Digitization of cable TV in 2013 produced excellent results for Indian Media & Entertainment (M&A) industry as it grew 12% despite economic slowdown. These facts were revealed in a report prepared by FICCI-KPMG, which would be officially released during FICCI Frames 2014, an event to be held in Mumbai between March 12 and 14th, 2014.
Along with digitization, another very important factor which fueled the growth in this sector was the rise of regional media which attracted lots of advertisers and sponsors. The growth of regional print, TV and cinema was reported in double digits.
Last year, M&E industry witnessed growth of 12.6%, which has actually come down to 12% this year as the industry battled with several issues such as depreciation of rupee and decline in advertisements revenue which affected print, cable and direct-to-home satellite broadcast companies.
However, subscription based digital TV was able to bring in lots of revenue from monthly subscription fees, as it balanced the loss of ad revenue and poor currency rate.
Jehil Thakkar, head of media and entertainment at consulting firm KPMG in India said, “In spite of a very challenging macro environment, the industry grew 12%, a far better performance than many other industries,”
Digitization of cable TV is going in the right direction as the mandatory Digital Access System (DAS) is now almost completed in Tier I and Tier II cities. The impact was immediately observed as the carriage fee was reduced 10-15% in most of the locations.
The ARPU or Average Revenue Per User is also increasing with the subscription based model catching on among Indian TV viewers. It is expected that Indian TV industry will be fully converted into subscription based model in next 2-3 years as MSO or Multi System Operators will become a reality soon.
Print Media:
Growth in print sector was steady as the assembly elections all over the country last year attracted lots of advertisements in the regional publications. Print media grew at 8.5% in 2013 to reach Rs 24,300 crore. English language newspapers and magazines was not able to bring in much advertisement revenues, compared to regional publications.
The recent decision to cap advertisements in TV programs to 10-12 minutes every hour also fueled movement advertisement movement from TV to print in a large scale.
Digital Media:
The fastest growth was witnessed in the Digital Media sector as it grew 30% to Rs 2520 crore in 2014. As 214 million Indians are using Internet, up from 130 million in 2012, advertisers are whole-heartedly opting for Digital Media to advertise their products, services and ideas.
Interestingly, FICCI reports that mobile users constituted 61% of the overall Internet usage, which is simply startling considering that mobile users have surpassed desktop users for the first time.
Cinema:
Cinema reported growth in double digits, but was slower than 2012. Several movies earned excellent ROI at the box office as the industry is now looking forward to tap Middle East and African market as well. The reports says that almost 90-95% of the movie theaters are now digitized, and the shift is now to Tier II and Tier III cities.
You can access the FICCI-KPMG previous year report here.
