India's US$6.5 Billion Media Market Presents a Significant Opportunity for Foreign Investors

India's US$6.5 Billion Media Market Presents a Significant Opportunity for Foreign Investors

LONDON, September 27/PRNewswire/ -- A new study on the Indian media market by Heernet ventures
(www.heernet.com) highlights the size of the commercial opportunity and
identifies major areas for foreign investment.

A progressive economic reform agenda and a realisation that
the media industry needs significant investment has seen India initiate a
process of liberalising rules on foreign investment in media with rules in
print media only relaxed in 2003. The media industry is worth US$6.5 billion
(2004), and will experience double digit growth in adspend (radio: 22% annual
growth to 2009) and in subscription revenues (driven by DTH services) over
the medium term.

The scale of opportunity is enormous. Indians visit the cinema
more often than the rest of Asia combined yet less than 2% of India's 12,000
cinemas are multiplexes. Television penetration is growing fast but is still
less than 60% and sectors such as radio are still in their infancy.
Advertising spend per capita in India is a third of the level in China and
close to 2% the level in Europe.

In publishing, early investors have included Independent News
and Media (26% stake in the newspaper Dainik Jagran), the Financial Times
(14% stake in the Business Standard newspaper) and the BBC (50% stake in a
magazines' joint venture with the Times of India).

Television has attracted the most investment to date and
foreign companies have been active since the early 1990s with Star TV and
Sony now firmly established as leading broadcasters. Reuters has recently
acquired a 26% stake in a news television joint venture. Other sectors are
also attracting investment (Clear Channel in outdoor advertising and Monster
in the online market).

Researched on the ground in India, the study assesses the
investment climate across broadcast, print and online media. Key sections
include: market size and structure; growth forecasts; regulatory environment;
overview of foreign investments including government rules on investment;
descriptions of major players and analysis of all segments of the media
industry (television, radio, filmed entertainment, outdoor advertising,
consumer magazines, directories, business publishing, newspapers, internet
and marketing services).

Heernet Ventures is a leading corporate research and advisory
company focused on the global media industry; it works with clients on
identifying and realising investment opportunities in the media industry.

Further details at: www.heernet.com

Source: Heernet Ventures Ltd

Harjinder Singh-Heer, Managing director, Heernet Ventures limited, Contact details: Telephone: +44-(0)798-0614738, Email: harjinder@heernet.com

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