Streaming overtakes TV in India’s content investment for first time: MPA

Online video accounted for 46% of India’s content investment in 2025, compared with 42% for television, as capital increasingly shifts towards streaming and film, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA).

Streaming has overtaken television in India’s content investment for the first time, marking a significant shift in the economics of the country’s video industry, according to a new report by Media Partners Asia.

Online video accounted for 46% of India’s content investment in 2025, compared with 42% for TV, the Asia Video Content Dynamics 2026 report said. The report covers television and online video consumption, theatrical performance, production economics and content investment across India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.


India accounted for about US$5 billion of the total video content investment across the seven markets in 2025, with India and Korea together representing roughly 80% of the regional total. Korea accounted for US$6.9 billion.

MPA estimates total video content investment across the seven markets at US$14.8 billion in 2025, rising to approximately US$15.1 billion in 2026 and US$15.4 billion by 2031. The report said the regional content investment pool is being “reallocated, not cut”, with virtually all incremental growth coming from streaming and film as television budgets decline.

Indian users streamed 420 billion hours of online video in 2025, highlighting the scale of demand for digital content. JioHotstar led India's premium VOD category with a 58% viewing share and more than 180 million paying subscribers, according to MPA.

Sports remains a key differentiator for streaming platforms. JioHotstar’s cricket-led model lifted connected-TV reach by 26% during IPL 2026, the report said.

Local films emerge as growth opportunity

Alongside streaming, local film is emerging as a major growth opportunity across Asia. India recorded a US$1.41 billion box office, according to MPA, while the report also highlighted strong growth in Vietnam and Indonesia.

Vietnam’s box office rose 20% to US$213 million in 2025, with local titles accounting for 69% of revenue. Indonesia’s box office grew 10.5% to US$325 million, with local films taking a 60% share.

MPA said the strong performance of local stories, combined with growing premium VOD engagement, points to sustained audience demand even as the economics of content production come under pressure.

TV faces pressure on monetisation

Across the seven markets, television still accounts for around 60% of total video content investment, while online video accounts for 30% and film 10%. However, MPA said viewing remains substantial while monetisation continues to weaken.

The report said several television industries continue to carry more legacy capacity than their advertising economics can support. Across the region, television budgets are declining even as streaming and film attract a greater share of incremental investment.

The production model is also shifting from volume towards sustainable economics. More selective commissioning by television and streaming platforms is putting pressure on production-fee models, while value is increasingly concentrating among integrated studios and producers with recurring demand, intellectual property ownership or diversified revenue streams.

Consolidation gathers pace

India and Korea are also moving furthest towards consolidation among the seven markets covered by MPA.

MPA said India has led the way through a definitive transaction, with potential for further M&A ahead, while Korea is looking to unlock value through the proposed TVING-Wavve combination. MPA said Southeast Asia has been slower to follow, although opportunities remain for collaboration and consolidation in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Stephen Laslocky, vice-president, MPA, said Asia’s video industries were not short of audiences or creative capability but lacked structures that could consistently convert those strengths into sustainable returns.

“As the margin for error narrows, management quality will become decisive,” Laslocky said, adding that companies that rationalise legacy costs through restructuring and adopt new technologies such as AI, collaborate where independent investment no longer makes sense, and protect differentiated content would increasingly outperform.

Myat Pan Phyu (May), analyst, MPA, said the viewership data showed that demand remained intact.

“Premium VOD engagement continues to grow across India, Korea and Southeast Asia, streaming now leads content investment in India, and local stories are winning at the box office from Hanoi to Jakarta and Mumbai,” she said.

“This is a story of reallocation rather than retreat as capital moves toward streaming and local film, where both audiences and returns are growing.”