The media industry in India is a formidable force and unparalleled in the world. By a few records, the industry is growing faster even than the country’s economy. After the economic reforms in the 1990s, the media industry boomed and grew exponentially to be where it is today.
According to the 2018 data released by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Indian Media recorded a cumulative growth of 13 per cent in 2017 to reach USD 22.54Billion (INR 1.50 trillion) and it expects the sector to cross a volume of USD 30.06 billion (INR 2 trillion) by 2020 at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.6 per cent, which is faster than the country’s GDP growth.
The growth of this industry is being attributed to several factors, but primarily to the growing privatisation and increasing control by large corporations. Since the economy opened up three decades ago, there has been a gradual corporatisation of the media industry in India.
Understanding the market dynamics
As per the India Brand Equity Foundation’s (IBEF) latest report on India’s media and entertainment (M&E) industry, it is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.24 per cent between 2019-20 and 2021-22 to reach USD 25.56 billion by 2021-22 due to acceleration of digital adoption among users across geographies.
The television, print and digital and OTT platforms stood at Rs 778 billion (USD 10.66 billion), Rs 306 billion (USD 4.19 billion) and Rs 218 billion (USD 2.99 billion), respectively in FY20. These mediums are projected to reach Rs 769 billion (USD 10.53 billion), Rs 296 billion (USD 4.05 billion) and Rs 338 billion (USD 4.63 billion), respectively, by Financial Year 2022.
In FY20, the Indian digital segment grew by 35 per cent due to upsurge in paid subscriber base across all OTT platforms. In 2020, India’s television market size was Rs 778 billion (USD 10.66 billion) and is estimated to reach Rs 769 billion (USD 10.53 billion) by 2022. TV broadcasters witnessed a growth of 13 per cent in FY20 to reach annual revenues worth Rs 420 billion (USD 5.75 billion).
Additionally, the share of the subscription revenues in the overall revenue of broadcasters rose from 32.4 per cent in FY19 to 37.7 per cent in FY20.
Industry forecasts for the Indian market seem positive according to the Media and Entertainment Outlook 2020 that says India is ‘likely to emerge as the world’s sixth-largest OTT (over-the-top) streaming market by 2024.’
The market is expected to post a CAGR of 28.6 per cent over the next four years to generate revenue worth USD 2.9 billion.
Big market controlled by a few
The sheer size and expanse of the media industry with all its components – print, radio, television, digital and social media – is a force to reckon with. In India, there were over 1,18,239 publications registered with the Registrar of Newspapers (RNI), including over 36,000 weekly magazines too as of 31 March 2018.
According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, there are over 880 satellite television channels in India, of which 380 claim to be television channels broadcasting ‘news and current affairs.’ Ministry information also reveals that there are more than 550 FM radio stations in India. And, the number of news websites and portals simply cannot be accounted for.
The generation and production of content as well as its distribution and publication have gradually, over decades, passed on to the hands of a few in India. According to the findings of research project called Media Ownership Monitor (MOM), ‘58 media outlets enjoy the largest audience shares in India.’ In the print media market, that happens to be extremely concentrated, four major media houses capture 76.45 per cent of the readership share i.e. three out of four readers in the Hindi language market. The media houses include Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran and Hindustan.
The market for vernacular or regional language media is big and expanding. A Google report estimated that Indian (vernacular) language internet users had surpassed English language users by about 201 million. Google expected the number of Indian (vernacular) language internet users to reach 536 million by 2021 at a CAGR of 18 per cent, compared to just 3 per centfor English content consumers.
The findings of the study revealed that in each of the vernacular market segment, ‘the respective top two newspapers concentrate more than half of readership shares or more.’
Few families controlling media
In India, most of the media houses are owned by a few proprietors, big corporations or large conglomerates. In most instances, these groups are still controlled by the founding families that have simply diversified investments over time.
The First Press Commission of 1954 had then expressed concerns over the ownership concentration and the Second Press Commissionthat submitted its report in 1982, advocated the free functioning of the press.
Many such corporate groups, according to the study by Media Ownership Monitor India, ‘promote the content property in one sector through another sector while the audiences remain the same.’ So, Femina Miss India contest gets publicity and coverage through The Times Group’s several electronic and print media entities such as The Times of India, Times Now and Zoom TV. Also, the India Today Conclave is promoted and televised through Aaj Tak, TV Today, etc.
According to some industry players, this kind of cross-sharing has altered some basic principles of journalism and has compromised the integrity of media in several ways.
Is private ownership good for media?
With the increasing control of a select few entities over a large share of the media industry, the professional has taken a backseat giving way to the harbingers of the business model. Mumbai-based media professional Nandita Joshi says, “Over the last few decades, the media industry has seen a big shift in how it operates especially in media organisations owned by big corporate groups. Editors often lose their key journalistic role to that of being a manager and it’s the CEO or the owner that make journalistic decisions too. It has affected the industry in a bad way.”
Apart from print media, even in television and radio, several private players have stepped in since liberalisation. In the radio sector, the state-controlled broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) – the largest radio network in the world – has a nationwide monopoly on radio news. Private broadcasters who run FM radio stations are prohibited from producing news. They have the license to provide music and entertainment content only.
Foreign media industry not too different
The phenomenon of majority ownership of media houses in the hands of a few and powerful is not unique to India. It’s no secret that only four companies namely Walt Disney, Comcast, Time Warner Holdings and 21st Century Fox/NewsCorp supply 90 per cent of the media content worldwide.
The trend is visible beyond the entertainment sector and in the news arena too. Australia-born American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, through his company News Corp, is the owner of hundreds of local, national and international newspapers, publishing outlets, television broadcasting channelsand production houses around the world. This includes The Wall Street Journal, The Sun, Fox News, book publisher HarperCollins, etc.
So, during the Gulf War, his publications played a crucial role in developing public opinion as ‘all of the 150 newspapers of his NewsCorp supported the American invasion of Iraq.’