In this Industry Spotlight with Ashish Pherwani , Partner – India for Media & Entertainment at Ernst & Young,  and Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, discussed the future of media and entertainment in India.

During this discussion, Ashish provided many useful statistics to contextualize and predict what’s in store for the next decade. Ashish began by highlighting that the size of the media and entertainment in the country is about 2.3 Lakh crores, or USD 27 Billion, which is only the size of Disney or Netflix’s entire global content creation. However, he pointed out that while it may still be a relatively small industry, it is growing at a pace faster than the overall GDP, a healthy sign for the space.

Standing at 800 million broadband subscriptions, Ashish projected double digit growth for the media industry in 2024. He also projected that by 2030, there would be 1 billion active screens, 750 million of which would be small screens. Keeping this in mind, he highlighted the importance for successful content to be compatible with all types of devices, screen sizes and formats. Content needs to transcend everything from social to theatrical.

The conversation then moved to future technologies. On the subject of AI, something Ashish is very passionate about, he stated that in the next three years, AI can significantly help reduce costs and result in an addition of 45,000 crores to the industry. In his view, AI won’t totally replace manpower, but will empower a creative person or team to be far more efficient across various micro tasks in the industry . He also expressed excitement at how AI will work with dubbing and subtitling, helping content hit multiple markets quickly.

Ashish mentioned four changes and challenges in the future: the model – and how cost of content will get rationalized, managing churn, getting the right data particularly in a cookieless world, and managing piracy with evolving technology.

Lastly, Ashish and Lohita also dove into India’s position in the global landscape. Ashish praised India’s innovation particularly as it pertains to advertising and monetisation models. He identified India as having strong potential to strengthen its place as the world’s back office for media and entertainment.