Mumbai: Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionize the media and entertainment industry by automating tasks, personalizing content and enabling new and creative possibilities, so its use is also expected to make the industry more profitable. A report from consulting firm Ernst & Young on the media and entertainment (M&E) industry suggests that not only will AI help increase revenue by 10%, but it can also reduce production costs by 15%. The report was released in the first edition of Waves 2025, which ended in Mumbai on Sunday.
Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Congressional Issues Dr L Murugan has launched five major knowledge reports that provide a detailed perspective on India’s fast-growing M&E sector. The report aims to support data-backed policymaking and strengthen India’s position as a global creative leader.
The Ernst & Young Report, entitled “Studios Called India,” said the global M&E industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation driven by the proliferation of AI. “From content creation and curation to monetization and distribution, AI is becoming an integral part of how stories are told and consumed. In the medium term, AI shows that it can increase revenues for media and entertainment companies by 10% and reduce costs by 15%,” the analysis said.
The report observed that India, already a major powerhouse in content production and IT services, is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation. Its deep talent pool convergence, the rapidly maturing AI ecosystem, and proven capabilities of media production position it as a strategic node in the global AI-M&E value chain.
The report explained that adoption of AI across the media has evolved across two dimensions: technology maturity and use case preparation. The current landscape features several AI applications that are already operating at scale, while others are still in the exploratory or early development stages.
“Indian companies are leveraging Genai tools not only for creative purposes, but for campaign optimization, improving content performance and audience engagement. Key areas include content generation, post-production and VFX,” the report noted.
He added that AI has default technologies used for workflow rendering, deaging/reorganizing effects, rotoscopes and 2D-to-3D conversions. “The adoption of AI has allowed India posthouses to reduce their timelines for rendering and editing, especially short formats and episode content. Such automation has become a way of life as many platforms require rapid turnarounds in regional, language and mobile-first versions,” the report states.
The 124-page report further revealed that 89% of the Indian M&E companies surveyed have implemented Genai Pocs (proof of concept).
Furthermore, it noted that the OTT (above) platform has begun using AI to provide recommendations for hyper-target content based on local preferences, abundance, geotargeting and consumption patterns. “In terms of monetization, AI promotes dynamic (and customized) ad insertion and optimizes pricing strategies through real-time audience analysis,” and “AI is also used to perform predictive content. Persona and profile/appearance.”
India offers a cost advantage of 40-60% in animation and VFX services supported by a large, skilled workforce. The report also points out the growing international appeal of Indian storytelling, with up to 25% of views on Indian OTT content, which is currently derived from overseas audiences. “This phenomenon is not merely commerce, but represents a moment of cultural diplomacy in which Indian stories are building emotional and cultural connections across the continent.”
