Mumbai: By 2026, the Indian entertainment & media sector is anticipated to grow by 8.8 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach Rs 4,30,401 crore. These figures are taken from PwC's Global Entertainment & Media (E&M) Outlook 2022–2026, which is the 23rd annual analysis and forecast of E&M expenditures by consumers and advertisers across 52 territories.

”The Indian media and entertainment outlook for the next few years is quite unique. There is an exciting pace of growth of digital media and advertising led by the deeper penetration of internet and mobile devices in our market,” said PwC India partner & leader – entertainment & media Rajib Basu. “At the same time, traditional media will maintain their steady growth rate over the next few years. We shall see a very different profile of media and entertainment related businesses & revenue models emerging in the digital space once we have the rollout of 5G.”

Key findings for India in this year’s Outlook include:

OTT Video: The elimination of public entertainment and more time spent at home helped the total OTT revenue more than double in 2020. Revenue nearly doubled once more in 2021 as a result of this pattern. The market would still increase at a remarkable 14.1 per cent CAGR to reach Rs 21,032 crore in 2026, despite slower growth rates. Subscription services, which accounted for 90.5 per cent of revenue in 2021 and are projected to account for 95 per cent of revenue in 2026, are fueling this rapid growth.

Video games & esports: India's overall revenue from video games and esports is expected to rise by 18.3 per cent CAGR to Rs 37,535 crore by 2026 from Rs 16,200 crore in 2021. India is the third-fastest-growing market for video games in the world, behind Pakistan and Turkey, although still being a relatively small market given the size and population of the nation. Social/casual gaming accounted for Rs 13,244 crore, or 83.9 per cent, of India's overall video game and esports revenue in 2021. Revenue from social/casual gaming is anticipated to grow at a 20.6 per cent CAGR and reach Rs 34,581 crore by 2026. The introduction of 5G technology to the market will be a key enabler of this segment.

TV advertising: India's TV advertising market had a -10.8 per cent fall over 2019 levels in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 recession, which struck after several years of rapid expansion. This turned out to be a brief setback. This sector increased by 16.9 per cent to Rs 32,374 crore in 2021 as the country's economy  started to expand again. By 2026, the market would have grown by 6.3 per cent CAGR, reaching Rs 43,410 crore. After the US, Japan, China, and the UK, India will soon rank as the world's fifth-largest TV advertising market.

Cinema: India is projected to expand at the highest growth rate among all segments throughout the forecast period, with a startling 38.3 per cent CAGR, to reach Rs 16,198 crore by 2026. India is now the third-largest market globally in terms of admissions after China and the US. More than 379 million cinema tickets were sold in India in 2021, a respectable rise over the 278 million admissions in 2020 (and higher than the 226 million admissions in the US in 2020) but a significant decrease (-85.4 per cent) from the 1.9 billion tickets sold prior to the pre-pandemic.

Internet advertising: The Indian Internet advertising market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 12.1 per cent to Rs 28,234 crore by 2026. The mobile sector dominates the country's Internet advertising business, accounting for 60.1 per cent of total revenue in 2021 and rising to 69.3 per cent by 2026 due to India's market for mobile-first internet access. The mobile sector is dominated by display advertising, which generated 90.7 per cent of total income in 2021 but will drop to 88.9 per cent of the total in 2026. India's revenue from wired Internet access was Rs 6,379 crore in 2021, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3 per cent to Rs 8,829 crore by 2026.

Out-Of-Home Advertising: One of the strongest comebacks globally is being made by the out-of-home (OOH) advertising market in India, which is expected to rise at a 12.57 percent CAGR to reach Rs 5,562 crore in 2026. One of the sharpest market downturns and the largest revenue decline among the main economies of the world, total OOH revenue recovered by 63.4 per cent in 2021 over the levels of 2020. The total OOH revenue in 2021 reached Rs 3,076 crore. The momentum of this rebound will carry over into 2022, and by year-end the market will be at the value Rs 4,084 crore.