It may be a contradicting trend when compared with the global trends of connected devices occupying the Live Sports viewing space as the audiences are shifting away from the appointment viewing culture. The latest TV vsOTT Comparative Analysisconducted by the data analysis agency Chrome DM has revealed that Big Screen (Television) is the most preferred Medium for watching Sports/Live Events in India and particularly IPL 10 sports event.
The study revealed that around 72% respondents prefer watching IPL 10 only on Television against a paltry 9% preferred to watch the eveny online while the remaining 20% voted in favour of watching IPL in both the mediums. The study also revealed that 74% in Urban are watching IPL (in which 62% said yes while 12% were watching it sometimes only).
The main reson behing 70% of people preferring TV as a medium was due to the experience of watching the event in “Big Screen”. On the otherhand 35% of the people found “Group Viewing” as a reson while 15% sited hebitual watching TV. 10% had limited internet pack to acess the content online and 5% were enyoing it due to HD experience on TV.
IPL on Hotstar:
Only 68% of the respondents are aware about the IPL matches were being streamed live on Hotstar out of which only 43% of the respondents have watched IPL on Hotstar and only 11% of the respondents watch IPL matches only on Hotstar.
Reason to choose Hotstar:
The study also revealed that 35% of the respondents choose Hotstar to watch the IPL 10 matches because of their hectic routine that restricted them from accessing TV. 22% of the respondents were watching on Hotstar as they didn’t have a TV. 19% happened to be the habitual consumers of IPL through Hotstar. 12% reasoned that their families were watching other programs on TV that forced them to go Digital. 7% were watching it for the sake of accessing highlights only and 4% were siting mobility as the reason for accessing Hotstar.
Why audience switch from TV to OTT?
The analysis also revealed the reason behind audience switching from TV to OTT platforms. Flexible access especially during traveling is the main reason for people switching from TV to OTT with 80% of the people siting it as the cause of the switch. 47% were watching it as they were in office, 35% found powercut as the reason, 20% were due to family domination over TV sets for watching other programs, 18% switch was for the purpose of watching highlights and only 5% were habitual viewers of Hotstar.
The comparitive analysis conducted by Chrome DM has gendersplit of 72% male and 28% female with 26% of the respondents falling under the age of 15 to 20 years, 36% were under 20 to 30 years, 22% of them are under 30 to 40 years and 16% of them were above the age of 40 years.
Our take on Hotstar app download figures vs views choice:
Hotstar has recently claimed that the cumulative downloads of Hotstar has crossed more than 200 million downloads since launch.The service also announced recently that it has emerged as the primary screen for VIVO IPL 2017 in India’s top cities, those with more than a million in population.
In a newspaper announcement last week, Hotstar revealed massive growth in viewership over the previous year, including a 5 times increase in watch time and a 12 times increase in concurrent viewership on the platform.
However, when we compare the claims of Hotstar in terms of growing number of downloads with findings of TV vs OTT Comparative Analysis by Chrome DM it gives an impression that all that gets downloaded as not being used / watched. Moreover, with just 9% of the audience preferring to watch IPL 10 matches through online or connected devices against 72% choosing TV, Hotstar and other OTT platforms still need to go a long way to claim supremacy over Television in Sports Broadcasting Space.
