Over 66% people in India subscribe to more than 1 OTT app: Report

India CTV Report 2021 – Mapping Connected TV (CTV) Viewership in India and the Opportunities for Brands” a report from mediasmart, an Affle company, highlights the changing media consumption patterns of the Indian consumer. India is undergoing digital transformation and consumers are steadily moving away from traditional linear TV to CTV and OTTs. This change presents an untapped advertising opportunity for brands and advertisers. The report highlights consumer adoption insights layered with an expert view on possible advertising potential of the CTV medium.

According to the report, key CTV viewership trends and insights include:

• Out of the select audience surveyed, 78% own a Smart TVand 93% of these smart TV users access internet based content
• Mobile-first, active and aware CTV consumers: CTV users are young, urban adults who are already mobile-first and are actively engaging with diverse apps such as – 89% of the respondents are social media users, 82% are e-commerce, 44% are gamers and more
• Content on demand: over 59% respondents prefer downloading apps via Smart TV App Store, while 26% respondents primarily consume content via pre-installed apps and a small section (15% respondents) use the dongle to stream content on TV
• One device, many uses: Close to 70% respondents spend between 1 to 4 hours on CTV watching movies (91%), streaming music (64%), playing games (47%) or watching news (64%)
• Spending ability and OTT preferences: Over 65% respondents subscribe to more than one OTT app. There is 40%+ adoption for the leading eight OTT apps in India: Disney+Hotstar, Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix, Zee5, MXPlayer, Sony LIV, VOOT and Alt Balaji. The inclination on app usage is also heavily dependent on seasonality and timing
• Limited barriers to viewership and adoption: Unlike mobile usage of internet, which requires literacy levels, CTV consumption cuts across age, language, and city barriers. By going vernacular, advertisers can engage with users in ads of their language

Nikhil Kumar, Sr. Director, mediasmart talks about the CTV potential in the report – “The world is moving towards immersive watching experiences and CTV is an exciting space to be at. It is interesting to see leading advertisers in the country adopt CTV advertising as a critical new addition to their media mix. CTV advertising is here to stay and with evolutionary solutions provided by mediasmart on Household Sync technology, we are powering brands to engage with relevant consumers across the connected devices.”  Business Insider