Move over films. Television is the new star of the Indian entertainment industry.
According to Ernst & Young, television will constitute almost 70 per cent of the Indian entertainment industry by 2008.
Over the next five years, the television industry is expected to post a growth rate of 18 per cent and grow from Rs 12,900 crore (Rs 129 billion) to Rs 28,850 crore (Rs 288.50 billion) in 2008.
The Indian entertainment industry was estimated to be worth Rs 19,200 crore (Rs 192 billion) in 2003.
Of it, films constituted Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 45 billion) in 2003 and are expected to zoom to Rs 10,100 crore (Rs 101 billion) in 2008, a 17 per cent annual growth.
Clearly then television with its larger share of the pie will be the star.
"India is the third largest market in the world in terms of television households," says Farokh Balsara, head (media and entertainment industry practice), Ernst & Young.
Indian entertainment industry for 2003
|
|
Projected (%) |
Achieved (%) |
|
Film |
0 |
15 |
|
Television |
15 |
16 |
|
Music |
0 |
0 |
|
Radio |
44 |
13 |
Source: Ernst & Young
Also, Indians are bigger couch potatoes than the Western audience.
"Indians spend double the time watching TV than the Western audience," says Andy Bird, President, Walt Disney International.
Disney offers 29 hours of programming every week for the national and regional channels in India and says that it is studying the Indian market closely to determine the entry conditions.
The television market in India has grown rapidly in the last few years, yet it lags significantly behind the United States. According to Nielsen, less than half of households throughout the country have television sets, compared to the 100 per cent penetration of TV sets in the US.
"Indian television industry is growing rapidly. But compared to the US, the penetration is still much lower. What is surprising though is the extremely low use of the video cassette recorders. But the key thing remains that the cable industry in India is growing very rapidly, while in the US it has almost stagnated," says Robert L McCann, Chairman and CEO, Nielsen Media Research International.
|
|
US National (%) |
India National (Urban*) (%) |
|
TV penetration |
100 % |
43 % (76 %) |
|
Color TV |
100 % |
36 % (50 %) |
|
Remote control |
98 % |
32 % (46%) |
|
VCR |
91 % |
3 % (4 %) |
|
Cable & Satellite |
84 % |
50 % (63 %) |
|
Cable only |
68 % |
50 % (63%) |
* Numbers in bracket indicate the figures for urban India. Source: Nielsen
In terms of ad spend too, television along with radio is expected to steal a march over the print medium.
"TV and radio will gain market share rapidly and newspapers and magazines will be the slowest growing segment in terms of ad spend," says Marcel Fenez, Asia Pacific leader, Entertainment & Media Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
As the future looks rosy for the television industry in India, Nielsen's McCann has just a few words of caution. Watch out for the inevitable fragmentation of the industry and the rapidly changing consumer behavior, he tells broadcasters.
"In the future, there is going to be much more fragmentation than there is now in the television industry. New technologies like set-top boxes will change consumer behaviour and we are going to see an increased need for programming. All this means that there will be new opportunities for revenue streams," says McCann.
