Media and entertainment (M&E) sector grew to Rs 1.67 lakh crore in 2018, a growth of 13.4 per cent over 2017, says a recent report by EY and industry body FICCI. The report says that at the current trajectory, the sector is expected to cross Rs 2.35 lakh crore by 2021, at a CAGR of 11.6 per cent.

"The sector continues to grow at a rate faster than the GDP, reflecting the increasing disposable income and economic growth. While television retained its position as the largest segment, growth is expected to come from digital which will overtake filmed entertainment in 2019 and print by 2021," it said.

According to the report, approximately 25 lakh consumers in India today are digital-only and would not normally use traditional media; it expects that this customer base will grow to about 50 lakh by 2021.

Here are other key findings of the report:

• The TV industry grew from Rs 66,000 crore to Rs 74,000 crore in 2018, a growth of 12 per cent. TV advertising grew 14 per cent to Rs 30,500 crore while subscription grew 11 per cent to Rs 43,500 crore. Television viewing households increased to 1970 lakh, which is a 7.5 per cent increase over 2016.
• The year 2018 witnessed a 26 per cent growth in digital news consumers over 2017 when 2220 lakh people consumed news online. Page views grew 59 per cent over 2017 and average time spent increased by almost 100 per cent to 8 minutes per day in 2018.
• Print accounted for the second largest share of the Indian M&E sector, despite being static and growing at 0.7 per cent to reach Rs 30,550 crore in 2018. Advertising revenues stood at Rs 21,700 crore and subscription revenues grew marginally by 1.2 per cent to Rs 8830 crore in 2018. Newspaper advertising de-grew 1 per cent while magazine advertising fell 10 per cent.
• The Indian film segment grew 12.2 per cent in 2018 to reach Rs 17450 crore driven by the growth in digital/OTT rights and overseas theatricals. Domestic film revenues crossed Rs. 10,000 crore with Net Box Office collections for Hindi films at Rs 3250 crore - the highest ever for Hindi theatricals.
• Digital rights redefined the content consumption processes as the segment grew from Rs 850 crore to Rs 1350 crore. Online platforms invested heavily in exclusive film rights and a digital-only film market has emerged.
• In 2018, digital media grew 42 per cent to reach Rs 16,900 crore. Digital subscription reached Rs 1400 crore primarily due to telco bundling of content with their data plans to drive sales of data packs.
• The number of wireless subscribers grew from 116.7 crore in December 2017 to 117.1 crore in November 2018. This growth primarily came from rural subscribers who grew from 49.9 crore to 52.6 crore in the same period. Up to 60 per cent of video viewership volumes were generated by telcos and the amount spent by them on acquiring content for their subscribers was Rs 350-400 crore.