India’s media and entertainment industry set to grow to $36.7 billion by 2030

India’s media and entertainment industry set to grow to $36.7 billion by 2030 | Mint

India’s media and entertainment industry set to grow to $36.7 billion by 2030

India’s entertainment and media market is projected to grow from $25.7 billion in 2025 to $36.7 billion by 2030, driven by digital ecosystems and technology. Key areas include internet advertising and OTT, with new monetization models enhancing revenue potential across traditional and digital media.

India’s entertainment and media market is projected to grow at nearly twice the pace of the global industry through 2030, with digital advertising, OTT and gaming expected to drive much of the expansion.

The sector is projected to grow from $25.7 billion in 2025 to $36.7 billion by 2030, a 7.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), nearly twice the global industry growth rate of 4%, according to the India findings of PwC India’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2026-2030, released on Thursday.

The shift is being driven by digital ecosystems, regional content and technology-led revenue streams, the report said. Internet advertising, OTT video and gaming are expected to account for a large share of the sector’s incremental growth, while advertising-supported models are opening up new monetization opportunities across digital media.

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Leading the charge

Internet advertising revenue is projected to nearly double from $7.5 billion in 2025 to $14.3 billion by 2030, growing at a 13.9% CAGR. Search and video advertising are expected to support the expansion, PwC said.

India’s OTT market is projected to grow from $2.2 billion in 2025 to $3.6 billion by 2030, at a 10.2% CAGR. Advertising-supported offerings are becoming an important monetization lever alongside subscriptions, as platforms focus increasingly on engagement, retention, revenue per user, premium content and regional programming.

Video streaming platforms such as Prime Video, JioHotstar and others have been adopting hybrid monetizfation models, offering consumers the choice of ad-supported plans even as paid subscription tiers continue.

“Until a few years ago, the game revolved around landgrab and scale. Now, all players are moving towards improving monetization layers and looking beyond advertising and subscription to develop intent-based advertising strategies and intelligent data warehouses to measure real audience behaviour,” Rajesh Sethi, partner and leader – media, entertainment, and sports, PwC India, told Mint.

As far as media enterprises go, AI (artificial intelligence) is no longer limited to editing or visual effects, instead it is an important tool to ensure value-based integration, Sethi added.

“Over the last two years, most of these platforms have moved to a hybrid model, where there are now lower-priced plans, mobile-only plans, and most importantly, there are now ad-supported models. The other aspect is that there is now more advertising, especially with events like cricket and reality shows going online. Even apart from sports, there is now a lot more focus on OTTas a medium for advertisers, given its higher level of targeting and measurement capabilities in comparison to traditional TV,” Munish Vaid, vice-president, Primus Partners, a management consultancy firm, had said in an earlier interview with Mint.

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Video games and e-sports revenue is projected to rise from $1.5 billion in 2025 to $2.6 billion by 2030, at an 11.3% CAGR. As the market matures, in-game advertising, sponsorship-led e-sports and recurring revenue models are expected to play a larger role in converting engagement into sustainable revenue, the report said.

Expanding connectivity

Data connectivity revenue is projected to grow from $36.5 billion in 2025 to $58.6 billion by 2030, at a 9.9% CAGR. Expanding mobile, broadband, fibre and 5G infrastructure is supporting richer content experiences, new advertising models and larger addressable audiences across India’s digital ecosystem.

Across music, sports and cinema, consumers are also showing a greater willingness to pay for immersive, exclusive and differentiated experiences. Premium ticketing, hospitality-led offerings and higher-value cinema formats are shifting value creation towards spend per consumer and opening new revenue pools.

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Luxury cinema formats such as IMAX and 4DX are increasingly contributing a larger share of India’s box office, particularly for Hollywood tentpole films such as The Odyssey and F1: The Movie.

Traditional media, meanwhile, continues to grow in India even as it declines in several mature global markets. Traditional TV revenue is projected to grow modestly from $7.2 billion in 2025 to $7.5 billion by 2030, while newspaper revenue is expected to rise from $3 billion to $3.5 billion.

The continued growth of these segments, despite declines in several mature global markets, reflects the strength of regional audiences, advertiser demand, trusted brands and deeper integration between traditional and digital channels, PwC said.

About the Author

Lata writes about the media and entertainment industry for Mint, focusing on everything from traditional film and TV to newer areas like video and audio streaming, including the business and regulatory aspects of both. A journalist for over a decade, she has extensively covered relatively underexplored aspects of what is seen as a glamorous business—from the death of single-screen cinemas in small towns to unreasonable star fees and demands eating into film production budgets and eventually inflating ticket rates. She was early to spot what are now established and ongoing trends such as the slowdown in the OTT business and the surge in the popularity of southern movies, which she continues to spotlight. A regular writer of in-depth, long-form features, her best-read work ranges from critical profiles of companies like Netflix, JioHotstar and Prime Video to takes on sexual harassment and mental health in the entertainment industry. She spends a lot of time watching content, particularly the old-school way in movie theatres, to make sure her writing is embedded in on-ground experience, since she believes the best stories often come from the travesties of directly engaging with and paying for the content that she writes on, and not from celebrity tweets, company releases or listings. A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, she has also authored a book on the business of entertainment.

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