Revenue from mobile Internet advertising in India to reach Rs 22,350 crore in 2025: PwC report

Scroll through the highlights of PwC's Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2021-2025.

India’s entertainment & media industry is expected to reach over Rs 4 lakh crore by 2025, at 10.75 per cent CAGR. These figures come from PwC's Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2021-2025, the 22nd annual analysis and forecast of E&M spending by the consumers and advertisers across 53 territories.

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

TV advertising: It has continued to expand in 2020, despite COVID, reaching Rs 35,015 crore. India is the fourth-largest market globally after the US, China and Japan. Further expansion at a 7.6 per cent CAGR will take TV ad revenues to Rs 50,586 crore in 2025.

Multichannel advertising will account for nearly 92 per cent of the total TV advertising market in 2025. Online TV advertising will make modest inroads in the forecast period, with broadband penetration remaining extremely low, at 7.3 per cent of households.

Internet advertising: India is the fastest-growing Internet advertising market in the world, at a CAGR of 18.8 per cent during 2020-2025. Growth in mobile ad revenue overtook wired revenue in 2019, and is expected to be 74.4 per cent of the total Internet advertising revenue of Rs 30,471 crore by 2025.

In 2020, revenue from mobile Internet advertising in India was Rs 7,331 crore. It will rise to Rs 22,350 crore in 2025 – increasing at a 25.4 per cent CAGR. This makes India the fastest-growing mobile ad market in the world, reflecting the potential for growth, with over half the population yet to take up a mobile Internet subscription in 2020.

Newspapers & consumer magazines: In 2020, the newspaper & consumer magazines market was worth Rs 26,299 crore, and is likely to have a CAGR of 1.82 per cent up to 2025. In 2020, print advertising revenue fell by 12 per cent and print circulation revenue was down by four per cent, mainly due to the pandemic. Digital magazine circulation and advertising revenue is set to increase between 2020 and 2025, from Rs 231 crore to Rs 358 crore at a CAGR of 9.5 per cent.

Cinema: Box-office revenues plunged by 75 per cent year-on-year in a COVID-hit 2020, to Rs 2,652 crore. Local producers turned to digital streaming to make up the shortfall. Box-office revenue is expected to recover and grow at a CAGR of 39.3 per cent, grossing up Rs 13,857 crore by the end of 2025. The overall segment, comprising box-office and cinema advertising, is predicted to grow back to pre-COVID level by mid-2023.

Music, radio & podcast: Revenues of India’s total music, radio and podcasts market dropped in 2020, to Rs 4,626 crore, as the pandemic stripped almost Rs 522 crore from the country’s live music sector. Digital channels account for almost 90 per cent of the recorded music market. And, like elsewhere, streaming is the most-popular category.

Ad-supported streaming is the dominant digital product in India, generating Rs 1,088 crore in 2020, almost twice the sum reported from subscription revenue (Rs 581 crore). The overall segment growth is predicted at 19.1 per cent CAGR 2020-25 to reach Rs 11,026 crore.

Video games & esports: The gaming market continues to enjoy exceptional growth and shows enormous potential. Video games and esports revenue reached Rs 11,250 crore in 2020, and is set to expand to Rs 24,213 crore in 2025, at 16.5 per cent CAGR.

India’s gaming market is dominated by the social/casual category, which accounted for 77 per cent of all video games and esports revenue in 2020. India’s esports market is small, but as awareness grows and, crucially, the mobile esports offering becomes stronger, this sector will see rapid expansion, at a 31.6 per cent CAGR over the forecast period.

Other factors impacting the global E&M sector

Generational shift: youth will be served

Not surprisingly, many younger consumers have little awareness of, or interest in, traditional media. On the other hand, media platforms designed for young consumers, or that enable lightly-produced, authentic content, have boomed. Gaming is central to the youth movement and is becoming a significant driver of data consumption. In fact, it is on pace to be the fastest-growing content category in that regard, accounting for 6.1 per cent of total data consumption globally by 2025, up from 4.7 per cent in 2020.

Regulatory shifts: pushback on platforms

The regulatory scrutiny of big tech is yet another shift impacting E&M. Antitrust pressures have increased, with calls to break up big tech platforms, along with government proposals for new media regulations. Changes to current regulatory regimes are inevitable and it’s vital that E&M players incorporate regulatory risks in their planning processes.

Werner Ballhaus, global entertainment & media industry leader partner, PwC Germany, concluded, “Even in the areas that offer the most compelling topline growth – like video streaming – the nature of competition is likely to change dramatically over the coming years. And, all the while, the social, political and regulatory context in which all companies operate, continues to evolve in unpredictable ways. All of which means that sitting still, relying on the strategies that created value and locked up market share in the past, will not be the most effective posture, going forward.”

Rajib Basu, partner & leader – entertainment & media, PwC India, added, "Despite the pandemic, the Indian entertainment and media sector has shown remarkable resilience. As we predicted last year, India is forecasted to be the fastest-growing entertainment and media market globally, in terms of consumer and advertising revenue."

"Technological advancement and deepening of Internet access will continue to influence the way Indians consume content. Our Outlook shows that the demand for great, localised content, increased Internet penetration and the creation of new business models will drive the industry’s growth for the next five years.”

The full report is below:

GEMO 2021 - India Cut Report - Final.pdf