India’s entertainment and media market to reach $36.7 billion by 2030: PwC
India’s entertainment and media market will grow from $25.7 billion in 2025 to $36.7 billion in 2030, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook. The 7.4% annual growth rate is nearly double the global pace of around 4%, with internet advertising, streaming video and gaming carrying most of the increase.
The projection comes from the India findings of PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2026-30, which charts consumer and advertising spending across 53 countries and territories. Worldwide, the firm expects the industry to reach $4.2 trillion in revenues by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%, with the expansion adding $600 billion in new revenues -- overwhelmingly through digital channels.
India follows the same pattern at nearly twice the speed. The bulk of the roughly $11 billion in new annual revenue PwC expects the country to add by 2030 sits in digital segments, as the market shifts its focus from building audiences to monetising them.
Advertising takes the lead
Internet advertising is the single biggest driver. In India, the segment is set to nearly double from $7.5 billion in 2025 to $14.3 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 13.9%. Globally, advertising spend passed the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 2025 and is heading for $1.4 trillion by the end of the decade.
PwC expects advertising to grow at 5.6% a year worldwide -- more than twice the pace of consumer spending, at 2.5% -- as AI-powered, real-time hyper-personalisation allows platforms to target audiences more precisely and command higher rates per thousand impressions.
"Advertising continues to remain a powerhouse driving the global entertainment and media industry’s revenues -- and it will play an increasingly greater role as AI-powered hyper-personalisation transforms engagement with end-users," said Bart Spiegel, Global Entertainment & Media Sector Leader at PwC.
Streaming’s next phase
Streaming video is the second engine. India’s OTT market is projected to grow from $2.2 billion in 2025 to $3.6 billion by 2030, a 10.2% compound annual rate -- well above the global figure of 6.1%, which is being held back by ‘subscription fatigue’ in mature markets.
As consumers resist paying for ever more subscriptions, advertising is doing more of the work. Ad-supported tiers currently account for 19.4% of global OTT revenues; by 2030, PwC expects that share to reach 22.6%.
In India, the report notes, competition is dominated by domestic platforms -- notably JioHotstar and Sun NXT -- built on local language content, Bollywood catalogues and cricket rights.
Gaming adds another growth layer
Video games and e-sports revenue is projected to increase from $1.5 billion in 2025 to $2.6 billion by 2030, at an 11.3% CAGR. As the market matures, in-game advertising, sponsorship-led e-sports and recurring revenue models are expected to play a greater role in converting engagement into sustainable revenue.
Live experiences and the offline pull
The Outlook’s other Indian example sits at the opposite end of the market. Bharat Mandapam, the New Delhi convention centre, hosted the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025, which drew around 1 million visitors and more than 1,500 exhibitors -- evidence, in PwC’s reading, that physical and digital entertainment are growing side by side in India.
Globally, spending on exhibiting at trade shows and experience-led business festivals is forecast to rise from $38 billion in 2025 to $44.6 billion by 2030. Live, shared experiences as a whole -- spanning cinema, live music, out-of-home advertising and trade shows -- will grow at 5.2% a year to $294 billion.
Traditional television is the mirror image: global revenues fell 2.7% in 2025 and are projected to keep declining at 1.1% a year through 2030. India again bucks the trend, with TV revenues edging up from $7.2 billion to $7.5 billion over the forecast period.
Who captures India’s new revenue will depend, in PwC’s analysis, on the scale to bundle content and services, and on proprietary audience data -- which the report describes as a key defensive moat as AI models become more ubiquitous.
"India has already demonstrated its ability to build audience scale," said Rajesh Sethi, Partner and Leader for Media, Entertainment, and Sports at PwC India. "The next phase is about converting that engagement into sustainable value."
