Indian Media and Entertainment sector needs ARPU to be entertained !

The amazing things is that despite being estimated to grow to $17Bn in 2024, India’s M&E sector will lag Japan which is slated to be at $35 Bn. The key variable is Average Revenue Per User or ARPU. Despite enjoying one of the largest consumers bases (2nd only to China) , Indian media market needs to step up significantly on ARPU to step up and realise its potential.

1. Government needs to revisit the dynamics between Ad Revenue/Subscription Revenue/Fixed fees for cable operators . ARPU increase will be tough with the kind of channel pricing that exists for many categories including news

2. Video ARPU will be driven by aggressive pricing across Analog and Digital screens . Non Video ARPU will be driven by opening up of Tier III and IV cities as demand clusters which will drive targeted options such as Print, Outdoor and Radio to go up.

3. Targeted contact programs or outreach programs will grow for many niche categories and brands as well as geography specific initiatives . This is a big opportunity and almost no media houses today have significant muscle in this regard

4. Language based relevance driven offerings will be huge drivers of ARPU. Next wave of growth here will be driven by Bhojpuri/Odiya/Marwari/and various languages of North East India

5. AI will massively disrupt the media sector with video translation offerings ( Akool, WaveI , DeepL etc) as well as video editing. These will enable hyperlocalisation and personalisation at scale . Imagine if your favorite soap was dubbed differently for different states/genders/ethnicities thereby dialing up engagement and hence ARPU

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