By Muhammad Asad Tahir Bhawana ISLAMABAD, April 28 (INP-WealthPK): The media in Pakistan – particularly Radio and TV – has experienced massive growth in the last two decades after broadcasting opened up for the private sector. The Pakistan Electronic Media and Regularity Authority (PEMRA) issued 122 satellite TV licenses and 4,088 cable TV licenses in February 2022, reports WealthPK. PEMRA has also issued licenses to 235 FM radio channels and 70 other licenses, including landing rights permissions, live TV, internet protocol, and direct to home (DTH). Moreover, over 700 newspapers are currently being published in the country. The average TV viewership is on the decline falling from 4.23 hours per day per viewer in FY2020 to 3.42 hours in FY2021. This is probably due to the increasing popularity of the digital media and social media, providing an easy access by mobile phones. The report of Pakistan Credit Agency Rating (PACRA) shows that the number of mobile cellular users in Pakistan has reached 189 million in 2022 compared to 184 million in 2021. This also includes 108 million 4G and 3g subscribers. The media earns most of its revenue from advertisements. The industry faced a negative growth of 14 percent from 2017 to 2020. Nevertheless, the government's business-friendly policies brought the industry on track again. In the fiscal year 2021, the advertisement revenue of media stood at PKR75.6 billion, an increase of 29 percent compared to the previous year when the revenue was PKR 58.6 billion. TV registered the highest growth in 2021 earning PKR34 billion followed by the digital, which earned PKR16.8 billion. So, in terms of percentage share in advertising revenue, TV contributed 45 percent, while the digital contributed 22 percent. Digital segment is the only type consistently growing, with a CAGR of 25 percent since FY2017. At the same time, other segments face a decline. The segment, which contributed 45 percent to the advertising share, noticed a decline falling from PKR42 billion in 2017 to PKR34 billion in 2021. Digital media also shows a rapid growth. YouTube contributed the most with 44 million Monthly Active Users (MAU) among the social media usage. Additionally, Facebook has 36 million, TikTok 24 million, Twitter and Instagram 4 million and 6 million respectively. However, Facebook is at the top in terms of revenue earnings, with PKR8.1 billion contributing 48 percent to the total digital advertising revenue. The media industry has more potential for expansion provided favourable policies are made by the government.