
As people prepare to fly to Ahmedabad and Mumbai for Coldplay’s concerts—or scramble to sell their tickets—it’s amazing to see how much the live music and events scene in India has evolved. From the underground EDM festivals of the 2000s and the chaos of Metallica’s infamous show in the early 2010s to the sold-out India-wide tours of artists like Diljit Dosanjh and Coldplay, it’s clear that India is eager for big experiences. This trend isn’t unique to India; with the “revenge offline economy,” easier access to credit, and rising incomes (at least for the affluent), it was only a matter of time.
As America moved into the post financial crisis era of 2008, along came millennials and their love for experiences. Some of this shift can certainly be attributed with the trauma of watching their / their families’ live savings being evaporated overnight and the associated fear of financial instability. Americans started valuing products that offered emotional value over mere material possessions.
Americans shifted from seeking basic commodities to goods, then to services, and ultimately to experiences. As incomes and wealth grew, households began craving more premium and unique offerings. This trend led companies to go beyond simply selling products or services, transforming the act of purchasing or using them into an immersive, memorable experience.
India’s premium economy is also facing similar tailwinds as the US did where the top 1% has seen their wealth and income grow tremendously over the last decade and led to people craving more. Two factors have amplified this trend: the fact that the country was essentially locked up for 2 years; and that Indians are lonelier than ever. Indians today seek connection and shared experiences, prioritizing going out, meeting others, and engaging in activities over simply purchasing goods and services.
Traveling & attending concerts has now become the national pastime (amongst affluent gen zers). 2024 / 2025 has seen the concerts ecosystem boom in India with several major Indian and Global artists holding nationwide tours - namely Diljit, Karan Aujla, Dua Lipa and Coldplay. That said, there’s still a lot of work to be done to improve the facilities and infrastructure for these events. Diljit went so far as to say that he wouldn’t perform another show in Chandigarh until they have better infrastructure to support live events
In their 1998 piece on the Experience Economy, Pine and Gilmore talked about 4 realms of an experience - entertainment, educational, esthetic and escapist across two different dimensions (active vs passive participation & absorption vs immersion) and how we might use them to design experiences.
India’s growing appetite for the experience economy opens up opportunities for businesses tailored to this demand. Traditionally, Indian experiences have leaned toward entertainment-driven activities like watching movies or attending concerts, where participation is largely passive. However, there’s potential for companies to explore experiences in educational and escapist realms—areas that are still relatively untapped in India but could appeal to the affluent class and resonate with Gen Z’s evolving preferences.
In the West, the experience economy has led to the birth of companies like Airbnb, which enables global travel and curated experiences; Topgolf, which combines golf with interactive games and socializing; and SoulCycle or Barry’s Bootcamp, offering pay-per-class fitness sessions. Similarly, concepts like Dave & Buster’s—which now has its first Indian outlet in Bangalore—bring arcade gaming and bowling into social settings. There’s also a wide range of creative and recreational experiences, from painting and pottery to mini-golf, go-karting, paintball, and newer fitness trends like pickleball, run clubs, and climbing. These models showcase the potential for innovative, experience-focused businesses in India, catering to a generation eager for more active and engaging pursuits.
In India, the live concert market is projected to surpass ₹1,000 crore this year, with the potential for annual private spending on concerts to reach ₹6,000–8,000 crore if infrastructure improves and audiences continue to invest in such events. Possibly fueling this, Zomato acquired Insider from Paytm last year for ₹2,048 Cr to build out District - its live events and movie booking product. The full impact from the acquisition and investments in District are yet to be seen but already Zomato’s going out business is its fastest growing vertical (albeit on a much smaller base).
The other large “experiences economy” that has picked up post the pandemic and continues to grow is travel. According to a report by McKinsey, first-time travelers (largely younger folks) are a fast growing pool and popular destinations include Vietnam, Thailand and the UAE. Spending by Indians overseas saw its peak in FY24 at $31.7 billion with over 50% of the amount spent on travel ($17 billion), a 25% increase from the previous year. Even within travel, consumers are now spending more on experiences while they travel as opposed to just flights + accommodation, as evident from where travel booking agencies have seen their revenue sources change.
Moreover while a large part of the travel spend, especially international, cannot be tapped into by startups there are several more experiential segments which are underserved in India and are interesting areas to expand in - religious travel and amusement parks. Religious travel in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.3% over the next decade and is likely to reach $4.6B in size by 2033 [Report]. The consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was a catalyzing moment, but a lot of this has also been driven by the investments in infrastructure (railways, roadways and airports) being made by the government. Amusement parks, on the other hand, have never been as culturally or economically important in the country and largely don’t leave families or kids with memorable experiences like Disneyland or Universal Studios might. But given the rise in consumption and spending amongst the affluent Gen Z consumers and with Millennials becoming parents in the 2020s, there might be opportunities for amusement parks built around domestic or international IPs to open in major Indian cities.
More on the participatory front and on a much smaller scale, we’ve started to see pickleball pick up in the metros as a popular recreational activity - with over 50,000 people having played a game; as well as run clubs becoming popular in cities like Delhi (Bhag Club with several hundred people running together every week), and hundreds of folks coming together to parks to read together in book clubs like Delhi (@delhireads) and Bangalore (@cubbonreads).
Ultimately any experience in India, with active or passive participation, that is fun and instagrammable will appeal to young affluent consumers. People want to go out, be social and have fun; but they also want to signal to their peers that they are doing these activities. A couple of different types of “instagrammable” experiences that really drove young folks out in the West were “made-for-instagram” museums and immersive art experiences - that has also made way in India.
I’m not sure if any of these activities will be large enough to create venture-fundable outcomes in the country or if any of these activities will also persist beyond a couple years in the country, but I predict there’s going to be a big resurgence of IRL things to do and activities in the coming decade and its an exciting time to be a young affluent urban consumer. Kids just want to be young, dumb and have fun so we should build more to enable them.
If you are working on things around the loneliness epidemic or the experience economy, we’d love to learn and chat!
Very interesting theme. A lot is happening, but limited discussion around it.
Here's how I think about the spectrum you spoke about:
There are two ends of engagement activity:
1. Experience the activity, not necessarily to meet folks - Live concerts, Sports events
2. Do the activity, potentially to meet folks - Pottery class, Walking tour, House parties etc.
The first one is supported by affluence, and interest in the better things in life.
The second one is driven by necessity due to loneliness and a need to bring excitement in the mundane.
Great take! Startups have scrambled to create presence in this space. Jamm is positioning itself as a tinder for recreational meet-ups: a board game night, a cook-off at home - anything! LUNBOX by Launchspace has been building gen-z focused for board games to make them "Instagrammable". Nostalgia plays a big role no doubt.