79% Smartphone Users in India Using OTT Apps for Entertainment
In its first Megainsight study, techarc-unomer has released some key insights about the OTT Entertainment (Live and VOD) App penetration in India. The insights are from Unomer Appmap, an in-depth analysis of smartphone and consumer data collected from over 5 million Smartphone users across the country.
4 out of 5 smartphone users are having at least one OTT Entertainment platform which they are using for entertainment. This is in addition to the ‘casual’ entertainment over Youtube and other UGC (User Generated Content) platforms like Tiktok. With this kind of penetration, OTT Entertainment Apps have become the most penetrated App category among Smartphone users in India, after Social
Networking, Chatting and Ecommerce Apps.
Releasing the Megainsight, Faisal Kawoosa, Founder & Chief Analyst, techarc said, “Over the past 3 years we have seen a lot of enablement both from the Smartphone OEMS as well as operators’ sides. This has facilitated growth of OTT Entertainment services as well as the consumption.”
“While 4G has undoubtedly created this category, it has been adequately complimented by the Smartphone industry by innovating to save every micron on the screen for better and full screen viewing backed by powerful battery and stereophonic sound,” added Faisal, highlighting some of the innovations that have taken place in the recent times keeping increasing video consumption in mind.
Highlighting the OTT Entertainment App trends, Vinay Bapna, CEO and Cofounder, Unomer said, “Video has emerged as a category where we are seeing a large number of players that can co-exist and each player can create a market for itself, unlike other sectors like ecommerce and social media, where there is dominance of 1-2 players,”
Further elaborating, Richa Sood, Director, Unomer said, “Convenience of anytime anywhere entertainment in my favourite genre has sparked the growth of these OTT apps. Gone are the days when consumers had to wait a whole week to watch the next episode. This is driving data consumption and craving for astounding
network access and speed.”
Key report insights; Hotstar leads
Hotstar is the most penetrated OTT Entertainment App with 49% of Smartphone users having it installed on their devices. One of the main factors for Hotstar’s growth has been its sports, especially cricket content, be it IPL or now the World Cup Championship. This is letting people watch their favourite sports entertainment on the go or even catch-up it at their convenience. The app has been able to successfully attain the leadership and continues to retain the top spot.
MX Player is growing fast
After being bought by Times Internet, MX Player was relaunched in February 2019. It has seen since then not only a new aggression but a different positioning of the app and has become among new comers in the OTT Entertainment space. The App has both live TV as well as VOD content. In a very short span of time, it has become the 2nd most penetrated OTT Entertainment app in India, with 42% of the Smartphone users having the app installed on their Smartphones.
Unique users a challenge
While it’s encouraging to have great penetration of OTT Entertainment apps, the challenge still remains with the uniqueness in engagement. 74% of the OTT Entertainment app users have more than one app installed on their Smartphones. This is challenging for the industry as their advertising revenue potential goes down by not owning a higher number of unique users. This is because of similar app available across all major platforms, including in VOD category.
Amazon Prime Video versus Netflix
Amazon Prime Video has a slightly better penetration than Netflix. Prime Video penetration is 15% compared to 13% of Netflix. This is a result of Amazon’s close relationship with some Smartphone OEMS where Amazon apps like Amazon Shopping and Amazon Prime Video come pre-embedded or pre-loaded in the device. However, the delta does not commensurate the tie-ups Amazon has compared to Netflix which doesn’t have any such relationship with a Smartphone OEM.
Jio leads the Live TV
Not only in telecom services, Jio has impacted the OTT Entertainment app space as well. In Live TV category, it leads with 30% penetration among Smartphone users. This is distantly followed by airtel and Vodafone Play. Xiaomi users obsessed with OTT Entertainment 9 out of 10 (88%) Xiaomi Smartphone users, have an OTT Entertainment app to use. Brands penetration among youth, the main consumers of OTT app is one of the factors behind this high penetration. Also, Xiaomi has launched its Smartphone models allowing users to consume video in a more immersive way with rich display and sound features. Huawei and OPPO are at 2nd and 3rd positions in terms of OTT Entertainment app penetration with 86% and 84% penetration.
OPPO and Vivo overlap here too
OPPO and Vivo have been ‘identical twins’ of the Smartphone industry in terms of positioning and the target. The story is no different in case of OTT Entertainment trend as well. 84% and 83% of OPPO and Vivo Smartphone users have at least one OTT Entertainment app installed. In terms of specific apps, they show very similar patterns. For instance, Hotstar has a penetration of 58% among OPPO users while it is 56% among Vivo users. Similarly, Netflix penetration is 2% among these users. Similarly, these two Smartphone brand users show similar trends in adoption of other apps in this category. There is an opportunity for Netflix to have a special engagement with OPPO and Vivo to popularise their