Premium Streaming The Future In India, Says Amazon-Ordered Research

Premium streaming in India is expected to contribute around 50% to new revenue growth for the country’s video economy, according to a report from Media Partners Asia (MPA) commissioned by Prime Video India.

India’s streaming VOD sector is projected to create 280,000 jobs by 2028, with a potential for over 330,000, and is now comparable to other media sectors in terms of investment.

However, the report noted that the sector needs to take key steps to continue its ascent. This includes expanding modern production facilities beyond major urban centers, as well as fostering collaboration for infrastructure development.

Other important areas for the sector’s growth include cultivating technical talent through training programs and academic partnerships, and intensifying efforts to combat piracy and protect intellectual property in the country.

Fuelled by streaming, the video entertainment economy is projected to reach $13B in value by 2028, representing an 8% average annual growth rate from 2023. Over 1,500 original titles were released across VOD platforms between 2016 and 2023.

Investment in local entertainment, including scripted, unscripted and sports programming, reached
$5.8B in India in 2023. Interesting, the huge IPL cricket deal struck in 2022, worth $2.9B, is amortized over a period of five years, meaning it accounted for just $600M in the period covered in the report.

While this level of investment represents a significant rise from the $3.3B invested in 2018, India still trails the U.S.($125B) and regional powerhouses like Japan ($10B), South Korea ($6B). When considering the investment on a per capita basis, the gap is wider, with $4 per capita for India relative to $370 for the U.S., $120 for South Korea and $80 for Japan.

The report also revealed that while TV has historically led content investment in the video industry, online video (excluding sports) already claims a 24% share in 2024—a three-fold increase since 2017, with growth expected to reach 30% by 2028.

Streaming revenues also now equate to 1.5 times of movie producers’ net share from theatrical box office. Allied industries, like telecom are also experiencing the impact of video streaming, where video has become the primary driver of data consumption for telcos, representing over 70% of their data traffic.

The boom in the Indian streaming industry has generated more employment opportunities, with the report concluding that 174,000 direct and indirect jobs were created in 2023. The industry’s projected growth promises to open up 280,000 positions by 2028, with the potential to exceed 330,000 jobs, with higher demand for specialized skills in VFX, animation, subtitling, and dubbing.