36% of global private investment in Metaverse is in interactive entertainment: CII–BCG Big Picture 2022 Report

As per the CII – BCG Big Picture 2022 Report, Metaverse is estimated to become a $10+ Bn opportunity by 2030.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have unveiled their flagship report on the Indian Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry, titled ‘Shaping the future of Indian M&E’. The launch was attended by senior industry leaders including Mr. K Madhavan, Mr. Biren Ghose, Mr. Neeraj Roy and Mr. Amit Khanna among other distinguished guests.

Commenting on the report, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, said, “This year’s report, put together by BCG with the help of CII M&E Committee, provides a current & future overview of the industry, sector wise trends and disruptions that will shape the future of the industry. The report will help businesses dictate strategy as well as influence competitive advantage and aide the government in framing measures to accelerate growth of the sector.”

The report highlights the Indian M&E industry is estimated to be valued at $27-29 Bn by the end of 2022 with 2/3^rd of growth in the last ~3 years coming from the digital subsegments. Indian M&E industry is expected to continue its unique multi-modal growth story in the future as it is poised to grow to $55–65Bn by 2030. 

The report further highlights multiple trends that are shaping the industry - increased preference for personalized choices, interactive two-way media and snackable content. “Today, consumers can access content across any device, with a strong preference for regionals and micro genres. M&E is increasingly catering to ‘ME’ or personalized choices. Digital video and gaming contribute to >40% of total media consumption in 2022. These formats enable the shift from a ‘mass’ to ‘individualized / ME’ experience.” elaborates Mandeep Kohli, Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group India. Further the report highlights increasing willingness to pay for premium/exclusive content. Subscriptions have grown 16x–17x over last five years to 85–90 Mn in 2022. The report also foresees SVoD becoming more prominent in the overall OTT revenue going forward.

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The CII BCG Big Picture 2022 Report also looks at the relative proportion of revenues coming from advertisement vs. consumer paid. The share of advertisement is now at 44% vs 37% in 2021. The report highlights that while advertisers are adopting diversified mediums; digital share grows to ~40% in 2022 from 37% LY with digital native advertisers gaining prominence. 

One of the major themes in this year’s report is the real opportunity unlock from the adoption of the Metaverse. “Metaverse is estimated to become a $10+ Bn opportunity by 2030. Currently, 36% of global private investment in Metaverse is in interactive entertainment. Metaverse’s interactive ability enables users to interact, socialize, and collaborate in virtual spaces. In times to come, Metaverse, with its interactive & immersive features, could become all pervasive as companies strive to ensure customer adoption-engagement-retention” shares Kanchan Samtani, Managing Director & Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group India.

Going forward, it will become critical for M&E companies to understand the imperatives that will help them seize opportunities in the Metaverse and harness its true potential for the industry. The report highlights five dimensions to unlock this potential – invest in technology & infrastructure, business model innovation, building a metaverse content production ecosystem, acceleration of consumer adoption and codification of regulation. Biren Ghose, Vice Chairman, CII National Committee on M&E and Country Head, Technicolor India said, “Story tellers and content creators will have to reinvent their formats towards greater interactivity and democratized mediums. Media companies need to proactively think through their architecture as they build towards the metaverse, we need to build systems today that are agile and fungible so that we don't have to fix it later”

K Madhavan, Country Manager & President, Disney Star, said “Over the past few years, specially during the COVID times M&E played a critical role in consumer’s lives and proved the resilience of the industry. The M&E industry has seen a good comeback and is one of the fastest growing industries in India. The M&E industry has evolved considerably and has seen rapid changes fueled by innovation across the media value chain and evolving consumer behaviors.” Setting the tone for the coming years, he said “M&E companies will need to keep up with emerging trends to fortify their position and be more important in consumer’s lives. As more M&E players invest in transformational ideas of the future, I am confident, the best is yet to come for the industry!”