Hotstar decodes the online video consumer, unveils India Watch Report 2019

Leverages the platform’s expansive reach and deep audience connect to showcase the trends shaping the Indian video streaming landscape

Mumbai, December 10, 2019 – Hotstar, India’s largest premium streaming platform, released India Watch Report 2019 today – a comprehensive  study of online video consumption behaviour and trends. Based on Hotstar’s pan-India consumer base, the third edition of the report presents revelatory insights on how evolving content preferences, progressive gender shifts, and increasing accessibility continue to shape the modern Indian digital consumer.

 Speaking about the report, Varun Narang, EVP & Chief Product Officer, Hotstar, said, “The accelerated growth of the Indian video entertainment ecosystem has had an unprecedented impact on the consumer. Today, the Indian consumer enjoys a plethora of content to choose from, 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.

 Hotstar, with its tremendous scale and reach across the country, is well-positioned to better understand this evolving consumer, and this third edition of India Watch Report does just that. With a comprehensive look at how video streaming is evolving and the fascinating behavioral and entertainment consumption insights behind it, we’re sure the India Watch Report 2019 will make for a very interesting read.”

Hotstar, with 400 Mn+ downloads, is one of the most downloaded apps in India, registering 2X installs and 3X growth in consumption this year as compared to 2018. This growth catalyses from Hotstar’s endeavors in taking digital video consumption to new frontiers, where non-metros are outstripping metros in terms of video consumption and regional content has grown to account for 40% of overall content consumption.

Propelled by this, a new generation of users are emerging who are embracing their individuality and cutting across age-old geographical, linguistic, and gender stereotypes. In 2019, men showed as high affinity to family drama as women with more than 40% viewers of family drama being men, breaking the long-held belief that such genres don’t appeal to men. Meanwhile, women are also consuming more of their entertainment digitally, making up 45% of the total entertainment consumption online.

Consumers today want a voice of their own, and the opportunity to interact with others and express themselves. As a result, online viewing is transitioning from a passive experience into an immersive and social one. During VIVO IPL 2019, 64 million viewers participated in Watch ‘N Play, twice as many as last year.

It is on the back of these insights and innovative marketing solutions, that Hotstar has emerged as the preferred choice by marketers to build interesting narratives around their brands.

Combining insightful data with entertaining facts, India Watch Report 2019 details the trends shaping the Indian video streaming world.

Some key highlights from the report:

o   Hotstar crossed 400 Mn downloads, becoming one of the most downloaded apps in India.

• Hotstar registered 2X growth in installs in 2019 vs 2018 with 555 installs per minute in 2019
• 3X growth in consumption in 2019 vs 2018

o   Sports streaming has reached unparalleled heights

• 300 Mn+ platform reach during the VIVO IPL 2019
• 25.3 Mn Liv e Concurrent Viewers during the India vs New Zealand ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 semi-final
• 100 Mn reach crossed in a single day; Multiple times throughout ICC CWC 2019

o   Breaking new grounds on old fields

• 4X growth in viewers for connected TV compared to last year
• 7X growth in consumption for connected TV compared to last year

o   Users don’t conform to stereotypes

• 63% of the total online entertainment consumption came from non-metros. Lucknow, Pune & Patna surpassed Hyderabad, Bengaluru & Kolkata in video consumption
• ‘Men have as high affinity to family drama as women; More than 40% of viewers of Family drama are men
• 45% of total entertainment consumption came from women (3.2X growth in video consumption by women compared to last year)
• 41% of Game of Thrones viewers also watched Hindi family dramas

o   Regional languages travel the distance

• More than 40% video consumption came from regional content
• Tamil, Telugu and Bengali are the top regional languages. In fact, Bigg Boss Tamil is the highest watched entertainment show having beaten all the Hindi TV Shows

o   Hotstar’s immersive & interactive game, Watch ‘N Play, recorded greater participation

• During VIVO IPL 2019, 64 Mn viewers (2X that of VIVO IPL 2018) participated in Watch ‘N Play
• 1.5X time spent by viewers who participated in Watch’N Play compared to those who didn’t, during VIVO IPL 2019
• Approximately 6 billion emojis were used during VIVO IPL 2019
• Bringing friends closer, 44 Mn comments were shared live during VIVO IPL 2019

The complete report is available to view here.