Mumbai: Releasing the first India Watch Report 2018, Hotstar, India’s leading premium streaming platform, today shared insights on the dramatic transformation sweeping the Internet landscape in India. In a first of its kind report for any streaming platform in the world, the service has disclosed usage patterns on its platform.
The big news? Nearly 5 times growth in video consumption in the last 12 months, with 96 percent of all usage being focused on long form video. This marks an inflexion point in India where the early years of online video were characterised by short form consumption from users deeply fearful of data charges.
The last 12 months have also seen access to data and consumption of video go deeper into inner India. The report shared that growth in smaller cities, less than 10 lakh in population, outstripped that in the large metros. And, while the gender gap in access to data persists, affordability is opening up new opportunities for women, with women in smaller cities coming online faster than in the metros.
Speaking about the report, Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar said, “A new generation of users are emerging in India who take 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 (and sometimes way ahead of most of the world); who do not worry about being forced to skip their team’s weekend football games because they are not at home in front of their television; and who have the implicit faith that all breaking news will reach them without any effort on their part.”
Other highlights from the report:
- Streaming video has hit critical momentum. The Champion’s Trophy Final 2017 on Hotstar hit 4.8 million simultaneous viewers, a record!
- Streaming habits have gone well beyond being ‘snacky’ time fillers. More and more users are treating the mobile as their first screen.
- Streamers don’t follow stereotypes. Data reveals that consumption habits cut across stereotypes and traditional boundaries. 26% of Game of Thrones viewers also watched Hindi TV shows; 24% of Modern Family viewers watched cricket; and 50% of watch time of Star Plus’s show YehRishta Kya Kehlata Hai, came from men.
- While cricket still rules the roost, other sports are sprouting well. VIVO IPL consumption grew nearly 7 times between 2016 and 2017. However, VIVO Pro Kabbadi and Premier League also grew nearly 10 times.
The report also reveals that Hotstar has crossed 1 billion minutes of watchtime in a single day, many times this year with Samsung being the most popular smartphone device for users across India that was followed by MI Xiomi.
An emerging trend of Mobile increasingly becoming the primary screen for viewers instead of TV had been noticed as Hotstar viewership reach percentage during live games such as the VIVO IPL 2017 Final mirrored with that of TV.
Users from small cities average as much data consumption as those in metro with Kerala, UP and Bihar leading in data consumption.
The largest share of watchtime, post-midnight, came from Mumbai. Truly the city that never sleeps as theyswitch off their devices at 2:00 am (in-fact Pune @2:35 am) while the country’s switch of time ranges between 12:30am to 3:00am.
Unsurprisingly, the nation’s most-watched genre is drama, and while West Bengal and Maharashtra can’t get enough of romance, Tamil Nadu and Delhi revel in comedy. However, Stereotype viewership pattern in TV rarely reflected on hotstar as majority of Men and Youngsters preferred Drama while Women proffered to watch Action.
Jolly LLB 2 was the most viewed Movie of 2017 while YehRishtaKyaKehlata was the most watched show in 2017.
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