The media and entertainment industry in India consists of many different segments under its folds such as television, print, and films. It also includes smaller segments like radio, music, out-of-home advertising, animation, gaming and visual effects and internet advertising. The entertainment industry in India has registered explosive growth in the last two decades making it one of the fastest-growing industries in India. From a single state-owned channel, Doordarshan in the 1990s there are more than 400 active channels in the country. Worldwide, 2010 saw the global economy begin to recover from a steep decline in 2009. Improved economic conditions in 2010 played a major role in a rebound in customer spend. Since the world economy began to recover from the global financial crisis of 2008, improved economic conditions played a major role in a rebound in consumer spending. While India was not critically impacted by the downturn in 2008 and 2009, it demonstrated one of the highest growth rates this year and continued to at a healthy pace. The rising rate of investments by the private sector and foreign media and entertainment majors have improved India's entertainment infrastructure to a great extent. As per the recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Indians are likely to spend more on entertainment in the coming years with steady growth in their disposable income. And as per the combined survey report by KMPG and FICCI, the entertainment industry in India is expected to expand by 12.5% every year and is likely to reach US$20.09 billion by the year 2013. The industry pegged at INR 5808 billion in 2009 as compared to INR 3565 billion in 2005. The Indian media and entertainment industry grew from US$12.9 billion in 2009 to US$14.4 billion in 2010, a growth of 11 percent, according to a report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and research firm KPMG. The report also states that backed by positive industry sentiment and growing media consumption, the industry is estimated to achieve growth of 13 percent in 2011 to touch US$16.2 billion. As the industry braces for exciting times ahead, the sector is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14 percent to reach US$28.1 billion by 2015.
Television industry
Television is one of the major mass media of India and is a huge industry and has thousands of programs in all the states of India. Today India boasts of being the second-largest television market in the world. The small screen has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind some even attaining national fame. TV soaps are extremely popular with housewives as well as working women. Approximately half of all Indian households own a television. Television first came to India in the form of Doordarshan on Sept 15, 1959. Doordarshan is the National Television Network of India and also one of the largest broadcasting organisations in the world. Apart from the state-run Doordarshan, there are six direct to home players with 54.52 million DTH users in India with the present prediction; it is likely to overtake the US in terms of the largest DTH market in the world. As of 2012, the country has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 823 channels of which 184 are pay channels. Total television viewership of 415 million is amongst the world's highest with nearly 15-16 Television companies beaming programmers to India. The major players being Doordarshan, STAR TV, Zee Television, United Television, CNN, Sony Television, ATN, BBC World, SUN TV, Discovery Channel, TNT and others. India's television business has an estimated $3.4 billion in revenue in 2005, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. With the government focusing more on digitalization, TV distribution is taking a new shape. Digitalization has been a major challenge for the government as the digital cable is not gaining momentum. According to the new deadline, pan India digitalization is expected to happen by December 31, 2014. Another challenge for the Television Industry is Average Revenue Per User. India is amongst the countries with the lowest ARPU as compared to developed countries like the US and UK where ARPU is around US$45 to US$60, India has an ARPU approximately US$3.5.
Print industry
The Indian print media industry is expected to grow by 9.6 percent over the period 2010-15. The print industry is expected to grow from Rs 128 bn in 2006 to Rs 232 bn by 2011, at 12.6% CAGR. While the newspaper industry is estimated at Rs 112 bn, the magazine segment is valued at Rs 16 bn. The newspaper industry is also projected to perform well for the next five years growing at a CAGR of 10.1 percent according to a report titled "India Entertainment and Media Outlook 2011" by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Indian print industry is growing strong and is expected to grow similarly while the global print industry is moving towards digitalization and showing a negative growth rate year on year. The print industry in India is the world's second-largest with over 90 million copies in circulation daily after China with 130 million copies in circulation daily. Most newspaper has an online presence and a growing view counts on their portals. Much of the entertainment and media segments are now focusing on growth in regional areas and smaller towns. In 2009, when there was a slowdown, the regional print showed growth in local to local advertisement. In 2010, regional print further increased its share in overall print advertisement revenue pie. Regional papers give advertisers access to localized populations and their niche target audience, difficult to do via national broadcast media. Newspapers have realized the value and have gone one step further and have launched area specific newspapers. With the rise in literacy in past decade has let to the rise of regional newspapers, they have much greater reach and a large audience to entertain. Magazines have not been at their best performance in past few years. However, niche magazine are doing well and is expected to show positive growth. The major challenge faced by this segment of media and entertainment industry is newsprint which continues to threaten profitability. Newsprint forms a major component of the cost of publishing a newspaper. It is roughly 40 -50 percent of the total cost.
Film industry
Films are the most important form of entertainment in India. Film industry in India is among the largest in the world in terms of films produced in different languages which include films in Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Punjabi and Malayalam. Approximately twenty-three million Indians go to see a film every day. Film Federation of India is the apex body of the film industry in India whose objective is to popularise and promote the cinema According to unofficial estimates available in January 2001, the Indian film industry has an annual turnover of Rs. 60 billion. It employs more than 6 million people, most of whom are contract workers as opposed to regular employees. As at the start of 2001, a reasonable budget film in any Indian language could cost US$1.75 million. A low budget Indian language film can be made for even as low as Rs. 15 million. A big-budget Indian language movie can cost in excess of US$30 million. The 'bigness' of the budget is attributable mainly to the high fees paid to 'stars', celebrated music directors, high-end technologies and expensive travel costs to shoot in exotic locations worldwide. At the time of writing, it is believed that lead actors 'stars' are paid around Rs. 100 million per film. India has a National Film Development Corporation which finances some films. A few filmmakers, who would find it hard to obtain finance from the regular sources, have been financed by the NFDC. However, NFDC cannot be considered to play a central role in the film industry because it finances too few films which, too, are not of the type that has made the Indian film industry so vibrant.
Radio broadcasting in India started in British India in 1923 with the Radio Club of Bombay. All India Radio was established in 1936 which is one of the largest radio networks in the world including the AIR FM. AM, FM and even Satellite Radio have made a huge impact on the Industry in India. Most of the media houses either already have a presence in the industry or are looking to get a license in the next round. Famous stations are Radio Mirchi has maintained a lead position in most cities it operates in and other channels like Radio City, Red FM, Big FM, Fever, Radio One have also been able to get significant traction. Till 1990 Indian economy was closed, no private player was allowed to enter and Akashwani has the sole responsibility to cater to the wide and culturally diverse Indian consumer base. In the last 5 years, the Radio industry in India has seen a compound annual growth rate of approximately 20% and has grown to a size of around Rs. 8.3 billion in 2008. By the end of 2010, there were 245 active radio stations in India and had a market size of INR 10 billion. It registered a cumulative growth rate of 11 percent from 2007 to 2010. The industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 20 percent over 2010- 2015 and is expected to be INR 25 billion in terms of revenue. Phase III privatisation of the radio FM is expected to add 839 new radio stations in 294 cities. The government has approved Foreign Direct Investment in FM radio channels to 26 percent from the current 20 percent. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is planning to release additional frequencies in all markets, automatic renewal of the license at the end of the initial term of the license of the term. One of the major reasons for such an interest in the industry is the increased profitability. The government has cut the license fees to 1/10th of the previous amount.
Controversial IP protection by the Indian film industry
The indian film industry has allegedly engaged in illegal activities by hiring IT professionals who were said to have launched a Denial-of-service attack against websites that they believe are violating the intellectual property of their clients.
