In a significant forecast for India’s media landscape, the country’s video market is gearing up for substantial growth, expected to soar from its present $13 billion to touch $17 billion by 2028. A recent report released by Media Partners Asia (MPA) highlighted India’s pivotal role in the overall Asia Pacific (APAC) media evolution. With a robust 5.5 percent growth in 2023, the APAC video industry secured a total revenue of US$145 billion, positioning India among the top contributors.
As per the report,China remains the largest and most regulated video market, generating US$64 billion in revenue in 2023. Ex-China, the largest markets in 2023 are Japan (US$32 billion), India (US$13 billion), Korea (US$12 billion) and Australia (US$9.5 billion) followed by Taiwan and Indonesia, both at around US$3 billion.
MPA projections indicate that total APAC video industry revenues will grow at a CAGR of 2.6 percent between 2023-28 to reach US$165 billion by 2028 or at a CAGR of 3.3 percent ex-China to US$95 billion. The APAC online video sector is projected to grow at 6.7 percent CAGR to reach US$78.5 billion in value by 2028 or at 9.2percent percen CAGR to US$46 billion in APAC ex-China.
Advertising contributed 51 percent to online video revenues in 2023. Advertising’s contribution is projected to grow to 54 percent by 2028 and to 63 percent in APAC ex-China (vs 58 percent in 2023).
The six largest revenue generating video industry markets by 2028 as per the report, will be China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia; and Indonesia, with all contributing an aggregate more than 90 percent to the Asia Pacific total. The fastest growing markets over 2023-28 in terms of percentage CAGR will be Indonesia (7.3 percent), Philippines (6.2 percent), India (5.6 percent), Vietnam (4.6 percent) and Thailand (4.2 percent).
“The Asia Pacific video industry continues to experience a secular shift from TV to online in terms of engagement and monetization. Improved connectivity, rising connected TV (CTV) penetration combined with the growth of local creator economies, investment in premium local content as well as the wide availability of premium sports streaming, will continue to drive dollars and eyeballs online,” said MPA managing and executive director Vivek Couto.
Clear beneficiaries in the digital video economy include global and local technology and media companies investing in product and content with consumers at the forefront of their strategies. According to MPA, 8 companies had an aggregate 65 percent share of the APAC online video revenue pie in 2023: Amazon Prime Video, ByteDance (including TikTok), Disney, Google-owned YouTube, iQIYI, Meta (video), Netflix and Tencent. Ex-China, certain local players are competing successfully and have scale potential, including Jio Cinema and Zee-Sony in India.
Foxtel’s Kayo and Nine’s SVOD and BVOD platforms in Australia; TVer and U-Next in Japan; Tving in Korea; Vidio in Indonesia; and Viu across Southeast Asia.
According to the report, new investments made by strategics and private equity in the online video sector in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia are helping local and regional companies compete. The online video sector is also starting to rationalise with price increases in the SVOD category along with disciplined content and marketing investment, the introduction of ad tiers, new strategies to drive monetisation and the start of local market consolidation in Korea, Japan and India.
Amidst the shift to online and the growth of CTV, traditional linear TV is under pressure with a number of territories not expected to see a meaningful return of TV ad dollars. Local broadcasters are capitalising through premium AVOD and in certain cases, SVOD, most notably in Australia, India, Indonesia and Japan.
“Pay-TV subscription revenue has yet to be significantly disrupted by the growth of SVOD outside of markets such as Australia. However, historically strong markets such as India and Korea are under pressure while Malaysia, the strongest pay- TV market in Southeast Asia, is experiencing a deeper contraction across the traditional pay- TV segment, partially offset by the growth of bundled broadband and IPTV. In Indonesia and Thailand, the online VOD opportunity is increasingly more attractive than pay-TV,” said the report.