Digital media grew 29% to reach Rs 303 bn in 2021; Digital advertising up at Rs 246 bn

The digital media segment grew 29% to reach Rs 303 billion in 2021, which does not include Rs 117 billion of ad spends by SME and long-tail advertisers – if included, the segment would be valued at Rs 420 billion, reveals FICCI EY’s report on the Indian M&E industry. The segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20% over the next three years.

Digital advertising grew 29% in 2021 to reach Rs 246 billion. In addition, advertising by SME and long-tail advertisers reached Rs 117 billion. Ad rates of premium properties increased, but average rates continued to reduce as inventory volumes increased by over 30%. E-commerce platforms earned over Rs 55 billion in advertising, which is 16% of total digital advertising (up from 12% in 2020).

Digital subscription grew 29% to reach Rs 56 billion in 2021. Video subscription revenues grew 27% in 2021 to Rs 54 billion, an amount which is over 50% of broadcasters’ share of TV subscription revenues. Paid video subscriptions scaled up to 80 million in 2021, across almost 40 million Indian households. Due to a plethora of free video and audio options, just three million consumers bought music subscriptions, generating Rs 1.6 billion. News subscriptions – mainly for exclusive and premium content – generated Rs 0.9 billion in 2021.

Digital infrastructure continued to grow in 2021, with Internet penetration increasing by 5% to reach 834 million subscriptions, of which 795 million had broadband access as of September 2021. Only 24 million Indian households had a wired broadband connection. Smartphone users reached 503 million and connected TVs crossed the 10-million mark.

Online consumption also increased, with Indians spending 4.7 hours a day on their phones in 2021, aggregating 700 billion hours of consumption, which was the second highest in the world. However, India was ranked 20th in terms of consumer spend.

Online video gained scale amidst changing consumer habits. Online video viewers grew to 497 million. Time spent by Indians on entertainment apps grew 52% since the onset of the pandemic. The importance of regional audiences increased – in 2021, 47% of OTT originals and 69% of films released on streaming platforms were in regional languages. Over 100 films released directly on streaming platforms without a prior theatrical release.