India’s print industry remained strong in 2023, with 4% rise in advertising income, defying worldwide trends.
According to the annual media and entertainment (M&E) study by Ficci and consulting firm EY, the Indian media and entertainment business, which reached ₹2.3 Lakh Cr in 2023, is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10%, reaching ₹4.30 Lakh Cr by 2026.
Due mostly to difficulties with advertising in the first half of the year, the rise of ₹17,300 crore last year was just half of the ₹37,100 crore growth in 2022.
All M&E segments saw increase in 2023, with the exception of television. 57% of M&E sector revenues came from traditional media, which includes radio, print, television, filmed entertainment, live events, out-of-home music, and radio. This is a decrease from 76% in 2019.
On the other hand, new media—which includes digital and online gaming—saw the greatest expansion, accounting for ₹12,200 crore of the overall rise and rising from 20% in 2019 to 38% in 2023 in its contribution to the M&E industry.
The study, which was released at Ficci Frames, showed that television advertising fell by 6.5% as a result of gaming and D2C (direct-to-consumer) firms cutting back on their spending, which affected premium properties’ profits.
After three years of decrease due to price increases, subscription revenue increased despite a 3% overall de-growth in ad volume in the Hindi-speaking market. While the number of smart TVs linked to the internet every week doubled from about 10 million in 2021 to 19 to 20 million in 2023, linear TV viewership increased by 2% over 2022.
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India’s print industry remained strong in 2023, with 4% rise in advertising income, defying worldwide trends. Prestige ad forms expanded significantly, establishing print as the go-to medium for wealthy and non-metro audiences. Rising cover prices also resulted in a 3% increase in subscription revenues.
The M&E business is expected to develop at a 10% CAGR, according to Kevin Vaz, CEO of broadcast entertainment at Viacom 18 Pvt. Ltd. However, traditional media like television and print are expected to rise as well. By 2023, digital advertising had grown to ₹57,600 crore, or 51% of overall advertising sales. However, as premium cricket properties like the IPL (on JioCinema) became publicly accessible, digital subscription climbed by 9% to reach ₹7,800 crore, a third of the 27% growth expected in 2022.
In 2023, there were 97 million paid video subscriptions among 43 million Indian households, a 2 million decline from the previous year. Experts in the field agreed that the rise in paid subscriptions for over-the-top (OTT) platforms had leveled out following the peak during the COVID-19 lockdown. The average revenue per user (ARPU) has also been impacted by the difficulties associated with piracy and the trend away from individual OTT subscriptions and toward bundled services.
