40 Percent Increase in Online Video Users in Smaller Towns: Report

A new report said on Thursday, in smaller towns the number of online video users grew 40 per cent last year against 25 per cent growth in urban India over the past year.

In December 2019, the total online video users counted increased to 294 million, as per the ICUBE report by Kantar, a data, insights and consulting company.

The results suggest that online video consumption is driving Internet adoption in smaller towns – with a population of less than five lakh. Music and movies are the two most viewed online video content in urban India, the data suggested.

Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, Executive Vice President, Insights Division, Kantar, said in a statement, "The one-line verdict on digital entertainment for the year is that of uninterrupted growth. There is good news for both platforms and marketers."

"The digital medium is way younger than its offline counterparts, but we already see a very discerning audience base. The concept of specialisation is already in place, and the platform allows the content creators to bring out their creative best on this platform."

Opposite to the popular myth, online video consumption is no more a youth phenomenon.

The data showed that the growth of online video users in urban India is highest among those 45 and older age group. Not only the count of people watching videos has seen an increase, but they are doing more frequently. As a result, 65 per cent of online video watchers consume videos online daily. The proportion of 45 and older age group people watching online video is higher among smaller cities than metros and large cities.

The proportion of women who watch online video is more significant than men in the under-15 age group, the study said. With the internet being affordable and a wide range of selected content, video-on-demand has experienced substantial growth in the last year.

While subscription video on demand (SVOD) content has seen a significant increase in the past year, with users growing up to 82% over the last year, Advertising-Based Video On Demand (AVOD) has also marked a 29% growth in users. The social media video user's growth has been sluggish when compared to AVOD or SVOD growth rate.

There is a growth in the count of social media video viewers by 18 per cent, said the report, adding that the ratio of video users accessing social media video has diminished over the last year.