NEW DELHI: 2020 was a breakthrough year for over the top (OTT) streaming platforms. India’s online video industry generated an estimated $1.4 billion in revenue in the year, with advertising contributing 64 per cent and subscription 36 per cent, said Media Partners Asia (MPA) in its ‘India Online Video and Broadband Distribution’ report.

India is currently the fastest growing OTT market. According to MPA, the country's overall online video market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 26 per cent over 2020-25 to reach $4.5 billion.

There are around 60 platforms operating in the Indian OTT landscape. However, YouTube (43 per cent), Disney+ Hotstar (16 per cent), Netflix (14 per cent), Amazon Prime Video (seven per cent) remained the top five platforms which accounted for a combined 80 per cent share of total revenues in 2020.

“Subscription based online video services benefited significantly in 2020 as the country went into the lockdown. Key players are investing in premium local content while leveraging sports, movie rights and aggressive consumer pricing to drive subscriber adoption. The subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) market will remain competitive as Disney+ Hotstar scales its direct subscription business while Netflix and Amazon Prime Video deepen partnerships with mobile and fixed broadband operators. These three platforms accounted for almost 80 per cent of the SVoD revenues in 2020,” said MPA India vice president Mihir Shah.

YouTube remains the market leader in AVoD, accounting for 67 per cent of total online video advertising in 2020. But, its market share is expected to decline to 55 per cent by 2025 as domestic broadcaster-backed platforms and short form user-generated content (UGC) video players expand their presence. “Local premium content and sports rights will help broadcaster-backed platforms gain share. Increased reach and engagement with rural millennials will improve monetisation for short-form video platforms,” added Shah.

According to its projections, the SVoD market could reach $1.9 billion by 2025, a 30 per cent CAGR from 2020.

Online video advertising reached an estimated $909 million in 2020, a marginal decline of two per cent y-o-y as reduced demand has forced advertisers to recalibrate advertising budgets. The AVoD segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 24 per cent over the next five years to reach $2.6 billion by 2025.

India OTT content investment reached $700 million in 2020 as both domestic and global platforms are investing in the country’s burgeoning SVoD opportunity. The budgets for originals and local acquisitions continue to trend upwards. As a result, the OTT content costs are projected to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent in the next five years to reach $1.6 billion, said the report.

The 4G revolution drove the country’s mobile broadband penetration to 43 per cent as of December 2019. With commercial rollout of 5G expected to begin in 2021, India’s mobile broadband penetration is forecast to grow steadily to 66 per cent by 2025. India's fixed broadband market remains under-penetrated at merely six per cent of households, but fresh investments by private telecom players have renewed the market. According to MPA, the country's fixed broadband market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent between 2020 and 2025 to reach 45 million subscribers with more than 82 per cent of subscribers through fiber.

With the infrastructure upgrades, consumers are identifying new uses for the expanded broadband capacity including work from home, education from home, video conferencing, as well as online video streaming.

Alliances and partnerships are emerging which facilitate the sale of VOD and data bundling packages. Jio has collaborated with all leading platforms, while Airtel has tied-up with Amazon Prime Video and Zee5 for its fixed broadband offering.