Blog: india

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

YouTube is winning emerging markets by being social – and format-flexible

Cover image for YouTube is winning emerging markets by being social – and format-flexible

Hanna Kahlert

5 Mar 2025

Audience Insight

Cultural trends

In English-speaking markets (and much of Europe), entertainment consumption is split across a large number of digital platforms, segmented largely by content format, rights access, and legacy uptake. It is also fragmented across devices: smart TVs, smartphones, laptops, and consoles all play big roles in their respective niches.

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Warner’s acquisition of DIVO showcases its focus on growing authentic local music cultures

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Srishti Das

17 Feb 2023

A year ago, Warner Music Group (WMG) acquired a South African independent distribution company, Africori , which focused on distributing local scenes from Africa. Now, it has acquired a majority stake in DIVO, an Indian distribution and digital music company focused on South Indian music.

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“First day, first show” – Premium video on demand’s potential in India

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Srishti Das

26 Jul 2021

India is home to one of the world’s largest and most successful film industries. However, 2020 was rife with economic setbacks across the entertainment industry due to the pandemic. The film industry was expected to perform poorly as lockdown measures restricted the operations of movie theatres.

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When women don’t make music: The sunset of Indian Folk

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Hanna Kahlert

29 Mar 2021

indian folk music

MIDiA recently released a study on the experiences of women in the music industry ( free to download here ), discussing both the broad-level challenges they face – but also pointing to the positives, the opportunities, and the methods that are working and can work to build a better industry of the future.

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Streaming censorship: The threat to India’s growing importance in the global marketplace

Cover image for Streaming censorship: The threat to India’s growing importance in the global marketplace

Srishti Das

12 Mar 2021

Video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar have been fortunate to experience minimum restrictions on content from Indian regulators as they established themselves. However, this is all now changing.

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Reach over revenue: India’s lesson for developed sports markets

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Srishti Das

26 Feb 2021

India is growing as a sporting nation, with athletes performing across different international sports outside of cricket like kabaddi, motorsports, basketball, chess and so on. The majority of media consumption in India’s sports industry, however, comes from the Indian Premier League (IPL).

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Developers versus distributors: The App and Play Stores see challenge on the horizon

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Hanna Kahlert

7 Oct 2020

Six months ago, Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store were the unquestioned gateways between app developers and consumer devices. Today, the unshakeable foundations of the fortress walls are, well, shaken.

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Welcome to the world of digital autarky

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Tim Mulligan

8 Jul 2020

2020 has thus far proved to be a year of unexpected disruption across business and the geo-political landscape as the international order adapts to the global pandemics and rising nationalism.The post second world war international framework which has brought unprecedented prosperity and stability to the world is now starting to fray.

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Is Cricket the New ‘Greatest Show on Turf’?

Alistair Taylor

19 Jun 2019

21st Century Fox

addressable audience

Even before the St. Louis (now LA) Rams were setting records in the NFL during the 1999-2001 seasons, earning the nickname ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’, the Super Bowl was viewed as an unrivalled opportunity to advertise brands, products, and movie trailers to the masses that tune in (or increasingly stream) to watch the showpiece for the world’s most valuable league .

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10 Trends That Will Reshape the Music Industry

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Mark Mulligan

3 Apr 2019

The IFPI has reported that global recorded music revenues have hit $19.1 billion, which means that MIDiA’sownestimatespublished in Marchwere within 1.6% of the actual results . This revenue growth story is strong and sustained but the market itself is undergoing dramatic change.

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Why India Matters to Spotify, and Why it May Not Deliver

Mark Mulligan

28 Feb 2019

emerging markets

india streaming

Warner Music and Spotify have been involved in a rather unseemly and very public spat this week over Spotify’s India launch . I’ll leave for someone else, the discussions of the potential implications of a blanket license for songwriter rights in India for an on-demand streaming service.

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Facebook Becomes A Player In Indian Sports Rights

Tim Mulligan

17 Aug 2018

Despite the shock to Facebook’s growth narrative in the first half of 2018, the social media giant is not standing still in rolling out its global content strategy. First came the Cambridge Analytica data leaking scandal in April and then the unprecedented 20% plunge ($120 billion – equivalent to the loss of nearly four Spotifys) in its market cap in July, instigated by a decline in daily active users (DAUs) in Q2 2018.

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Emerging Music Markets: Streaming’s Third Wave

Cover image for Emerging Music Markets: Streaming’s Third Wave

Mark Mulligan

10 Aug 2018

emerging markets

MIDiA has just published a new report that deep dives into how streaming is, or in some cases is not, lifting off in emerging markets. The regions we focused on were Russia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, China and India.

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Just What Is Tencent Up To With Streaming?

Mark Mulligan

28 Feb 2018

Tencent is building a global streaming empire. Back in December 2017 Tencent Music did a 10% equity swap deal with Spotify and now it has led a $115 million investment round for India-based streaming service Gaana.

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Apple, Eros And The Billion Dollar Content Play

Tim Mulligan

8 Aug 2017

emerging markets

On August 7th the Economic Times ran a story on Apple’s perceived interest in acquiring the film and music catalogue of the Eros Group, which is the largest movie producer in India. Although not particularly well-known outside of India, the Eros Group is a content heavyweight in the Indian market, producing over 60 films a year.

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Facebook, India And The Video Download Test

Tim Mulligan

11 Jul 2016

emerging markets

Last week it was announced by Techcrunch that Facebook had emailed media partners informing them that it will be trialling the ability to download videos to be viewed offline on the Facebook app. The trial starts today for a test group of users and is limited to local mobile devices that are identified as being in India.

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