About Thinking Hats Entertainment Solutions Limited

Thinking Hats has evolved from a premier concept development, event design and production company that specializes in live events, corporate, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions), social and virtual events to an OTT content production and experiential marketing company with a strong focus on content development, intellectual property curation and tech centric product development.

With more than a decade of experience in creating events and experiences, Thinking Hats is a team of visionaries who convert clients dreams into reality. Their creative and personalized approach executes every event with the utmost professionalism and provides their clients with dependable solutions and the finest attention to detail. Thinking Hats began its event management and retail visual merchandising since incorporation and has been offering event management services related to Corporates Events, Corporate Meetings, Conference Management, Brands and Product Launches, Lifestyle and Fashion Events, Exhibitions & Fairs, Entertainment Show Management, Pan-India Ground Activations and Artist Management among others in India. Their Event Management services are offered from Media, Retail, Financial, Food, Education, Healthcare and Technology industries. They also provide prominent display and retail visual merchandise with a broad spectrum of offerings and in-store solutions to various retail stores.

With exclusive content made for platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Sony Liv, MX Player, Disney+Hotstar, Voot, Zee5, etc. Realising the opportunity in OTT space and the expertise of management team, the Company has ventured into production of OTT contents in the year 2019. As a part of their storytelling expertise, Thinking Hats has produced two web series for OTT platforms i.e., “Aapkey Kamrey Me Koi Rehta Hai” and “Kathmandu Connection 2”, and one Bengali Movie “Onek Diner Pore”. Apart from movies and OTT web series, they also make short films for YouTube content and corporate event movies.

Their ‘Agility’ is showcased in their roster of varied and distinguished clients who range from leading corporate entities such as the Tata Group including Westside and Zudio, Goldman Sachs, McDonalds and Uber to media brands like The Times of India, HT Media, Network 18 Media & Investments, Radio Mirchi and Fever Entertainment, to name a few of several. Their ‘Game-awareness’ is best seen in the leap they have taken from being specialists in event management to developing expertise in the growing field of content creation for online streaming platforms, namely OTT. Their three projects streaming on Sony Liv, Zee5 and MX Player. They are also set to release soon three more exciting projects, out of which two web-series are under post-production phase presently titled ‘Tatkal’ and ‘Therapy Sherapy’. 

EVENT INDUSTRY
The India Events & Exhibition Market is Segmented by Type (B2B, B2C, Mixed/Hybrid), Revenue Stream (Exhibitor Fee, Sponsorship Fee, Entrance Fee, Services), End User (Consumer Goods and Retail, Automotive and Transportation, Industrial, Entertainment, Real Estate and Property, Hospitality, Healthcare, and Pharmaceutical). The Market Sizes and Forecasts are Provided in Terms of Value (USD) for all the Above Segments.

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY REPORT
The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is a sunrise sector for the economy and is making significant strides. The increasing availability of fast and cheap internet, rising incomes, and increasing purchases of consumer durables have significantly aided the industry. India’s media and entertainment industry are unique as compared to other markets. The industry is well known for its extremely high volumes and rising Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). 

This significantly aided the country’s industry and made India leading in terms of digital adoption and provided companies with uninterrupted rich data to understand their customers better. India has also experienced growing opportunities in the VFX sector as the focus shifted globally to India as a preferred content creator. 

Proving its resilience to the world, Indian M&E industry is on the cusp of a strong phase of growth, backed by rising consumer demand and improving advertising revenue. According to a FICCI-EY report, the advertising to GDP ratio is expected to reach 0.4% by 2025 from 0.38% in 2019.

The Indian Media & Entertainment (M&E) sector is set for substantial growth, with a projected 10.2% increase, reaching Rs. 2.55 trillion (US$ 30.8 billion) by 2024 and a 10% CAGR, hitting Rs. 3.08 trillion (US$ 37.2 billion) by 2026. Advertising revenue in India is projected to reach Rs. 330 billion (US$ 3.98 billion) by 2024. The share of traditional media (television, print, filmed entertainment, OOH, music, radio) stood at 57% of the media and entertainment sector revenues in 2023. 

The country's entertainment and media industry is expected to see a growth of 9.7% annually in revenues to reach US$ 73.6 billion by 2027. Revenue of the Indian video OTT market that is dominated by players such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Disney+ Hotstar is set to double from US$ 1.8 billion in 2022 to US$ 3.5 billion by 2027. 

The Indian media and entertainment sector posted a robust 19.9% growth in 2022 and crossed the Rs. 2 trillion (US$ 24 billion) mark in annual revenue for the first time led by a sharp jump in the digital advertising mop-up. 

In 2024, the projected revenue in the Digital Media market in India is expected to reach US$ 10.07 billion. It is expected to contribute 38% to the overall advertising industry in India, on par with television. 

The OTT segment is likely to grow at a remarkable CAGR of 14.1% to reach Rs. 21,032 crore (US$ 2.55 billion) in 2026. Subscription services, which accounted for 90.5% of revenue in 2021, are projected to account for 95% of revenue by 2026.

The AVGC sector is estimated to grow at ~9% to reach ~Rs. 3 lakh crore (US$ 43.93 billion) by 2024, stated Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Mr. Piyush Goyal. 

2023 recorded US$ 575 million in PE/VC investments in the media and entertainment sector, an 84% decline y-o-y. 

In Q3 of CY23, eight deals were recorded in the media and entertainment sector of India at US$ 269 million. FDI inflows in the information and broadcasting sector (including print media) stood at US$ 10.87 billion between April 2000- September 2023. 

Indian Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms have demonstrated significant growth in the global market, witnessing a 194% increase in revenue from international viewers over the last two years. 

The Indian OTT audience universe currently stands at 481.1 million people, of these, 138.2 million are active paid OTT subscriptions in India. 

India’s Direct-To-Home (DTH) Services market is expected to expand to US$ 7.59 billion in 2029 from US$ 6.48 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 2.8%. 

India’s SVOD subscriptions reached 130.2 million in 2022 compared to 110.5 million in 2021. 

As per GroupM’s TYNY report 2023, India was ranked 8th by global ad spend, and will continue as the fastest growing market among the top 10 ad markets in 2023. 

Advertising revenue in India is projected to reach Rs. 330 billion (US$ 3.98 billion) by 2024. 

Key growth drivers included rising demand for content among users and affordable subscription packages. 

India's media and entertainment industry is the fifth largest market globally and is growing at the rate of 20% annually, according to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Mr. Anurag Thakur. 

The Indian mobile gaming market is poised to reach US$ 7 billion, in value, by 2025. The online gaming segment grew 22% to become the fourth largest segment of the Indian M&E sector in 2023, displacing filmed entertainment.

The music industry is expected to reach US$ 445 million by 2026 from US$ 180 million in 2019. According to a study conducted by Kantar and VTION, an audience measurement and analytics company, Gaana, the streaming service owned by Times Internet Ltd., had 30% market share, followed by JioSaavn (24%), Wynk Music (15%), Spotify (15%), Google Play Music (10%), and others (6%) in 2020. 

The FICCI EY media and entertainment report 2023 said that in 2023, music streaming in India had an audience of approximately 185 million of which the paid subscriber base was just around 7.5 million. 

About 1 million music streams were played every 3 minutes in FY23, totalling 460 million streams per day, according to a report by RedSeer Strategy Consultants. Spotify led India’s music and audio streaming market in FY23 with a 26% share, as compared to just 11% share in FY20. 

Growth of the sector is attributable to the trend of platform such as YouTube that continues to offer recent and video content-linked music for free, which is expected to drive the paid OTT music sector reaching ~5 million end-users by 2023, generating revenue of ~Rs. 2 billion (US$ 27 million). 

By 2025, the number of connected smart televisions are expected to reach ~40-50 million. 30% of the content viewed on these screens will be gaming, social media, short video, and content items produced exclusively for this audience by television, print and radio brands. By 2025, ~600-650 million Indians, will consume short-form videos, with active users spending up to 55 to 60 minutes per day. 

OTT video services market (video-on-demand and live) in India is likely to post a CAGR of 29.52% to reach US$ 5.12 billion by FY26, driven by rapid developments in online platforms and increased demand for quality content among users.

Future of Streaming – OTT
India’s OTT market, sized at $2.5 billion (this includes YouTube), went through a major disruption in 2023, as Jio Cinema offered the most premium content—Indian Premier League—free to users. This negatively impacted subscription revenue growth for peers and the industry at large and led to Disney Plus offering cricket World Cup free for mobile customers. 

The OTT market in India is currently battling the dilemma between growth and profitability in a price-sensitive market. 2023 was a year of disruption for cricket content, as Jio Cinema used it to build a large customer base for itself. But expect some serious changes in the OTT landscape in 2024 as platforms now look to chase profitability. 

Since the advent of affordable 4G service and video OTT in India in 2017, none of the video streaming platforms have been able to reach break-even point, which could lead to some structural changes in this market.

THINKING HATS ENTERTAINMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS
1. Established brand name
2. Geographical presence
3. Well established relationship with their supplier
4. Strong in-house concept creation and designing expertise
5. Strong relationship with Broadcasters and Channels
6. Strong, cordial& long term relationship with their clients
7. Marque Clientele

THINKING HATS ENTERTAINMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED STRATEGIES
1. Strengthen their business by venturing into unchartered territories within India
2. Embracing new technologies
3. Developing a strong content library
4. Focusing on increasing process services & consistency in operating practices
5. Marketing Strategy
6. Growing their business with existing clients with quality and efficient services
7. Reduction of operational costs and achieving efficiency
8. Continue to maintain strong relation with existing suppliers
9. Creating a strong marketing and promotion strategy
10. To develop own IP

THINKING HATS ENTERTAINMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED RISK FACTORS & CONCERNS
1. They significantly rely on event management division for a significant amount of revenue.
2. They operate in limited geographies for a significant portion of their revenue and also depends on limited number of customers for their revenue from operations.
3. The business is dependent upon the taste and preferences of the audience.
4. The Company relies on OTT platforms, directors and script writers for their shows.
5. Their Retail visual Merchandising business derives a major portion of its revenue from leading brands.
6. Their Group Company, Varaa Exptech Private Limited may have conflict of interest with them as it is engaged in similar business.