Robust digital infrastructure, strong content library and greater user engagement online supported a 24 per cent growth in Digital advertising. Digital subscription grew at 47 per cent though there was some resistance with OTT video players raising package prices and the income effects of a slowing economy.
TV witnessed a growth of 9 per cent in FY20 on account of higher subscription revenues triggered by the implementation of NTO 1.0, which resulted in transparency across the value chain and higher ARPUs due to implementation of a minimum NCF. However, advertising growth in FY20 was tepid.
The year remained unfavourable for Print with a decline of 8 per cent in revenues, primarily due to advertisement spend slowing down. English papers were particularly affected compared to those catering to the Hindi and regional markets.
Hindi films’ box office collections remained stable while regional cinema underperformed as compared to previous years. Digital revenues grew as OTT platforms acquired titles to build their content libraries.
The OOH segment in FY20 witnessed a decline, due to a realignment of spends by advertisers.
Growth of OTT platforms, increased focus on animated Intellectual Property (IP) content and greater investments in VFX by studios proved beneficial but changes in YouTube advertising policies around kids’ content during FY20 had an adverse impact.
Online gaming grew by 45 per cent with the user base surpassing 365 million by March 2020. Real Money Games (RMG) – both card-based and fantasy – as well as casual gaming saw strong consumption uptake with in-app monetisation also starting to see growth.
A slowdown and lower spends by the central government led to a decline in FY20 revenues, while absence of a robust listenership measurement system continued to challenge players’ ability to grow the advertiser base.
Digital platforms have continued to contribute the largest share to the music ecosystem in FY20, with public performance being the second largest contributor to the segment revenues.