- Total global spending on E&M forecast to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3 per cent over the next five years
Today’s consumers, eager, highly selective and voracious, are seizing the opportunity to enjoy new, mainly digital media experiences, tailored to their own preferences, contexts and schedules. This is the key take away from the latest edition of PriceWaterhouseCooper’s annual Global Media and Entertainment Outlook which makes market predictions for the period 2019-2023.
Things are getting personal as consumers embrace the expanding opportunities to enjoy made-for-me media, companies are designing offerings and business models to revolve around those personal preferences. In a fundamental shift, they are pitching their products not at audiences of billions, but at billions of individuals.
Empowered consumers control their own media consumption via an expanding range of smart devices, curate their personal selection of channels via over-the-top (OTT) services and bring more media content into their lives by embracing the smart home and connected car.
It’s also an increasingly mobile world, soon to be augmented by 5G networks. PwC’s Outlook, which provides entertainment & media (E&M) revenue data and forecasts for 14 industry segments across 53 territories — projects that total global spending on E&M will rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3 per cent over the next five years, to 2023. This growth rate will see the industry’s global revenue reach US$2.6 trillion in 2023, up from US$2.1 trillion in 2018.
India, a surprise leader
India emerges as a surprising leader in some key matrices, outperforming all developed nations:
– In the projected CAGR of data consumption ( 2018-23) India is second only to Nigeria (40.9 per cent to Nigeria’s 44.9 per cent) and ahead of all other nations including China (32.6 per cent) and US (23.6 per cent). The global average CAGR of data consumption is 26.4 per cent.
– In spending on digital advertising, India is the world’s leader with a projected CAGR in 2018-23 of 17.5 per cent. The US by comparison is just 8.3 per cent. The global average is 9.5 per cent.
ICC Cricket World Cup: Why digital advertising rules
One has only to see the advertising blitz unleashed by the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales to appreciate how India has become a leader in both consumption of Over the Top (OTT) content like live match relays and in on-air and in-stadia advertising. Also important is the nudge that government gives: all CWC match TV coverage is also available free to air on the Doordarshan DTH channel…. a huge multiplier factor in viewership.
Looking at specific E&M segments, virtual reality (VR) maintains its position as the highest-growth segment, but Podcasts and e-Sports, have extremely strong growth revenue forecasts at CAGRs of 28.5 per cent and 18.3 per cent, respectively. Recent example is the Dream 11 cricket game that has now become very popular in recent weeks.
World of “me” media
There’s also a dimension of personalisation that’s inherently social, as people share playlists on music-streaming services, recommend movies to friends on social platforms or engage in multi-user video game battles royale.
Advances in technology and service offerings are finally enabling people to move from passive to active consumption — not just of individual pieces of media, but of media as a whole. One is the trend for consumers to reject the bundles of channels offered by cable or satellite providers, and instead construct their own ad hoc bundles made up of OTT services. The recent TRAI-ordain unbundling of cable and DTH TV channels in India is another example of proactive government initiative on behalf of the aam aadmi.
The full report can be found at PwC’ website It has useful data for any one hoping to launch a product or a service in the entertainment and digital media space in India.
This story is submitted by Anand Parthasarathy. His rich experience, reporting ACE (Appliances and Consumer Electronics) stories encompasses working 15 years with The Hindu as its IT Consulting Editor. He is a qualified instrumentation systems engineer who has worked for 20 years as a scientist on numerous defence R&D projects, and as a project manager for surface-to-air missiles at DRDO
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