Advertisers need credible evidence of returns on media investments: Gaurav Banerjee

India’s media & entertainment industry needs a fundamental reset of its business models, with greater emphasis on intellectual property creation, sustainable returns, talent development and responsible use of artificial intelligence, Gaurav Banerjee, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Pictures Networks India, said at the CII Big Picture Summit.

Addressing industry stakeholders at the summit, Banerjee said India’s large audience, expanding digital reach and creative talent had not automatically translated into commensurate economic value for the industry. He called for broadcasters, streaming platforms, filmmakers, producers, advertisers, technology companies, investors and policymakers to work together to develop a more sustainable and globally competitive media and entertainment ecosystem.

“Economic and business models are under stress and they require a fundamental rewrite,” Banerjee said, adding that the industry’s ability to navigate this transition would determine whether it entered a phase of sustained growth or continued to struggle with existing models.

The challenge, he said, was not simply to reach more consumers but to generate greater value from that reach.

India has an enormous and increasingly aspirational audience, a young population and a diversity of stories and cultures. However, Banerjee questioned whether the country’s scale in content production had translated into a position among the world’s most valuable creative industries.

“For the longest time, we have made more movies than any other market in the world, including the United States of America. But are we the most valuable creative industry, are we in the top three?” he asked.

He said the industry needed to move beyond measuring success through audience reach, individual releases or isolated hits and instead build businesses capable of generating long-term value.

From audience reach to sustainable economics

Banerjee said audiences did not think in terms of television, streaming, digital video or social media. They chose content based on what they wanted to watch, what moved them and what they considered worth their time.

The industry’s responsibility was to earn that choice repeatedly, he said, arguing that improvements in technology, distribution and marketing could create awareness but could not substitute for compelling storytelling and a deeper understanding of audiences.

Referring to the success of Indian animation and the film Hanuman Ansh, Banerjee said the industry should not rely on occasional blockbusters or exceptional hits to drive growth.

“Can we figure out together how to make this repeatable, how to make this a solid consistently growing business?” he said.

He pointed to the Indian Premier League (IPL) as an example of how systematic talent identification, scouting, coaching and development could create a stronger and more consistent product. The entertainment industry, he said, needed to develop similar mechanisms to identify and nurture storytellers, writers and creative talent.

Banerjee called for more structured talent discovery and development programmes, supported by companies, industry bodies and policymakers. He said the industry could learn from cricket’s ability to identify players and develop their capabilities through organised systems rather than relying on individual breakthroughs.

Building intellectual property beyond individual releases

A central part of Banerjee’s argument was the need for Indian entertainment companies to create intellectual property that generates value across multiple platforms, markets and generations.

India has produced films, television programmes, characters, formats and franchises that have become part of its cultural memory. However, companies need to do more to capture the full commercial value of these creations, he said.

A successful story should have the potential to travel across television, streaming, cinema, digital platforms, live experiences, licensing and other formats. Similarly, an idea developed in one Indian language should be able to find audiences in other languages and international markets.

Banerjee said the industry needed to move away from evaluating creative success solely through the performance of a single release or distribution window and instead build franchises that could generate revenue over several years or even decades.

He cited the longevity of established international franchises as an indication of the potential value of intellectual property when developed and managed over time.

Achieving this would require greater investment in the development process, including stronger writing rooms, research-led storytelling and partnerships that allow Indian intellectual property to travel globally.

The industry also needs to establish economics that encourage sustained creative investment, he said. Creators must be rewarded fairly, intellectual property rights respected and those taking creative and financial risks given sufficient confidence to reinvest.

“This isn't a lottery, it's a repeatable, predictable, sustainable business if you get the detailing and the process right,” Banerjee said.

His remarks come amid a broader industry debate over how content companies can improve monetisation and generate more durable returns as audiences increasingly consume entertainment across multiple platforms.

Calls for better measurement and advertiser confidence

Banerjee also highlighted the need to evolve audience measurement and monetisation systems as viewing shifts across television, streaming and digital platforms.

He said viewers needed content worth paying for, advertisers needed credible evidence that their investments were reaching the right audiences and delivering results, and investors needed confidence that creative ambitions could translate into sustainable long-term returns.

“As audiences move across screens, our measurement and monetization systems also need to evolve with them,” he said.

The industry, he added, needed a more coherent understanding of reach, engagement and outcomes across platforms, alongside stronger evidence that advertisers were receiving fair value for their investments.

Banerjee said this was an area where companies could make substantial progress by working collectively rather than treating it as an issue for individual businesses to solve independently.

AI must enable creativity, not replace it

On artificial intelligence, Banerjee said the technology was already changing how entertainment was developed, produced, localised, marketed and distributed. However, he cautioned against treating AI primarily as a means of reducing production costs.

“AI cannot and should not be used to just reduce costs thoughtlessly and AI must never be used to replace the voice of the creative,” he said.

Instead, he argued, AI should support better content discovery, deeper research and stronger development processes, enabling creative professionals to improve their work rather than replacing their contribution.

Banerjee called for a framework that protects creators while allowing innovation and investment, highlighting intellectual property and responsible AI as priorities for the industry.

He also urged the sector to explore the possibility of building an AI-enabled creative ecosystem in India, drawing on the country’s large technology workforce, creative talent and willingness to experiment.

Three priorities for the industry

Banerjee outlined three priorities for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the broader media and entertainment sector.

The first is to develop a forward-looking framework for intellectual property and responsible AI that safeguards creators while enabling innovation and investment. He said India should explore building an AI-enabled creative ecosystem.

The second is to strengthen talent development and skills for the next generation of entertainment, with educators, technology companies and creative businesses working together to widen access to opportunities and improve talent discovery.

The third is to work constructively with the government to establish a predictable policy environment for long-term investment. Policies, he said, should recognise the diversity of the media and entertainment industry while encouraging Indian businesses to build, innovate and compete globally.

Banerjee said these challenges could not be resolved by any single company or individual and required greater collaboration across the industry and government.

India has the ingredients to become one of the world’s most important entertainment markets and a more significant exporter of intellectual property, technology and creative capabilities, he said.

The opportunity, therefore, extends beyond serving the domestic market to building Indian businesses, franchises and talent that can create value internationally.

Achieving this will require ambition, experimentation, financial discipline and a willingness to reconsider established ways of working, Banerjee said, while keeping audiences at the centre of business decisions.

If India can combine its creative diversity and scale with stronger intellectual property, smarter technology and sustainable economics, the country can build a media and entertainment industry that is not merely larger but substantially more valuable, he said.