India's video consumption grows five-fold: Hotstar
According to online video streaming platform Hotstar's first 'India Watch Report 2018,' the video consumption in India has increased by five times in the last 12 months. The digital and mobile entertainment company also said that nearly 96% of its users in the country, especially millennials, binge on long-format videos. Here is more on India's video consumption patterns.
Users from smaller cities outpaced growth in metro cities
Claiming that data consumption "has gone deeper" into the country, Hotstar said that the growth in smaller cities, which have a population of less than 10 lakh, has outpaced the growth in metro cities in the last one year. The report also noted that a gender gap in access to data did persist but affordability is making women from smaller cities come online faster.
A new user generation takes 24*7 video access for granted
"A new generation of users is emerging in India who takes 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," CEO Ajit Mohan said.
GoT and Hindi TV show viewers are not mutually exclusive
Interestingly, the report highlighted that consumption habits on the platform cut across traditional boundaries. While 26% of Game of Thrones viewers watched Hindi TV shows, 24% of Modern Family viewers also watched cricket. Hotstar was launched in February 2015 as India's version of Netflix. It currently boasts of over 1,00,000 hours of content in nine languages.
Reliance Jio responsible for reducing data rates in India
The growth in online video consumption can in part be credited to Reliance Jio's entry into the Indian telecom market. Its low pricing of data and the subsequent pricing war between top telecom service providers of the country has led to many new internet users.
