As per FICCI-EY report, video OTT subscription revenue is projected to grow at 24% CAGR and may overtake TV broadcast in subscription revenue collection by 2024 Video OTT subscription revenue is projected to grow at 24% CAGR to reach Rs 10,069 crore by 2024 as paid subscriptions might grow to over 110 million in these two years, rivalling or exceeding the current share broadcasters earn from subscription sales, the FICCI-EY report 'Tuning into Consumer' has predicted. The report also projected that video OTT subscribing households will grow from 40 million in 2021 to 60 million by 2024.   Video subscription revenues grew 27% in 2021 to Rs 5400 crore, which is around 50% of broadcasters’ share of TV subscription revenues, the report has stated. Paid video subscriptions had crossed 50 million for the first time in 2020 and further scaled up to 80 million in 2021, across almost 40 million households in India.   Further, audio subscriptions are expected to cross 7 million by that time, as subscription sharing gains scale. Audio subscriptions grew 49% in 2021 (albeit on a much smaller base) as paying consumers reached around three million. Meanwhile, news subscription reached around Rs 90 crore due to increased marketing focus by BCCL, HT Media, The Hindu, The Ken and moneycontrol.com amongst others. The percentage of paying subscribers to total OTT consumers remained less than 10% and 2% for video and audio respectively. "We expect digital subscriptions to grow at a CAGR of 24% till 2024," the report said. It also noted that newspaper digital products will increasingly go behind paywalls, and we expect news and related products to generate subscription revenues of Rs 200 crore by 2024. According to the report, 40 million Indian households paid for 80 million OTT video subscriptions in 2021. Actual OTT video users / audience could be estimated at 120 – 160 million individuals as subscriptions were shared amongst family and with friends. Further, the report states that the sharing economy will see the emergence of group subscription products across families, friends, neighbours, colleges and corporates. The report adds that syndication opportunities will increase as telcos have started to increase data prices and will need to offer more content to justify the same. E-commerce apps will provide a significant opportunity to license news, library and interactive content onto their platforms to increase reach and visitations. The report estimates that the digital segment will grow to Rs 53,700 crore by 2024, at a 21% CAGR. It added that this amount excludes SME and long-tail advertising estimates. As per the report, digital advertising overtook television in 2021 on an aggregate basis to become the largest contributor to Indian advertising; it will continue to grow at a 20% CAGR, to reach Rs 43,000 crore by 2024. SME and long-tail advertising, which is not included in the above figure, will grow from Rs 11,700 crore in 2021 to Rs 20,000 crore by 2024 on the back of growth in SME advertiser base, access to national and global markets, continued fall in CPMs, etc. E-commerce advertising is expected to reach Rs 1000 crore by 2025 as e-commerce players like Amazon, Flipkart, Jio Platforms, Tata, Zomato and others growth their reach and active users. Significantly, the report points out that the Cost Per Thousand (CPT) will emerge as the common metric for cross-media measurement and the M&E sector will need to provide models to measure it. Furthermore, the report states that the metrics that matter will change from Monthly Active User (MAU) to Daily Active User (DAU) and from audience numbers to engagement, loyalty and time spent, leading to platforms focusing on segmented audiences with deep engagement and community ownership. More advertisers will implement ad fraud management solutions and validate ad spend efficiency as digital becomes a larger portion of their media mix, it has noted. The report also highlights that the demand for original content will increase from 2,500 hours in 2021 to over 4,000 hours by 2024. The share of other languages will increase to 54% of total content produced as regional OTTs flourish and scale on the back of dubbing and subtitling; this could also lead to increased costs for regional content production. As production costs keep increasing, the report expects to see the mix of high, medium, and low budget content getting skewed towards medium and low cost production, as well as more IP co-ownership and sharing deals. On the other hand, virtual production techniques and other technologies will gain adoption to keep costs in control, as will the use of a wider pool of talent. Sports, the report says, will play an increasingly important role in growing subscription revenues and this could lead to a growth in valuation of digital media rights and even rights getting more fragmented between platforms.