WAVES 2025 highlights: An institute for animation, film hubs in Navi Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh
The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) concluded on Sunday in Mumbai with a host of announcements of public-private partnerships, such as a national centre for animation and gaming, an entertainment hub in Andhra Pradesh and a film campus in Maharashtra. The sprawling event also saw several panel discussions, master classes and cultural events.
WAVES was held between May 1 and 4 at the Jio Convention Centre in Mumbai. According to an I&B ministry handout, WAVES boasted of at least 140 sessions featuring 100-plus speakers, 40 masterclasses and 55 sessions on broadcasting, digital media, streaming, artificial intelligence, music, news, live events, animation, gaming, virtual production, comics and filmmaking. The Buyer-Seller Market recorded over 3,000 B2B meetings, according to the handout.
Union I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the Indian Institute of Creative Technology dedicated to AVGC-XR (animation, visual effects, gaming, comics and extended reality). According to a press release, IICT will be located in Mumbai.
The institute will be built on a 10-acre land parcel leased by the Maharashtra government's Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation for 30 years at Film City in Goregaon. The Union Government has allotted a one-time budgetary grant of Rs 391.15 crore for infrastructure development and initial operations, according to a press note.
Godrej Fund Management and the Maharashtra government have inked a memorandum of understanding to set up a film and media campus at the corporate group's Godrej City township in Panvel in Navi Mumbai. Described as being close to the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, the campus aims to provide production facilities, post-production studios and ready-made locations for shoots.
The Andhra Pradesh government and the private company CreativeLand Asia have signed an MoU to set up a production hub called Creatorland. According to a press release, 'It is expected that Creatorland will attract investments between Rs 8,000-10,000 crore over 5-6 years that will go towards the creation of a virtual studio complex powered by AI-based real-time rendering and volumetric capture technologies, immersive theme parks, gaming zones, esports arenas, and global cinema co-production zones, Creatorland Academy for skilling youth in VFX, AI, gaming, and immersive storytelling.'
Several industry announcements were timed to be released during WAVES. Prime Video announced a collaboration with leading South Korean entertainment company CJ ENM to bring South Korean content in its original and dubbed versions to global viewers. The fantasy romance series Head Over Heels will be the first title under this partnership. Other upcoming titles are Her Private Life, Another Miss Oh and Mouse.
The free streaming service Amazon MX Player announced a new category for anime alongside 20-odd shows in the Korean, Mandarin and Turkish languages. The Amazon MX Player slate includes Fake It Till You Make It, Wenderella's Diary, Chrysalis, Fish Knows You, Gaus Electronics and Pride and Prejudice. Among the anime shows are Spy × Family, Demon Slayer, One Punch Man, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan committed a Rs 850 crore investment towards the Indian creator economy. Lisa Nandy, UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, announced a bilateral cultural federation agreement aimed at building ties across cinema, museums and the performing arts.
Among the other announcements was a collaboration between Film India Screen Collective and Screen Canterbury NZ from New Zealand to organise the first-ever Indian Film Festival in New Zealand. Only Much Louder CEO Tushar Kumar and Alexander Zharov, CEO of Russian firm Gazprom Media, are in talks to team up for organise cultural festivals and co-produce comedy and music shows in Russia and India.
The summit was addressed by Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries), Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Neal Mohan (YouTube), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe), Mark Read (WPP) and Adam Mosseri (Instagram), among others. The film celebrities who participated in conversations included Shah Rukh Khan, Allu Arjun, Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal, Nagarjuna, Shraddha Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar.
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During a conversation between Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos and actor Saif Ali Khan, Sarandos said, 'Our investments in India have generated over $2 billion in economic impact, post COVID.'
Several data-driven reports on the media and entertainment sectors were released at WAVES. According to Ernst & Young's A Studio Called India report, the Indian media and entertainment sector continued to grow in 2024, increasing by Rs 81 billion to reach Rs 2.5 trillion (US$29.4 billion).
The M&E sector contributes 0.73% to India's GDP. The report projects that the sector will grow 7.2% in 2025, reaching INR2.68 trillion (US$31.6 billion).
New media (digital media and online gaming) grew by Rs 113 billion (12%) and now accounts for 41% of the M&E sector's revenues. Revenues declines across traditional media (television, print, radio and music) by 3% or Rs 30 billion.
A report by the Motion Picture Association and Deloitte stated that the film, television and online video services industry in India generated a total economic contribution of USD 61.2 billion in 2024. The report projects a compound annual growth rate of 6-7% in the next four years.
The film market programme WAVES Bazaar saw the participation of such content buyers and sellers as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Meta, Disney Star, Zee Entertainment, Banijay Asia, Warner Bros Discovery, Sony LIV, YRF, Dharma, Jio Studios, Rotterdam Film Festival, and Rushlake Media. At the market screenings, 115 filmmakers presented completed works to international buyers, according to a press release.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the time amidst escalated tensions with Pakistan to inaugurate the event. Modi spoke of the 'Orange Economy in India' whose three pillars are 'Content, creativity and culture'.
Modi added, 'We are creating an environment where your ideas and imagination have value. Which gives birth to new dreams, and gives you the power to realise those dreams… I have full confidence in you, the content creators, and there is a reason for it. In the spirit of youth, in their working style, there are no barriers, no baggage or boundaries, that is why your creativity flows completely free, there is no hesitation, no reluctance in it.'
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