The Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry is expected to grow at a phenomenal rate of 13.9 per cent CAGR till 2019, said KPMG head of media and entertainment in India Jehi Thakkar.
Before the launch of the FICCI KPMG report on the sector on 25 March, Thakar said via a recorded message, “Overall, the M&E industry will grow at 13.9 per cent, which is almost double the global growth estimates and puts India in a phenomenal position on the global M&E map.”
In the television sector, KPMG is projecting the long-term growth to go back to 15.5 per cent from 13.8 per cent last year. Talking about the television industry, which is approximately 37 per cent of India’s total advertising pie, Thakkar said that lots of changes are happening within the TV industry. He added that subscription revenues are likely to fall into place in the next two years, marking the largest development for the TV industry.
On the movies’ segment, the torch bearer for the Indian M&E industry, took quite a hit in 2014, Thakkar expounded. The vertical witnessed just 0.1 per cent growth in 2014 that too riding on the success of a couple of biggies, else the past year would have been regressive for the movie space. Although, the Tamil, Telugu and other regional markets seem to have done pretty well and continue to push the limits in visual effects as well, he informed.
Thakkar said that the big story of 2014 was digital spending. “We projected about 30–35 per cent growth of the sector but this category has just surprised everybody. We estimate that in 2014, this category grew close to 45 per cent. That’s a phenomenal growth by any standards,” he said.
He added that digital is now bigger than radio as a category and continues to grow very rapidly. “This is largely on the back of the mobile ecosystem. We already have between 115–120 million smartphones in the country. They are getting cheaper by the day, penetration is increasing, and with 4G likely to be rolled out across the country in 2015–17, the headroom for growth for this industry seems unlimited at this point of time,” he ended.
This year, Union Finance and Information & Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to inaugurate the convention, which will also be addressed by Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis; Union Ministers of State, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore and Gen VK Singh; the TRAI Chairman; the Secretaries of I&B, Telecom and Commerce Ministries, besides stalwarts of the Indian and foreign cinema and media.
The theme of this year’s FICCI Frames, in keeping with the nation’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, will focus on ‘Making India the Global Entertainment Superpower’. At the industry’s annual Mecca, thought leaders will deliberate on the fastest and most efficient routes to making this a reality.
Over 2,000 Indian and 800 foreign delegates representing the media and entertainment industry will discuss the nuts and bolts of the business and the creative thought processes of this unique industry. There will be keynotes, plenary and parallel sessions on a broad spectrum of issues covering the entire gamut of media and entertainment like Films, Broadcast (TV & Radio), Digital Entertainment, Animation, Gaming & Visual Effects over a period of three days.