Mumbai: India will lose its number one position in cinema to China which will overtake the South Asian major by 2020. India is currently the biggest cinema market in the world in terms of ticket sales. “China expected to be close to overtaking India as the biggest cinema market by 2020. In terms of admissions, India is currently the biggest cinema market in the world. It will remain so until the end of the forecast period, although China is expected to be close to overtaking it at that point,” said PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2016-20.
According to Forbes, annual theatrical revenue in China between 2001 and 2007 has increased at a 34 per cent compound annual rate; from 2008 to 2014 the pace quickened to 40 per cent per year. So far in 2015 China’s movie revenue has increased by 52 per cent over the same period last year.”
Compared to this, box office revenue in India stood at an estimated $1.64 billion in 2015 and will rise to $2.74 billion in 2020, at a CAGR growth of 10.9 per cent. Total ticket sales in India in 2015 were at an estimated 2.04 billion, and it is predicted to be at 2.80 billion in 2020, rising at a 6.6 per cent a year.
PwC suggests that India could increase the number of multiplexes further from the 11,200 screens in 2014 as multiplexes will provide better facilities, and should allow exhibitors to raise prices, within limits. India’s entertainment and media sector is expected to grow steadily at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3 per cent between 2016 and 2020. The report claims that the industry is expected to exceed $40 billion by 2020.
Given India’s overall growth in GDP and per capita income, said Frank D’Souza, partner & leader, Entertainment and Media, PwC India, “ it is not surprising that India is amongst the top 10 markets for growth in the sector. In India traditional media like newspaper and cinema has always shown strong growth, and PWC expects that it should get into the top 10 in the early part of the next decade.”
