THE GREAT EYEBALL CHASE

DIGITAL DETHRONES TV AS INDIA'S CONTENT CREATORS CHASE IP, SCALE, AND GLOBAL MARKETS.

-  AJITA SHASHIDHAR

India’s media and entertainment sector reached ₹2.5 lakh crore in size last year, registering a modest growth of 3.3%—a sharp decline from 8.8% seen in 2023. The slowdown was primarily driven by falling subscription revenues, a drop in outsourced animation and VFX work due to the Hollywood writers’ strike, and sluggishness in the Indian content market.

The good news, however, is that it is far from a doomsday situation—the past year has actually been a milestone of sorts with digital revenues surpassing television. According to the 2025 Ficci-EY media & entertainment report, digital contributed ₹80,200 crore to the revenues of the sector in 2024, while TV's 25-year-old monopoly ended with its contribution declining to ₹67,900 crore. Though the Sony-Zee merger fell through, the industry also saw one of the biggest-ever M&A deals, the $8.5 billion merger of Reliance Jio and Disney-Star.

Unlike Hollywood, where content creation companies are all-powerful, Indian content houses have traditionally been small mom-and-pop creative outfits riddled with governance issues. Unlike the West, where the balance of power rests with content companies who own the intellectual property (IP), most Indian content studios are commissioned shows either by broadcasters, or streaming platforms. In fact, Ronnie Screwvala-owned UTV was perhaps one of the few to receive corporate funding. It was acquired by The Walt Disney Company for ₹2,000 crore in 2013, with Disney eventually writing off the investment. A decade later, Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India, bought a 50% stake in Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions for ₹1,000 crore.