India has almost 547 million OTT users, but active paid subscriptions remain stagnant at 99.6 million, as per The Ormax OTT Audience Report 2024. Reportedly, the research is based on a sample size of 12,000 across urban and rural India and it was conducted in June and July of 2024.
The Indian audience universe translates to a penetration of 38.4%. It reported a 13.8% growth when compared to 2023. It is mentioned in the report that, the growth is entirely driven by the advertisement-based video-on-demand (AVOD) audience which grew by 21%. On the other hand, the subscription-based video-on-demand segment witnessed a degrowth of 2%. “While the overall expansion rate of the OTT universe has stably been around the 13% mark post-pandemic, this year’s report highlights the significant role of the AVOD segment in expanding the universe. The growth is driven by AVOD audiences, with most of the new entrants into the category watching video content only on YouTube and social media. The stagnation in SVOD audience size is also reflective of the trend whereby free content is driving OTT growth in small towns and rural India,” Keerat Grewal, head of business development (streaming TV and brands), Ormax media said.
As per the report, the average number of platforms subscribed to per paying audience member has come down from 2.8 to 2.5 in 2024. It is claimed that this decline highlights the waning need among audiences to subscribe to too many platforms. In addition to that, the report also showcases on various devices which are most used by the OTT audience in India to watch online video content. It is claimed that, smartphone emerges as the most preferred platform to watch online video content with 97% of Indian OTT audience using it. Moreover, 81% audience watches OTT content only on their smartphone and the connected TV audience base is estimated at 69.7 million.