Will the Indian Media and Entertainment Industry finally come of age?

The Indian entertainment industry is on the threshold of emerging as a large market globally. Future growth of the industry is expected to be led by rising spends on entertainment by a growing Indian middle class, regulatory initiatives, increased corporate investments and the industry's dynamic initiatives to make strategic structural corrections to grow. In addition to the Indian middle class’ enhanced spends projected towards entertainment, the rising global interest in Indian content is expected to fuel growth in this industry.

The spend on entertainment in India is significantly lower than most advanced countries, yet the growing middle class exhibits a greater propensity to spend on entertainment, when we consider the entertainment spend as a percentage of per capita spend. As the Indian economy grows, the rest of the population is moving towards a higher standard of living. It is this growing consuming class with the propensity to spend that will drive the growth of the Indian entertainment industry.

The entertainment industry in India has the potential to be the next 'sunrise' industry and is undergoing significant changes. Increasingly, the Indian entertainment industry is being influenced by international trends and developments. The industry is steadily moving towards corporatisation and globalised markets.

Over the last few years, there have been discussions on the Indian entertainment industry being on the verge of take-off, powered by new delivery platforms and technological breakthroughs, increasing content variety and favourable regulatory initiatives. This is expected to transform the entertainment landscape, with more players entering and traditional players being forced to adapt or perish. One can already witness changes that have the potential to alter the industry structure.

Increasing penetration of new delivery platforms is one of the key drivers of the media and entertainment industry today, that has the potential to change the way people receive content. These platforms, resulting from fundamental technological breakthroughs, are likely to see most of the action in next few years. For example, the spread of inexpensive and stable storage media will also enable people to store content and view it at their convenience. Some other examples are:

• Introduction of DTH and IP-TV
• Digital distribution of films
• Immersive content media like IMAX theatres
• Coming of age of Satellite Radio and FM Radio
• Emergence of new technologies like podcasting, etc

Together, these are expected to change the viewing habits of people.

New forms of content will emerge to cater to select viewers, as the industry evolves. Content like community radio and local television, that were unviable earlier, will also emerge stronger through new delivery formats. Moreover, content innovation will be necessary to sustain the interest of the increasingly jaded urban population. A few instances of rising content diversity are:

• Newer programming categories like reality television,
• Crossover content in music and films,
• Niche programming on radio like sports and comedy,
• Newer genres like lifestyle television, religion channels, etc.

The regulatory framework for media is still evolving. Looking at the policies announced by TRAI, it seems that a liberal framework is likely to be developed in order to allow the industry to flourish. Alongside regulating broadcasting and distribution, it will be important to create stronger protection mechanisms for copyrights and royalties. If intellectual property is protected to a fair extent, the industry could capture far greater value, giving its growth rate a significant boost.

A few examples of such regulatory actions are:

• An implementable regulatory framework for introducing addressability of cable television
• Policy framework for DTH, satellite radio and community radio
• Migration to a revenue sharing regime in FM radio
• Superior copyright protection for films, music and home video, etc

The entertainment industry is thriving on the current economic upswing and is currently estimated at INR 222 billion. Due to its sheer size, television has been the main driver for the industry's growth, contributing 62 percent of the overall industry's growth. Films contributed another 27 percent, while other segments like music, radio, live entertainment and interactive gaming constitute the balance 11 percent.

Propelled by innovation across its value chain and a series of enabling regulatory actions, the entertainment industry is expected to grow annually at almost 18 percent to reach around INR 588 billion by 2010. However, even with such growth, it could be just scratching the surface of the Indian market's true potential. Reaching this targeted growth rate will not be easy for the sector. Television sector has witnessed a significant bit of transparency, process orientation and discipline, except for the last-mile which is completely fragmented. The film sector, on the other hand, still remains relatively opaque and persona-driven. Over the past few years, the film industry has made some progress in getting institutional and corporatised funding. However, the progress on this front has notbeen as dramatic as had been expected when the institutional funding norms for films were relaxed a few years ago. Even though different sources unanimously agree that the entertainment industry is a sunrise sector, it has seen no major fund-raising efforts, apart from television content and broadcasting where the impact of professionalism and organised financing is evident.

Over the past decade, India has been the second fastest growing economy in the world. In 2004, it grew by 8.2 percent, breaching the psychological 8 percent barrier for the first time. In terms of purchasing power parity, it is already the fourth largest economy in the world. Most major global companies are of the opinion that it will become a key market in the years to come. As the Indian economy continues growing, the Indian middle class will also expand significantly. Compared to other nations, the 300 million strong Indian

middle class allocates a higher percentage of its monthly expenditure on entertainment. The increasing consumerism of middle-class India is seen from the sharp growth in the sales for various products like automobiles, colour television sets and mobile phones and the burgeoning increase in credit cards and personal loans. There is an increase in the direct consumer spends on entertainment and advertising revenues have also been on the rise. With the average Indian getting younger, and hence more likely to spend on nonessentials, the entertainment industry has the potential to grow explosively in the future.