MUMBAI: New-age urban content is pulling audiences to digital platforms, but it is the bundled telecom data packages that are driving significant growth in the segment in India.
According to EY-FICCI report ‘A billion screens of opportunity’, bundled digital consumers will grow by over 72 per cent to 376 million by 2021, from 218 million in 2018. These are the consumers who watch pay TV and also consume telco-bundled content, forming the biggest chunk of a growing digital audience segment.
“In the future, telcos will become MSOs (multiple system operators) and it will be a win-win situation for everyone,” said Ashish Pherwani, leader of the Media and Entertainment vertical at E&Y.
The report estimates that the number of consumers who view only digital content will double to 5 million in 2021, from 2.5 million currently.
Tactical digital consumers, who watch pay TV and also subscribe to at least one paid OTT service, will also double to 25 million. E&Y also believes that advertising growth, which has already outpaced subscription growth, will comprise 52 per cent of the digital revenue pie in three years.
“The growth of digital infrastructure is further enabling Indians to fulfil the need for personal content consumption, across languages and genre. There is a large shift in consumer behaviour from mass-produced content to specific content defined to audience segments. The sector has an opportunity to serve a billion screens in India and globally,” Pherwani said.
Bharti Infratel
The report, which was launched at FICCI Frames under way in Mumbai, says that the media and entertainment sector grew at 13.4 per cent, to $23.9 billion (Rs 1,67,000 crore); exhibiting a faster growth rate than GDP.
Advertising which saw a hit due to demonetization and GST the year before, bounced back in 2018 with a growth of 12 per cent. The numbers indicate that people are spending more and consuming more, as Indians’ thirst for knowledge and escapism is turning media and entertainment into a necessity.
Digital advertising grew by 34 per cent, but the most interesting chunk of a growing band of digital advertisers were identified as SMEs.
Though not included in the report, SME spend on digital advertisers reaching local consumers, is expected to be at Rs 70,000 crore. A growing number of advertisers spend as much as Rs 20,000 per month, making a key shift from yellow pages to digital.
The PUBG effect
The number of online gamers grew by 52 per cent to 278 million in 2018. As many as five billion gaming apps were downloaded, which accounted for 71 per cent of total entertainment downloads.
Interestingly, real money gaming which includes fantasy cricket and similar games, grew at 82 per cent to reach Rs 22 billion (Rs 2,200 crore).