MAM
India’s $14 billion interactive media boom: From micro-dramas to astro-apps
Micro-dramas, gaming, and niche apps are driving India’s interactive media boom.
MUMBAI: It seems India has decided that merely watching content is so last season; the sub-continent is now officially leaning forward, picking up the controller and clicking its way into a new era. While the rest of the world might be hitting the ‘snooze’ button, India’s interactive media market has surged to a staggering $13.8 billion in 2025, posting a robust 17 per cent year-on-year growth.
The secret sauce behind this digital boom isn’t just a love for entertainment; it is also the world’s most aggressive digital infrastructure. With data rates as low as $0.10 to $0.15 per GB and 877 million smartphone users, the barrier to entry has all but vanished. Add to that a UPI payment system that handles 85 per cent of all transaction volumes, scaling nearly six times to 228 billion transactions in 2025, and you have a frictionless ecosystem where discovery turns into a purchase in a heartbeat.
Video remains the heavyweight champion, valued at $5.4 billion and growing at 23 per cent. While traditional OTT platforms provide the foundation with $4.9 billion in revenue, the real “show-stopper” is the rise of micro-dramas. These bite-sized vertical stories, typically 30 seconds to 3 minutes, have exploded from virtually zero to a $300 million market almost overnight.
Despite their brevity, micro-dramas are proving that size doesn’t matter when it comes to engagement. Users now spend around 60 minutes a day on micro-dramas, nearly rivaling OTT’s 78 minutes. On the monetisation front, they command a $15 Annual Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU), proving that cliffhangers are a lucrative business model. Looking ahead, the segment is projected to skyrocket to $4.5 billion by 2030.
The gaming sector hit $1.5 billion in 2025, maintaining a 17 per cent CAGR despite a significant regulatory curveball. The PROG Act of 2025 effectively banned Real Money Gaming (RMG), causing a 9 per cent dip in the total gamer base to 555 million. However, the “hardcore” crowd stayed put, with weekly time spent averaging 8 hours and payer penetration holding steady at 25 per cent.
Gaming’s punch-above-its-weight status is undeniable. While it accounts for only 8 per cent of downloads among India’s top 25 apps, it generates a massive 36 per cent of the revenue. In-app purchases (IAP) in mid-core games are particularly potent, boasting a $15 ARPPU compared to just $3 for casual titles.
Perhaps the most uniquely Indian trend is the success of high-intent “lean-forward” platforms. Astro-devotion apps have emerged as surprise leaders in monetisation per user, achieving an annual ARPU of $8.4, outperforming even social media. Meanwhile, interactive learning platforms, powered by AI tutors and gamified micro-learning, have carved out a $2.4 ARPU niche, proving that users are willing to pay when content solves a specific problem.
Audio, the category “no one heard coming,” grew 29 per cent to $0.4 billion. Audio series, with their episodic hooks, now drive 31 minutes of daily engagement, significantly higher than music streaming.
India is also moving from “back office” to “front of house” in the $1.6 billion Animation & VFX sector. While 80 per cent of revenue still comes from international exports, domestic IP like Mahavatar Narsimha and The Legend of Hanuman is gaining ground. AI is the new co-director, compressing production timelines by 50 per cent and allowing studios to turn what used to be four weeks of work into just six hours.
With a market at the same inflection point that social media reached in 2010, India isn’t just following the global digital script; it is rewriting it. For investors and creators alike, the message is clear: the game has only just begun.
MAM
GUEST COLUMN: How data and adtech are driving OOH growth in India
Data and technology are reshaping OOH and boosting advertiser confidence.
MUMBAI: Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising is evolving from a traditional, location-driven medium into a data-informed channel that blends physical presence with digital intelligence. For Nipun Arora, co-founder of Osmo, this transformation is redefining how advertisers plan, execute, and measure campaigns in India. In this piece, Arora explores how traffic, mobility, and AI-powered data are enhancing site and audience insights, why DOOH is accelerating precision planning, and how authenticity, creativity, and repeat exposure are driving renewed advertiser confidence in OOH.
For years, Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising operated with minimal reliance on data. Site selection was largely driven by visibility, location, and a planner’s understanding of traffic patterns.
That is now changing rapidly.
The first shift came with traffic data, offering basic estimates of vehicular movement. This evolved into mobility data powered by GPS signals, enabling deeper insights into audience movement and behavior. Point-of-interest data further refined this by helping advertisers understand who is likely to be present around a location.
Today, artificial intelligence and computer vision are unlocking an entirely new layer of site and audience intelligence. Together, these data streams are transforming OOH from a real estate-led medium into a data-backed one.
The rise of Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) is accelerating this shift. Campaigns can now be planned, scheduled, and optimized with increasing precision bringing OOH closer to an adtech model. That said, as a physical medium, OOH still operates within real-world constraints, making this transition gradual rather than absolute.
At the same time, advertisers are returning to OOH with renewed interest.
One of the biggest drivers is authenticity. Unlike digital platforms, OOH offers real-world visibility free from bots, fraudulent impressions, or ad blockers. What you see is what exists.
There’s also growing digital fatigue. Consumers are overwhelmed by constant online advertising, often choosing to skip or ignore it. OOH, by contrast, engages audiences naturally within their environment, without interruption.
Mobility further strengthens its impact. As people move through cities daily, OOH benefits from repeated exposure building recall over time in a way few channels can match.
Add to this the power of creativity. Large formats and contextual executions don’t just capture attention, they often extend beyond the physical space, finding life on social media.
Finally, the increasing availability of data at the planning stage is boosting advertiser confidence. Better insights mean better decisions and more accountability.
As cities grow and movement increases, OOH is uniquely positioned at the intersection of physical presence and data intelligence. Its evolution from billboards to big data isn’t just a technological shift, it’s a redefinition of the medium itself.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
