Indian media & entertainment just shy of Rs 1-lakh crore

Ficci-KPMG report says digital fastest growing sector in 2013, otherwise impacted by general slowdown; movies and regional media continued speedy spread

According to the Media and Entertainment (M&E) Report of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and KPMG, the sector grew 12 per cent to Rs 92,000 crore in 2013, a little less than in 2012, when it grew 12.6 per cent to reach Rs 82,100 crore. The flat growth is attributed to the slowdown that hit advertising spending (in TV and print) and a weaker rupee against the dollar that raised costs for the print sector.

The weak rupee also hit cable and direct-to-home (DTH) operators, which had to import set-top boxes for rolling out the second phase of digitisation.  It was a godsend though for the export-oriented animation and visual effects sectors. Besides, digitisation and a growing regional media helped check a drastic fall in growth. Television saw an eventful year both in terms of digitisation and regulations. The successful roll-out of the second phase of digitsation resulted in the reduction of carriage fees by 15-20 per cent. However, since multi-system operators (MSO) are yet to streamline packaging of channels and still have some friction with local cable operators, the average revenue for each user (ARPU) did not see a significant increase. The report pedicts that ARPUs will take another two-three years to grow.