Number of OTT Originals in regional languages to go up by 50% this year: Sanjay Jaju

OTT platforms are growing significantly in various regional languages across India. Sanjay Jaju, Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, indicated this in his keynote address at India Digital Summit (IDS) 2024, in Mumbai.

He pointed out that there were over 60 OTT platforms in India out of which 30% OTT Originals were operating in regional languages. The number is expected to go up to 50 % this year.

Jaju also said that media and entertainment was a huge sector and played a pivotal role in the Indian economy.

“It's been growing phenomenally at a rate of 20 % and is approximately Rs 2 Lakh Crore. In that, the digital media segment is the second largest sub-segment, and has been showing a growth of approximately 30 % -- around Rs 60,000 Crores -- and the film segment has a 25 % growth rate,” he said.

Sharing data, he added that over 200 films were released on the digital platforms in the last year, including 75 films which were released directly on the digital platform without a theatrical release.

Regarding the growth of the digital gaming industry, Jaju said, “The online gaming industry has been growing by 34 % and animation and VFX have close to around 30% growth rate, expected to become a $2 billion industry by 2025.” 

Jaju also announced some new initiatives that the government is taking to provide a boost to the media and entertainment sector in India. These include the setting up of a National Centre of Excellence in Maharashtra to create world class media talent and an incentive scheme to attract international projects. He pointed out that this would help the industry undertake a lot of co-production treaties with multiple countries and create a number of audiovisual co-productions.

Vivek Malhotra, Group CMO & COO, Consumer Revenue, India Today Group, moderated the session.

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