With more than 623 television channels, 1.145-million pay-TV households, more than 80 000 newspapers with a readership close to 182-million, and 1 000 films produced every year, India's vibrant media and entertainment industry provides attractive growth opportunities for global corporations.
The industry is estimated to achieve a growth rate of 13% in 2012 to touch 825-billion Indian rupees (INR) and is projected to reach INR1 500-billion by 2016, at a compound annual growth rate of close to 15%.
Television
The Indian Parliament sanctioned the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill of 2011, which establishes phased digitisation of the cable sector in the country by December 31 2014. The television distribution industry is gearing up to embrace the digitisation process and broadcasters have expanded their regional footprint to establish pan-India networks. This, along with the expansion of digital distribution technologies, has led to the consolidation of the distribution business to capture pan-India markets.
Newspapers
Newspapers account for 42% of all advertising spend in India, the highest of any medium. The top ten English newspapers added 0.123-million readers in the latest round of the readership survey conducted by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) in collaboration with Hansa Research. The print players are in the process of getting their digital strategy in place to be ready for the opportunity being presented by new content and digital delivery formats.
Film
Indian film companies are using digital media to generate new ancillary revenues and to promote films through direct-to-consumer engagement. Indian audiences actively consume digital film content; film-related songs and mobile themes account for 50% of Indian mobile value-added service revenues.
Digital distribution of films has reduced costs, increased scale and reduced piracy. Low-budget, content-driven movies based on high-quality scripts are gaining acceptability among mainstream audiences. Given the fast-paced momentum in the visual effects space, the country's first Animation and Visual Effect Centre of Excellence will be set up in Mohali, Punjab.
On the financing side, producers are able to leverage organised sourced of financing such as bank loans, film funds and crowd funding. To encourage industry-level cooperation, share creative talent and support the vibrant film industry, India has entered into co-production agreements with Poland, Italy, Northern Ireland, New Zealand and other countries.
Radio
Since the opening of the sector to private players in March 2000, the government of India is taking steps to provide a thrust to the sector. E-auctions for Phase III of FM radio started taking place from December and will be spread over a period of three years to increase the number of private FM radio channels from the current 245 to around 839, covering another 227 cities with a population of more than 100 000.
Sport
After successfully hosting the Indian Premier League (T20), 2010 Commonwealth Games and Formula One race, the notion of India being a single-sport country has changed.
This momentum, combined with a young population and a rising propensity to spend on entertainment, has made way for the FIA GT1 championship and World Superbike series, and others are in the pipeline.
Large private groups have entered long-term agreements to develop sports other than cricket. The sports industry is also spurring the growth of ancillary businesses such as online ticketing and sports and talent management.
Copyright and royalties
Earlier, copyright of literary, dramatic or musical work was assigned to the producers and the artists did not earn royalty income. With the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 coming into force, artists are declared as owners of the copyright and it is now become mandatory for broadcasters — both radio and television — to pay royalty to the owners of the copyright each time their work is broadcast.
Industry outlook
The media and entertainment industry finds itself a new inflection point: digitisation and digital media. With the launch of 3G and expected 4G services, and the existing mobile phone user base of more than 750-million subscribers, the scale and impact of potential digital content consumption is enormous.
India has a diverse content market, since majority of India's urban consumption comes from non-metro cities. These regional markets are significant "markets within a market", and provide global media and entertainment companies with a variety of opportunities to deliver localised content.
Media sectors regarded as "sunset" industries in mature markets are flourishing in India. For example, the newspaper industry, which is facing declining readership in many international markets because of digital media, continues to thrive in India, driven by increasing literacy rates, consumer spending and the growth of regional markets and specialty newspapers.
Also, with favorable demographics and an increase in disposable incomes, the propensity to spend on leisure and entertainment is likely to continue growing. While there are many opportunities to tap, there are also unique challenges in the areas of content localisation, distribution and pricing, regulations and piracy.
Although this article has been made possible by the Mail & Guardian's advertisers, content and photographs were sourced independently by the M&G supplements editorial team. It forms part of a larger supplement.