MUMBAI: The Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry has started to accept the concept of media asset management and is slowly, but gradually, increasing its adoption, according to Frost and Sullivan.

The report finds that the market earned $3.5 million in 2012 and estimates this to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent till 2018. There are about 18 vendors that offer solutions for media asset management (MAM) needs of broadcast, production, and other media companies.

As the magnitude of media files that broadcasters have to manage on a regular basis increases, the need for applications that enable the management, acquisition, authoring and editing, deep indexing, meta tagging, querying and retrieving, manipulation, annotation and display, and repurposing of media assets also rises. This will be the most important driver for an increasing demand for MAM solutions.

Indian broadcasters who have implemented MAM solutions believe that new adopters would be attracted to simplified and standardized solutions that would reduce complexity and enhance reliability. Increasing awareness for MAM among key decision-makers in the broadcasting segment will also bolster the demand for such solutions.

Frost & Sullivan finds that the laborious process of digitising tape-based workflow that has to be done prior to MAM deployment is also seen as a challenge to market advancement. Nonetheless, digitization of tape-based archive content tops Indian broadcasters? agendas and will continue to do so for the next 24 months.

However, the high costs associated with international MAM products, together with the heightened price sensitivity of Indian consumers, has encouraged local vendors to develop low-cost, customized MAM solutions. These frequently do not conform to standards used by international vendors and, moreover, lead to high industry fragmentation.

Frost & Sullivan?s analysis finds that while there are several local vendors burgeoning to cater to MAM requirements among broadcasters, there continues to be a higher demand for "tried and tested" solutions.