Here’s how Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are gearing up to compete against each other and what this means for the industry

• Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are the top two richest men in the country with large conglomerates that have sheer dominance in several sectors.
• Adani’s latest move to enter the media industry makes it a strong competitor for Ambani who is already trying to gain dominance in the field.
• Adani’s new subsidiary will carry out media related business including publishing, advertising, broadcasting and distribution of content over several media networks.
• This also means that there will be an OTT war in the country with Netflix, Amazon, and RIL all set to double their investments in the space.

Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are the top two richest men in the country with large conglomerates that have dominance in several sectors. But the story does not end here, the competition to be on the top involves expansion, capital infusion, gaining market share and much more.

Head of Adani Group, Gautam Adani is the fifth richest person in the world with a net worth of $122 billion while Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani is eighth on the list with a net worth of $103 billion, as per Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of May 2.

While both the group companies have diversified businesses, Ambani already has a strong presence in media and now Adani has chosen to enter the media sector and steer competition with Ambani.

What is Adani getting into?

On April 27, Adani Group’s flagship company Adani Enterprises announced that it established a new media subsidiary -- AMG Media Networks. The new subsidiary will carry out media related business including publishing, advertising, broadcasting and distribution of content over several media networks.

AMG Media Networks will start its business operations in due course.

The port and energy conglomerate has six companies listed on exchanges and most of these company stocks have rallied in the past few weeks despite weak market conditions.
Investors have made fortunes by investing in Adani Group companies and billionaire Gautam Adani is getting closer to being on the top.

Successful business segments might be another reason for the Group’s foray into new space like media.

With broadcasting and distribution business under media, Adani is entering the space to become an emerging player besides Amazon, Netflix, Disney, RIL’s Viacom18, Sony, Zee Entertainment.

Last year, Sony and Zee Entertainment went ahead with the merger to create one of the largest entertainment networks in the country.

The Indian over-the-top (OTT) media industry is growing large day by day with an increasing number of audiences getting comfortable with watching movies, web series online.

Adding to it, Amazon, the American video streaming giant is doubling down its investment in content in India by addressing how the Indian market is extremely attractive.

“The Indian media has a strong tradition of industrialists owning and directly operating some of the oldest media outlets, Adani Group is now one of them. The future of media is continuing to turn to digital advances for entertainment, news, and business, which translates to major opportunities for businesses and such types of ventures always supports and justifies the establishment of a sustainable business,” said Ravi Singh, vice president and head of research at Share India.

How deep is Reliance Group into the media space?

RIL owns Network18, which runs 55 channels in India spanning news and entertainment, including 16 international channels.

Another point of exposure in the entertainment industry is through Viacom18, which is a joint venture between RIL and Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). Viacom18 owns and operates Colors TV channels and over-the-top (OTT) platform VOOT.

To get ahead in the field, last week Reliance and Viacom18 have entered into a strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree, a newly formed investment platform jointly owned by media baron James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, former Disney executive to create ‘one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India’.

Bodhi Tree Systems, along with a consortium of investors will make a strategic investment of ₹13,500 crore in Viacom 18. Additionally, RIL will make an additional investment of ₹1,645 crore in the venture.

Besides, the collaboration will also transfer RIL’s JioCinema, an OTT app to Viacom18. The development is expected to take RIL’s media business one step ahead of others.

The partnership happened the same day when Adani announced a new subsidiary venturing into the media business. So the show has begun and the time will decide who is bigger and better than the other.

SEE ALSO: The big boss of India's largest consumer company is worried about stagflation and unprecedented inflation
Top deals raised nearly half the capital raised in last quarter
EXPLAINED: Green hydrogen and India’s new policy around it