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“Regional content accounts for 40% of overall consumption”- Hotstar Report
Star India’s digital video-on-demand platform, Hotstar has released “India Watch Report 2019” – a study of online video consumption behaviour and trends. Based on Hotstar’s pan-India consumer base, the third edition of the report presents 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 and chief product officer, Hotstar, says, “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.”
In the report, it is stated that the app has been downloaded more than 400 million times, which makes it one of the most downloaded apps in India. “2X installs and 3X growth in consumption this year (2019) as compared to 2018,” states the report. Non-metros are outstripping metros in terms of video consumption and regional content has grown to account for 40 per cent of overall content consumption on Hotstar.
The report also states that in 2019, men showed as high affinity to family drama as women, with more than 40 per cent of family drama viewers 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 per cent of the total entertainment consumption online.
Some key highlights from the report:
o Hotstar crossed 400 million downloads, becoming one of the most downloaded apps in India
· Hotstar registered 2X 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 Live 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 Users don’t conform to stereotypes
· 63 per cent of the total online entertainment consumption came from non-metros. Lucknow, Pune and Patna surpassed Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata in video consumption
· Men have as high affinity to family drama as women; more than 40 per cent viewers of family drama are men
· 45 per cent of total entertainment consumption came from women (3.2X growth in video consumption by women compared to last year)
· 41 per cent of Game of Thrones viewers also watched Hindi family dramas
o Regional languages travel the distance
· More than 40 per cent 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 Breaking new ground 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 Hotstar’s immersive and 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 six billion emojis were used during VIVO IPL 2019
· Bringing friends closer, 44 Mn comments were shared live during VIVO IPL 2019