OTT Audio streaming and Radio lock horns in ‘The Battle for the Ear’

These are some of the findings from a new service launched by Kantar and VTION. The 'OTT Audience Measurement Insights' is a passive, continuous audience measurement service which will bring the streaming audio medium at par with Radio, TV, Print and Digital platforms.

In the inaugural release, the study has picked up certain unique nuances pertaining to content consumption patterns as OTT audio streaming players seem to have built unique core audiences.

There is a clear pattern of consumption of songs that go beyond the ‘trending’ time-frame, giving them a longer lifespan. The study also shows a strong interplay between radio and OTT audio streaming, resulting in what might be called a “Battle for the Ear” and the medium is fast catching on across audience groups. The OTT platforms are also effectively competing with TV in the weekday morning slots.

The study reports multiple variables by gender, time of the day, age group, genre, OTT platforms, NCCS, and cities for the content being consumed.

Speaking about the study, Hemant Mehta, managing director, Insights Division and Chief Strategy Officer, Kantar South Asia, states, “The year 2020 will be ‘The Battle for the Ear’ as OTT audio platforms are shaking up the music market- especially, by creating an intense competition between radio and OTT audio platforms. Today, the listeners are spoilt for choice as far as content consumption is concerned and move across the platforms to fulfill their entertainment needs. The OTT audience measurement is redefining the audience measurement space as it provides rich insights ranging from listening habits across devices, age groups, peak times, genres and so on and addresses a need for a robust solution to track the OTT space. Our joint initiative with VTION has provided the industry with the much-needed metrics that will ultimately help the marketers understand the consumer profiles, their content and platform preferences required for effective communication planning and implementation.’’

Manoj Dawane, founder and chief executive officer, VTION, adds, "Audio as a medium of entertainment and engagement, comprising OTT platforms, broadcast radio and podcasting, is a fast-growing media segment in India. We believe that a well-defined and unbiased independent measurement system will catalyse growth even more as marketers, platform owners and content owners will be able to drive relevance, programme meaningfully and target audiences effectively. Our partnership with Kantar combines their deep consumer behaviour understanding with our patent pending technology to serve the industry better and grow the market.”

Key Findings:

• 13 million adults listened to any OTT streaming app in the last 30 days over nine cities.

• OTT audio streaming peaks between 9 pm - 9.30 pm over weekends, almost making it the new prime time. Weekend listenership trumps weekdays.

• The medium is fast catching on across audience groups providing “personal, me time”.

• Delhi and Mumbai at 25 per cent each are the largest OTT audio streaming markets, followed by Kolkata and Bengaluru standing at 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

• Mumbai is deeply entrenched in terms of OTT audio streaming, capturing 44 per cent of the pie followed by Delhi at 25 per cent.

• Clear interplay between radio and OTT audio streaming – 'Battle for the Ear'

• Strong correlation between radio and streaming audio- OTT streaming seems to be thriving in markets where radio listenership habit is not strong.

• Among the top 10 songs - two Singles amongst 10 songs - three Remix / version / Recreation - Longevity of Music beyond the theatrical: Kabir Singh

The OTT Audience Measurement offering brings together Kantar’s expertise in media measurement and consumer insights with VTION^’s proprietary audience measurement technology and data management framework to provide a unique, comprehensive understanding of audience behaviour, insights for communication planning as well assessment of ROI for media investments across OTT video platforms, OTT audio streaming and podcasting and broadcast radio FM platforms.

The study is based on a robust sample size of 9000+ stretching across top nine cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and Lucknow/Kanpur) among male and female in the age group of 18+ and across SEC A, B and C,D,E.

Here's the report: