India's US$6.5 Billion Media Market Presents a Significant Opportunity for Foreign Investors

India's US$6.5 Billion Media Market Presents a Significant Opportunity for Foreign Investors

LONDON, September 27/PRNewswire/ -- A new study on the Indian media market by Heernet ventures (www.heernet.com) highlights the size of the commercial opportunity and identifies major areas for foreign investment.

A progressive economic reform agenda and a realisation that the media industry needs significant investment has seen India initiate a process of liberalising rules on foreign investment in media with rules in print media only relaxed in 2003. The media industry is worth US$6.5 billion (2004), and will experience double digit growth in adspend (radio: 22% annual growth to 2009) and in subscription revenues (driven by DTH services) over the medium term.

The scale of opportunity is enormous. Indians visit the cinema more often than the rest of Asia combined yet less than 2% of India's 12,000 cinemas are multiplexes. Television penetration is growing fast but is still less than 60% and sectors such as radio are still in their infancy. Advertising spend per capita in India is a third of the level in China and close to 2% the level in Europe.

In publishing, early investors have included Independent News and Media (26% stake in the newspaper Dainik Jagran), the Financial Times (14% stake in the Business Standard newspaper) and the BBC (50% stake in a magazines' joint venture with the Times of India).

Television has attracted the most investment to date and foreign companies have been active since the early 1990s with Star TV and Sony now firmly established as leading broadcasters. Reuters has recently acquired a 26% stake in a news television joint venture. Other sectors are also attracting investment (Clear Channel in outdoor advertising and Monster in the online market).

Researched on the ground in India, the study assesses the investment climate across broadcast, print and online media. Key sections include: market size and structure; growth forecasts; regulatory environment; overview of foreign investments including government rules on investment; descriptions of major players and analysis of all segments of the media industry (television, radio, filmed entertainment, outdoor advertising, consumer magazines, directories, business publishing, newspapers, internet and marketing services).

Heernet Ventures is a leading corporate research and advisory company focused on the global media industry; it works with clients on identifying and realising investment opportunities in the media industry.

Further details at: www.heernet.com

Source: Heernet Ventures Ltd

Harjinder Singh-Heer, Managing director, Heernet Ventures limited, Contact details: Telephone: +44-(0)798-0614738, Email: harjinder@heernet.com

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