions. This takes the total number of streaming video subscribers in India to 125 million. This is projected to more than double over the next five years, touching 287 million by 2029. The trigger is strong investments in local original programming and the rollout of low-priced tiers with ad-supported options.

 

Television had the worst year possible with overall revenue (ad plus pay) contracting by 8 per cent. 

 

Those are some of the insights from consulting firm Media Partners Asia’s 2025 report on the Asia-Pacific (APAC) video and broadband market.

 

It forecasts that the APAC video industry revenues will grow from $145 billion in 2024 to over $165 billion by 2029 (2.2 per cent compound annual growth rate or CAGR). This growth is driven by online video ($24.1 billion increase), while traditional TV revenue is expected to contract by $8 billion.

 

The fastest-growing segments over the next five years will be user-generated content, social video, SVoD, and premium ad-driven video-on-demand.

 

Six key markets — India (26 per cent), China (23 per cent), Japan (15 per cent), Australia (11 per cent), South Korea (9 per cent), and Indonesia (5 per cent) — will account for around 90 per cent of the incremental video industry revenue growth. 

 

“When walls (between TV and streaming) collide, recalibration needs to happen. That is why consolidation is happening. TV is still a big force but much depends on how consolidation happens,” says Vivek Couto, executive director, Media Partners Asia. The decline in TV revenues is led by a fall in advertising revenues in 2024. 

 

“Long-term growth for the TV ad business hinges on increased adoption of connected (internet-enabled) TV,” adds Couto.

 

The other big trend he points to is the rise of “Retail media.”

 

This is the advertising that Amazon and others are attracting.

 

“Advertising on retail platforms is driving 50 per cent of overall growth of advertising in the top six APAC markets, including China, Japan and India,” says Couto.