Online content consumption surged significantly during March last year due to lockdown: Report

Ahmedabad: Consumption of content on Indian over-the-top (OTT) platforms surged significantly during the lockdown month of March 2020 compared to the same period a year ago, according to a report.

Consumption of gaming, entertainment contents on streaming platforms, and usage of smartphones saw a significant rise, said the report published by MICA Ahmedabad in association with Ahmedabad-based start-up Communication Crafts on March 10.

It said gaming consumption increased to 63 billion minutes in March 2020 compared to 42 billion minutes in the same month a year ago.

The usage of smartphones during the COVID-19 pandemic period rose to 3 hours 54 minutes, compared with 3 hours 22 minutes in the pre-COVID-19 period, said the third edition of the Indian Over-the-Top (OTT) Platforms Report 2020.

The number of people connected digitally rose 19% to 5,677 million in March 2020, compared with 3,435 million in March 2019, showed the report that analysed data shared by Comscore, an American media measurement and analytics company. It also predicted the smartphone users in India to touch 925 million by 2023.

The report also stated that between April 2019 and March 2020, consumption of content on OTT platforms in India was the highest by men, especially in the age group of 15-24.

It also mentioned that Indians consumed 33% more porn during the lockdown, which is a 10.5% increase globally. While the audience is predominantly male, the share of women viewers also increased during the lockdown, it said.

Game application Ludo King’s user base went up from 3. 7 million to 9.5 million within the first 10 days of March 2020, crossing the download numbers of PUBG.  The report also found “comedy” to be the most preferred genre by Indians in 2020.

Also, MX Player emerged as the highest consumed platform after YouTube, with viewers consuming genres like crime, sex, religion, food, and other drama content. After MX player, people chose Hotstar, followed by two streaming giants (Netflix and Amazon Prime video) and Jio TV, revealed the study.

For all the OTT platforms, the consumption of content was the highest by men, with the number of male viewers for Netflix and Amazon Prime was almost double as compared with the total female viewers, it said.

The highest viewers belong to the 15-24 age group, and the least viewers belong to the 6-14 age bracket. Audiences from tier-II and III cities are influencing the growth of OTT in India, with the sector focusing on regional markets and stories with regional plots and content, said the study.