Women Consume More Online Content

On an average, a single user consumes 9.8 GB data per month, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Performance Indicators Report, April to June 2019.

A significant number of these users spent time just streaming content on Hotstar, according to the platform’s India Watch Report, which was released on Tuesday. While data consumption per user is highest in States like West Bengal and Bihar, it is lowest in Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim.

Varun Narang, executive vice-president and chief product officer, Hotstar, said, “The accelerated growth of the Indian video entertainment ecosystem has had an unprecedented impact on the consumer. The Indian consumer has moved beyond metro cities, and isn’t limited by gender or language. More importantly, this growing accessibility has opened doors to new thoughts and ideas that are shaping a stereotype-defying consumer.”

Total consumption this year has increased thrice as much with twice the amount of time spent per viewer, as compared to 2018. Some of the key findings in evolving online content patterns indicate that entertainment and news is more popular that sports. In fact, 65% of news is watched by people between 15 and 34 years of age. Delhi leads the country’s interest in news while, Lucknow and Patna are ahead of Mumbai too.

In terms of gender demographics, thrice as many women watched cricket as compared to 2018. As per Hotstar’s data, women form 45% of their total consumer base. Video consumption by women in Maharashtra and Odisha is 5.5 times more than that of last year. Surprisingly, the interest in family and mythological shows is at a par between men and women.

As for regional audiences, non-metros are more interested in entertainment than before. Mumbai, the city that never sleeps, is not the last to go to bed every night. On the other hand, Kochi and Gurugram stay up more for entertainment till almost 3 a.m. More than 40% of video consumption came from regional content.

One of the most popular lures of the streaming platform is sports. Hotstar recorded more than 300 millions viewers during the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League, 1.5 times the number from 2018. Numbers crossed 100 million in a single day; multiple times during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.

The report cemented an already known fact that online video content is mushrooming in the country. The access to several streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video with new entrants like Apple TV+, will only increase consumption. – The Hindu