Video Content Investment in India Surges by 24%; Streamer Battles Intensify

Lately, have you been feeling on how you see web series and presentations coming in from all corners to an extent where it almost seems too much? Of course, nothing is too much when you're spoilt for choices in terms of watching content, right? But that has been the case and that was put into numbers only recently.

According to reports, Video content budgets across India, Korea and Southeast Asia grew by 12 percent in 2018 to reach $10 billion, driven by the battle for streaming subscribers, according to a study by Media Partners Asia titled “Asia Video Content Dynamics.”

Total video content budget spending in India reached $3.6 billion in 2018, an increase of 24 percent over 2017. Laslocky said that "online video accounted for 14 percent of all video content spend in India last year, the highest proportion of all our surveyed markets."

The increased investment in India was largely driven by spending on sports rights given the popularity of cricket, particularly the Indian Premier League, which streams on Hotstar, part of Fox's Star India network and now owned by Disney.

When the IPL broadcast and digital rights came up for renewal in 2017, Star India outbid competitors including previous rights holder Sony Television, bagging the coveted property for a record $2.55 billion for five seasons.

"Compared with India, there is more balanced competition between TV majors in Korea, helping foster creative diversity," said the study explaining that Korea’s online video sector "is underweight, due to a thriving TVOD market that captures a large slice of audience time and spends." The study also pointed out that "Netflix is starting to drive growth in Korea’s online video sector however, with an eye on local, regional and global distribution."