India to become third largest media-entertainment market in 5 years: Union Minister Thakur

Thakur also announced to introduce an award for the best web series to acknowledge the contribution of original content creators.

Anurag Thakur, union information and broadcasting minister, says that India will become the third largest media and entertainment market in the world in the next five years.

He gave the statement during the inauguration of the 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, as reported by PTI.

Thakur said, "India, on one hand, has become the fifth largest economy of the world. It is also the fifth largest in the world in terms of the media and entertainment industry. In the next five years, India is going to be the third largest economy in the world as well as the third largest media and entertainment market.”

"Similar to last year's edition when we initiated some firsts, we continue that spirit with some more firsts in this edition. For the first time and from hereon, IFFI will bestow the best web series OTT award. It will acknowledge the transformative role of original content creators in India and celebrate their contribution to employment and innovation," he added.

This recognition is being given to OTT because it entertained people when everything was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the OTT (segment) is growing at a rate of 28%. 

“Another first in this year's edition was the augmenting of the scope of 'Film Bazaar' (an event held on the sidelines of the festival) by introducing a well-curated VFX and tech pavilion to showcase innovation from the cinema world, a documentary section support non-fiction storytelling”, he added. 

Thakur unveiled plans for Cine Mela, an event aimed at commemorating ‘diversity and culture’. Moreover, he highlighted IFFI's new segment dedicated to showcasing restored classic feature films, indicating that seven world premieres of NFDC (National Film Development Corporation) and NFAI (National Film Archive of India) under the National Film Heritage Mission will be presented during the festival.

Under this mission, 5,000 films and documentaries will be restored and digitized.