India to overtake China as largest SVOD market by 2030: Report

India is projected to overtake China to become the world’s largest market for subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) by 2030, with 358 million individual subscriptions, according to a new report by Media Partners Asia. However, the country’s overall premium video-on-demand revenue, including subscriptions and advertising, is expected to remain significantly smaller than that of other major Asian markets.

The report said India’s premium VOD revenue pie will still be 4.5 times smaller than China’s and 2.5 times smaller than Japan’s, despite strong subscriber growth.

The findings are part of Media Partners Asia’s Asia-Pacific Video & Broadband 2026 (AVB 2026), which forecasts that growth in the region’s screen economy will be increasingly driven by streaming platforms, social video and connected television (CTV), while traditional television continues to decline.

Between 2025 and 2030, premium video-on-demand services - including SVOD and branded or premium ad-supported VOD - are expected to add about $12.5 billion in incremental revenue across Asia-Pacific, taking the segment to $52 billion by the end of the decade. Over the same period, user-generated and social video revenues are projected to grow by $11.4 billion to $44.5 billion, making creator-led platforms the largest source of growth in the region’s screen economy.

Traditional television revenues, by contrast, are projected to fall by a cumulative $8.0 billion, reflecting ongoing declines in linear advertising and pay-TV subscriptions. China, Japan and India are expected to account for nearly 70% of that contraction.

Speaking on the findings, Vivek Couto, CEO and Executive Director of Media Partners Asia, noted that the value is shifting decisively toward streaming, social platforms and CTV-led monetisation. He said markets with scale, pricing power and strong local content ecosystems are likely to outperform.

Couto added that future winners will be defined not just by volume, but by the ability to monetise premium experiences anchored by sports, high-quality local programming and emerging formats such as micro-dramas, along with AI-enabled efficiencies across the content value chain.

The report projects Asia-Pacific screen industry revenues to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.8% between 2025 and 2030, crossing $196 billion.

Connected TV is identified as a key structural driver of this shift. India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia are expected to account for the largest CTV bases.

India, Japan and China are expected to lead incremental premium VOD growth, followed by Australia, South Korea and Indonesia. In India, growth is expected to remain largely volume-led, supported by expanding advertising-backed offerings, improving average revenue per user after 2026 and rapid CTV adoption.

The report also highlighted rising concentration in online video. The top 15 online video platforms accounted for 58% of total online video revenues in 2025, that included national platforms such as India’s JioHotstar among others.