Indian Entertainment’s Potential

Jamie Crick, Managing Director, APAC , 05.19.25

05.19.25 Jamie Crick, Managing Director, APAC

India's entertainment industry sits at a critical crossroads, with massive audience potential but unrealized revenue opportunities that require data-driven approaches to unlock billions in value.

The Untapped Potential of India's Entertainment Market

India boasts 551 million OTT viewers, yet this enormous audience generates a fraction of the revenue of the content industry of a country like South Korea, a $13 billion export powerhouse that comes from a population less than 5% of India's.

This disconnect represents billions in unrealized value. Our analysis identifies three critical gaps that could position India's entertainment industry for exponential growth.

Critical Insights from Audience Data

The most revealing disconnect is between audience preferences and content production priorities. While comedy captures nearly 30% of audience preference on Indian OTT platforms, it represents just 10% of production slates. Instead, dramas, crime shows, and thrillers dominate new releases, accounting for 60% of premium content.

Other significant findings include:

  • Indian audiences strongly prefer local Indian content, with increasing consumption of content across different Indian languages
  • Connected TV viewership is surging, suggesting a shift toward shared viewing experiences due to to TVs’ typical living room positioning.
  • A significant digital divide persists between urban and rural India, with urban areas having much higher digital connectivity.
  • Premium digital subscriptions remain heavily concentrated in urban households.
  • 92% of all online video minutes in India are spent on YouTube rather than premium OTT platforms

These statistics reveal substantial untapped opportunities in genre diversity, family-friendly content, rural market expansion, and bridging the gap between free and premium content consumption.

The Global Opportunity

Recent successes like "RRR" (73 million viewing hours on Netflix globally) demonstrate that Indian content can achieve international recognition when it delivers authentic cultural elements with universal emotional experiences and high production quality.

The economics are compelling: Premium series cost approximately $5-7 million or more per episode in the US but can be produced significantly cheaper in India at comparable quality. As global entertainment budgets tighten, India's combination of cost efficiency and creative talent presents a strategic advantage.

India also has an underutilized asset in its 35-million-strong global diaspora—typically more affluent than domestic audiences and influential in their local markets.

Technology Integration as a Competitive Advantage

While AI adoption is accelerating globally in media production, many Indian studios are still in early stages of implementation. This represents a missed opportunity, especially considering AI is projected to boost productivity in India's media sector by 15-20% by 2030.

Advanced production technologies like virtual production could reduce costs by 30% while increasing creative control. India has demonstrated world-class technical capabilities that could be applied more systematically across content production.

Allied Global Marketing's Strategic Approach

  1. Aligns content portfolios with actual audience preferences rather than perceived prestige factors
  2. Identifies optimal strategies for both domestic and international success
  3. Develops tailored market approaches using proven partnership models
  4. Integrates technology to enhance efficiency while optimizing costs

Our experts analyze audience data, market trends, and competitive positioning to develop comprehensive strategies that maximize both creative impact and commercial potential. We help clients identify efficient pathways to reach target audiences while positioning content for optimal success.

By addressing these critical gaps, India's entertainment industry could potentially grow from $2.1 billion to $15+ billion by 2030—becoming a truly influential global entertainment player with significant export success.

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