India’s media and entertainment industry is rising rapidly, and the nation is expected to soon reach the top-10 worldwide. The overall media and entertainment industry, segmented into television, print media , digital media, films, animation & VFX, out-of-home, gaming and radio and music, is expected to be valued at INR 3,224.24 Bn by FY 2025, growing at a CAGR of ~10% during the FY 2020-FY 2025 timeframe.
In both FY 2018 and FY 2019, the television segment accounted for the largest share of the market. The digital media segment involving over-the-top ( OTT) services, however, is on the verge of disruption and is likely to surpass the print and film segments in terms of consumer revenue by FY 2025.
Although the OTT market is at a nascent stage, in the country its services have found widespread acceptance. On-demand, OTT content can be downloaded directly and accessed by users on connected devices such as smart TVs, PCs, laptops, smartphones, and gaming consoles via the internet. Both OTT platforms are not cost-free and enable users to subscribe by paying monthly or yearly subscription fees to a specific OTT platform.
The Indian video OTT market in FY 2019 was estimated at INR 42.5 Bn and is projected to cross INR 237.86 Bn by FY 2025, growing during the forecast period at a CAGR of ~33.10 percent. Premium, original content, with a range of OTT channels vying for the attention of customers, is one of the key growth drivers and differentiators in the OTT industry. Some of the market’s big video OTT sites are Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, MX Player, JioTV, Voot, SonyLIV, and ALTBalaji.
There were about 170 million video OTT-streaming users in India in 2019 and the user base is projected to grow at a rate of about 26.40% by 2025. Industry participants invest heavily in the acquisition or creation of new goods and services and also concentrate on enhancing the experience of consumers.
The market share of OTT Platforms in India is largely dominated by three global players Netflix, Amazon Prime Video & Disney+ Hotstar. While Netflix & Prime Video enjoy supremacy with 20 percent each, Disney+ Hotstar takes up 17 percent market share.
Impact of COVID On OTT Platforms
The Indian OTT platform Zee5 announced in April 2020 that it had a total audience of 437.4 Mn during the lockdown period , starting from March 2020 to April 2020.
On 21 April 2020, ALTBalaji announced that the OTT platform is currently experiencing a substantial increase in digital subscriptions, with an average of 17,000 subscriptions being added every day after the country’s lockdown announcement, compared to an average of 10,600 before the lockdown in March 2020, corresponding to a dramatic growth of approximately 60%.
As of 16 April 2020, Amazon Prime Video’s DAU in India has increased by 83% since the country went under lockdown.
On March 20, 2020, MX Player reported that Indian users had experienced a two-fold increase in the time spent on content in different genres, especially through MX Originals.
