We’ve made an exciting announcement today, which I reproduce the text of below. I’m very excited about connecting the companies we work with and strategic partners in India. I think we are all aware of how important the emerging markets and especially the BRICS economies. I think India in particular has a lot to offer going forward and it is of course natural and quite straightforward for us to start building our overseas footprint there, where we already have a great many connections….Watch this space!
Ascension Media Group LLP, the creative industries and digital ventures firm, announces that it is opening an office in Mumbai, India.
The office, which is situated on Mumbai’s famous Marine Drive, is the first international office to be opened by the firm, which is also investigating opportunities to expand its footprint in other emerging markets.
According to a report on the Global Media and Entertainment Outlook by Price Waterhouse Coopers in July 2011, the Indian Media and Entertainment Industry is forecast to reach $31.7 billion by 2015, growing at 13% per annum from 2011-2015.
Ascension Media has appointed Parminder Vir OBE, Director of PVL Media and an award winning television and film producer with 25 years of experience in the industry, to lead this initiative.
Announcing the move, Ascension Media Group Founder and CEO, Sanjay Wadhwani said: “India is an enormously exciting market for us and the companies in the creative industries and digital media sectors that we work with. For example, there are more than 884 million mobile phone subscribers in India, nearly three times as many as in the United States. Most of these subscribers are using older 2G handsets, but smartphone adoption is gathering pace, particularly amongst the young, and it is through mobile that most Indians will access the internet. Younger smartphone users, those between 15 and 25 years old, spend on average nearly 2 hours a day on entertainment and browsing. Android is the leading platform due to choice and price of handsets, and on that platform more than 80% of users played a game in the last month – India is the fastest growing market for interactive entertainment and video games in the world.
India is a great place as she “gets” the creative industries, as evidenced by the worldwide export boom in Bollywood. There is also a significant amount of wealth in India looking for opportunities to invest overseas and we will help those investors to access attractive investment opportunities in the UK creative industries.”
Parminder Vir said:
“The emerging markets are vital export markets for the British creative industries. The new and growing opportunities for the creative industries cannot be ignored by companies seeking to expand internationally. The growth drivers are digital media, domestic demand, availability of finance and talent – making India an increasingly attractive market for the UK creative industries.
I have known Sanjay for many years and welcome Ascension Media Group’s ambition to be one of the leading players in the Indian Media and Entertainment Industry. We aim to help our businesses navigate the burgeoning Indian market, through our relationships with key partners in India, which is a key export market for British creative industries’ output. In addition we aim to be the bridge for inward investment from India into the UK creative industries”.
