Call it the Jio effect, or any other name. Online video consumption in India has shown a growth of nearly five times over the last 12 months, according to a recently released report by OTT major Hotstar. Importantly, 96 percent of all usage being focused on long form video that's longer than 20 minutes in duration.
The study reports that these recent developments mark an inflexion point in India where the early years of online video were characterised by short form consumption from users deeply fearful of data charges. The last 12 months have also seen access to data and consumption of video go deeper into inner India.
The report shared that growth in smaller cities, less than 10 lakh in population, outstripped that in the large metros. And, while the gender gap in access to data persists, affordability is opening up new opportunities for women, with women in smaller cities coming online faster than in the metros.
Indian consumers threw up many surprising insights. Many Indian consumers were beating their Monday morning blues by actually watching the Game of Thrones at US timings.
People in the North were watching southern films and in the cities of Kerala more people watched the Hindi drama series Ishqbaaaz compared to their local television fare Vanambadi.
Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar said, “A new generation of users are emerging in India who take for granted round the clock access to the best stories; who know that they can watch the best shows from around the world at the same time as the world (and sometimes way ahead of most of the world); and who have the implicit faith that all breaking news will reach them without any effort on their part.”
See some key slides from the study here:
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