India’s online video market seen doubling to $9.17 bn by 2030; ads to drive 70% of growth

India’s online video and OTT landscape is undergoing a monumental shift, with total industry revenue projected to more than double from $4.31 billion in 2024 to a staggering $9.17 billion by 2030. While subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) continues to scale—heading toward a milestone of 357 million subscriptions—the true engine of this growth is digital advertising.

According to Media Partner Asia report, advertising-supported models (AVOD) are expected to account for over 70% of incremental growth by the end of the decade, driven by surging mobile broadband penetration and a high-volume, low-ARPU market. As major players like YouTube and JioHotstar scale their reach, the industry is moving decisively toward an ad-centric future, fundamentally redefining how digital content is monetized in one of the world’s most competitive digital video ecosystems.

The MPA report combines both subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) into a single, comparable framework, offering a clearer picture of how scale, reach and competitive power stack up across the full online video ecosystem. Using this approach, the report estimates India’s total online video industry revenue at about $9.17 billion, growing at a compound annual rate of roughly 12%.

The $9 Billion Ascent: India’s Digital Growth Story

India’s total online video industry is on a relentless upward trajectory, more than doubling from $4.31 billion in 2024 to a projected $9.17 billion by 2030. This growth follows a steady historical climb from just $1.44 billion in 2020, representing a decade of explosive digitization.

The SVOD (Subscription) segment crossed the $1 billion milestone in 2024 and is forecasted to nearly doubling to $2.68 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, the OTT Advertising (AVOD) market is moving even faster, jumping from $1.03 billion in 2020 to $3.25 billion in 2024, and eventually hitting $6.48 billion by 2030. This shifts the revenue mix significantly toward ad-supported models, which will account for over 70% of the total online video market by the end of the decade.

The scale of consumption is equally massive. Total SVOD subscriptions in India, which stood at 52.6 million in 2020, skyrocketed to 135.6 million in 2024 and will reach a staggering 357.4 million by 2030. This surge is supported by an increase in the number of SVOD Households, which will grew from 39.3 million in 2024 to reach 75.7 million by 2030, indicating that the average digital household will subscribe to multiple services simultaneously.

Underpinning this entire shift is the massive expansion of Digital Advertising, which is projected to grow from $11.1 billion in 2024 to nearly $22 billion by 2030, as advertisers aggressively move budgets from traditional media to online platforms.

The scale of subscription video-on-demand usage continues to deepen, driven by multi-platform consumption within households. India currently has over 357 million SVOD subscriptions, while the number of SVOD households stands at around 75.7 million. The disparity reflects widespread multi-platform adoption, with the average subscribing household paying for about 4.7 OTT services. Despite this growth in subscriptions, blended SVOD average revenue per user remains structurally low at around $0.5 per month, highlighting the market’s high-volume, low-ARPU characteristics.

Even with modest ARPUs, scale has pushed total SVOD revenues to nearly $2.7 billion, including direct subscription income as well as bundled and indirect revenues through telecom and device partnerships. At the platform level, Netflix has expanded to more than 24 million subscribers in India, with annual revenues approaching $690 million. Amazon Prime Video has crossed 32 million subscribers, generating revenues exceeding $500 million, aided significantly by bundling with Amazon’s e-commerce ecosystem.

Advertising the dominant growth engine

JioHotstar has emerged as the largest platform in India by reach, with subscriptions projected to exceed 225 million and revenues crossing $1.1 billion. Its growth has been driven by a combination of live sports, mass-market pricing and broad-based distribution. Regional and language-led platforms such as Zee5, Sony LIV and Sun NXT continue to add subscribers steadily, leveraging strong local content pipelines. YouTube Premium subscriptions are nearing 18 million, signalling a selective but growing willingness among Indian users to pay for ad-free viewing.

Advertising, however, remains the dominant growth engine across the online video ecosystem. According to the MPA report, advertising revenues across OTT and digital video platforms have climbed to about $6.5 billion and are growing at close to 12% annually, accounting for the largest share of online video monetisation.

YouTube continues to be the largest beneficiary of this trend, with advertising revenues rising from $575 million in 2020 to over $1.84 billion in 2024, and projected to cross $3.05 billion by 2030. Meta Platforms, across its video formats, recorded advertising revenues of around $747 million in 2024, with steady growth expected over the coming years.

JioHotstar has rapidly scaled its advertising business, generating approximately $345 million in ad revenues in 2024, with projections indicating this could exceed $1.6 billion by the end of the decade, supported by marquee sports properties and large-scale live events.

Amazon Prime Video has begun monetising advertising more meaningfully from 2024 onwards, with ad revenues estimated at $37 million that year and projected to rise to over $240 million by 2030 as its ad-supported offerings expand. Sony LIV and Zee5 continue to grow advertising revenues at a measured pace, supported by premium programming and strong regional reach.

Online video advertising alone now contributes more than $6.4 billion to India’s advertising market, outpacing television and print in incremental growth. Overall digital advertising in India has expanded to nearly $22 billion, reflecting advertisers’ growing preference for measurable, performance-driven platforms.

Rising connectivity continues to underpin this shift. Mobile broadband penetration has reached close to 69%, while fixed broadband penetration has crossed 20%, improving both viewing quality and advertiser confidence. Including subscriptions, advertising and theatrical revenues, India’s total screen industry revenue stands at about $15 billion, with digital video platforms accounting for an increasingly large share of consumption and monetisation.

The report indicates that India’s OTT market is increasingly being shaped by advertising-led scale and reach, with subscriptions playing a complementary role in strengthening platform economics within a high-volume, highly competitive digital ecosystem.