E-Paper
GCCs: The ‘smart factories’ of the M&E sector
This article is authored by Arindam Sen, GCC sector leader and Shiv Narain, GCC partner, Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunications, EY India.
India’s media sector has long been known for its creative depth and production scale. But in recent years, a quieter transformation has taken place—one that is reshaping how global media is produced, personalised and distributed. At the heart of this shift are media Global Capability Centres (GCCs): Specialised hubs that blend technology, creativity and operational excellence to support the world’s largest media brands.
Much like smart factories in manufacturing, media GCCs fuse AI, automation, creative production, and MarTech to power high-performance media operations. India, which is becoming the backbone of global media delivery, has over 50 active media GCCs across cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurugram.
Media and entertainment GCCs in India are an integral part of the country’s expansive GCC ecosystem, which generated $ 64.6 billion in export revenue in FY24 and is estimated to exceed $ 100 billion by 2030.
India produces around 200,000 hours of audio-visual content a year. The globally transferable nature of the creative tools and workflows makes Indian Media GCCs unique. This also means that India’s strong domestic M&E sector — valued at ₹2.5 trillion ($ 29.4 billion) in 2024 as per the FICCI-EY India M&E Sector report and projected to reach ₹3.1 trillion ($ 36.1 billion) by 2027 — serves as a talent engine for global media operations.
Much like smart factories revolutionised manufacturing, media GCCs are transforming media operations by merging technology with storytelling. Their capabilities include:
- Creative production and post-processing: High-end creative tasks, from AI-assisted storyboarding and background music to advanced CGI, animation, and VFX.
- Localisation and compliance management: As content travels globally, ensuring cultural and linguistic localisation while managing regulatory compliance, censorship codes, and certification requirements.
- Audience intelligence and campaign automation: Leveraging AI for audience segmentation, trend prediction, and real-time engagement analytics.
- Platform engineering and scaled delivery: Developing and operating OTT platforms, managing high-volume media workflows, and supporting live content delivery—especially for sports and news.
- Real-time media operations: Supporting dynamic media environments with cloud-based playout systems and AI-enhanced newsroom tools to enable rapid content turnaround and real-time decision-making by global media operations.
India’s advantage is its creative-tech talent ecosystem. As per a Nasscom 2025 report, the country has over 120,000 AI/ML professionals and a growing pool of media technologists, supported by leading AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) academies.
Media GCCs often manage first-look assets and unreleased content under strict governance protocols. Secure delivery environments and mature compliance frameworks, like ISO and SOC certifications, make India a trusted destination for handling sensitive media IP.
Media GCCs also benefit from a thriving startup ecosystem and increasing collaboration between corporates and innovation labs. Many run accelerator programmes to pilot and scale emerging technologies in areas like generative AI, immersive production, and real-time analytics.
This innovation drive is further supported by government initiatives such as the National AVGC-XR Mission, and a growing number of state-level GCC policies. For instance, Karnataka’s GCC Vision 2029 offers fiscal incentives and institutional support for content-tech innovation. Uttar Pradesh is promoting Centres of Excellence in fields like AI and cybersecurity.
Equally important is the trust infrastructure that underpins global media operations. India has made significant strides in copyright protection and anti-piracy enforcement over the past decade. Over the past decade, India has strengthened IP laws, adopted global best practices, and implemented robust compliance frameworks—such as ISO and SOC certifications. This has positioned India as a secure and reliable destination for handling sensitive media assets and unreleased content.
Several M&E global giants and marketing leaders have built high-performance Media GCCs in India. A London-based communications multinational operates one of the largest Media GCCs, employing over 11,000 professionals in Chennai, Mumbai and Gurugram. The hubs support global cloud-native and omni-channel marketing and campaign operations, media buying, AI-enabled creative automation and hyper-personalisation. Another global marketing leader started four media GCCs in India in 2024, with over 5,500 professionals for media strategy, data management platforms, commerce ecosystems, real-time analytics, creative operations and AI-powered campaign delivery.
Increasingly, middle-office functions are migrating to Indian media GCCs. These are not low-end, repetitive tasks but strategic, high-value operations that sit between front-end creative ideation and back-end execution such as media strategy, audience segmentation, campaign logic design, performance analytics, and content lifecycle governance. The evolution reflects growing trust in India’s ability to handle complex, IP-sensitive work and aligns with the broader trend of GCCs transforming into Centres of Excellence.
India’s leadership in media GCCs is strong, but emerging destinations like the Philippines, Malaysia, Brazil, and Mexico are investing in media-tech infrastructure and offering competitive cost structures. However, India’s English-speaking talent pool remains a major differentiator.
India also faces talent gaps in immersive production, generative AI and real-time analytics, though these are being addressed through education and skilling initiatives.
Infrastructure upgrades, especially in low latency streaming and ultra-fast connectivity, are underway to meet rising global demands. Regulatory complexity remains a challenge globally, but India’s proactive policy environment and compliance maturity provide a strong foundation.
As media GCCs evolve into digital foundries, their success will hinge on continued investment in talent, innovation, and IP protection. With strong startup collaboration, cultural fluency, and a deep understanding of global media dynamics, India is well-positioned to reimagine storytelling in the age of algorithms.
This article is authored by Arindam Sen, GCC sector leader and Shiv Narain, GCC partner, Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunications, EY India.
