Internet emerges biggest infotainment source

Online has become the new highway for Indians as growing concerns over coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown order restricted people at home, making smartphones, laptops and televisions only ways to access the outside world, including office.

According to data collated by various agencies and i-exchanges, internet has emerged as the biggest source for information and entertainment and also the medium to stay connected with extended family and the workplace.

Days into the 21-day lockdown, consumption through mobile phones shot up 30%, though this somewhat tempered down after content streaming companies were asked to downgrade their feed to standard definition (SD) from high definition (HD). Also, with shopping for electronics, clothes and other non-essential items coming to a standstill online, internet got a breather as surfing patterns changed.

Even before the lockdown, usage went through the roof for apps around communication and social media, entertainment streaming, video-on-demand, news, gaming and healthcare. The sudden surge has been unprecedented and something never seen before, says Ivo Ivanov, CEO of De-Cix International, one of the world’s biggest internet-exchange.

The De-Cix platform, whose clients in India include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Alibaba, Facebook and Netflix, recorded its highest ever internet traffic on March 22 (Janata Curfew day), when numbers crossed one tera-bit per second (TBPS). The average traffic over the past weeks has been hovering at around 600-700 giga-bit per second (GBPS). According to numbers collated by InMobi for the trends between March 19-22, social media, gaming and entertainment have become the biggest stress-busters for people who also work from home. There has been a 46% surge in usage of OTT (over-the-top) applications and also in TV consumption, while 35% subscribers have upped their browsing of news and other information, possibly to track developments around coronavirus.

Also, four in 10 smartphone users are spending more time on communication and social media apps, while equal numbers are sharing funny posts, memes and other such content with family and friends.

Raghav Anand, digital media leader at EY India, says that consumption of internet has been hovering at its peak. “It’s also the largest monthly spike in traffic that has ever been witnessed.” Quoting from a ComScore report (for March 16-22 period), Anand says with concerns around the virus, even healthcare and government has been a major source in boosting online traffic. Visits to the healthcare retail sites went up by146%, while websites and apps belonging to government saw a 39% increase in visits.

The post-corona period is also expected to see a boom in new-age technologies. “The physical retail will increasingly be supplemented and even replaced by the virtual. Adoption of AR/VR will skyrocket as companies would want an engaging, and realistic digital experience in sectors such as retail, automobiles and consumer,” says Vibhu Chinmay, technology head at virtual reality company Adam Bytes.

Rajan Mathews, DG of industry body COAI, says that telecom companies have written to municipalities to de-seal telecom towers (those had previously been ordered shut due to various litigations) to create more bandwidth. T R Dua, DG of telecom infrastructure body TAIPA, says their staff has been painstakingly maintaining operations of telecom towers to ensure that connectivity remains. “We have got curfew passes issued for a section of our frontline staff. It is a critical moment, and networks need to be maintained adequately,” Dua says.

―Times of India