CII-BCG report: Indian M&E industry to be worth $65 bn by 2030

A report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on the Indian Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry highlights that the sector is estimated to be valued at $27-29 billion (Rs 1.7 lakh crore to Rs 2.2 lakh crore) by the end of 2022 with 2/3rd of growth in the last three years coming from the digital subsets.

The Indian M&E industry is expected to continue its unique multi-modal growth story in the future as it is poised to grow to $55–65 billion (Rs 4.4 lakh crore to Rs 5.2 lakh crore) by 2030.

Commenting on the report, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, said, “This year’s report, put together by BCG with the help of CII M&E Committee, provides a current & future overview of the industry, sector wise trends and disruptions that will shape the future of the industry. The report will help businesses dictate strategy as well as influence competitive advantage and aid the government in framing measures to accelerate growth of the sector.”

The report further highlights multiple trends that are shaping the industry - increased preference for personalized choices, interactive two-way media and snackable content. Further, the report highlights an increasing willingness to pay for premium/exclusive content. Subscriptions have grown 16x–17x over the last five years to 85–90 million in 2022. The report also foresees SVoD becoming more prominent in the overall OTT revenue going forward.

“Today, consumers can access content across any device, with a strong preference for regionals and micro genres. M&E is increasingly catering to ‘ME’ or personalized choices. Digital video and gaming contribute to >40% of total media consumption in 2022. These formats enable the shift from a ‘mass’ to ‘individualized /ME’ experience,” elaborated Mandeep Kohli, Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group India.

The report also looks at the relative proportion of revenues coming from advertisement vs. consumer paid. The share of advertisements is now at 44% vs 37% in 2021. The report highlights that while advertisers are adopting diversified mediums; digital share grows to 40% in 2022 from 37% LY with digital native advertisers gaining prominence.

One of the major themes in this year’s report is the real opportunity unlock from the adoption of the Metaverse. “Metaverse is estimated to become a $10+ Bn opportunity by 2030. Currently, 36% of global private investment in Metaverse is in interactive entertainment. Metaverse’s interactive ability enables users to interact, socialize, and collaborate in virtual spaces. In times to come, Metaverse, with its interactive and immersive features, could become all pervasive as companies strive to ensure customer adoption-engagement-retention,” shared Kanchan Samtani, Managing Director & Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group India.

Going forward, it will become critical for M&E companies to understand the imperatives that will help them seize opportunities in the metaverse and harness its true potential for the industry. The report highlights five dimensions to unlock this potential – invest in technology & infrastructure, business model innovation, building a metaverse content production ecosystem, acceleration of consumer adoption and codification of regulation.

Biren Ghose, Vice Chairman, CII National Committee on M&E and Country Head, Technicolor India said, “Storytellers and content creators will have to reinvent their formats towards greater interactivity and democratized mediums. Media companies need to proactively think through their architecture as they build towards the metaverse, we need to build systems today that are agile and fungible so that we don't have to fix it later.”

K Madhavan, Country Manager & President, Disney Star, said “Over the past few years, especially during the covid times M&E played a critical role in consumer’s lives and proved the resilience of the industry. The M&E industry has seen a good comeback and is one of the fastest-growing industries in India. The M&E industry has evolved considerably and has seen rapid changes fueled by innovation across the media value chain and evolving consumer behaviours.”