36 Percent of SVOD Audiences in Urban India Constantly Used Connected TVs: Ormax

Media consulting company Ormax Media has released its latest research report on the Indian streaming market, The Ormax SVOD Audience Report 2024. The report is the largest profiling study on paid streaming subscribers in the country, based on research conducted across a sample of 3,000 SVOD audiences in urban India. 

One such revealing insight is the impact of Connected TVs in redefining OTT platforms in India. During the study period, the report found that 36 percent of urban India SVOD audience, used connected TV devices to view streaming videos on a regular basis. This has led to an increase in co-viewing of streaming content among SVOD audiences, which has implications for content and marketing strategies of OTT platforms in India. 66 percent of Connected TV audience enjoy streaming content with some members of their families, hence making inclusive content attuned to various life-stages-a critical success factor for the Indian SVOD market in the near future. 

India's digital video universe stands at 547.3 million, according to Ormax's OTT Report released in August this year. SVOD audience would be a mere 28 percent while the rest 72 percent are AVOD audience. The SVOD audience base is down by 2 percent, moving from 153.0 million in 2023 to 150.6 million in 2024. This stagnation is a clear reflection of the challenge the SVOD platform has been facing in the Indian market, with subscriber acquisition and retention becoming harder to deliver. 

The Ormax SVOD Audience Report: 2024 gives a complete deep drive of Indian SVOD audiences across multiple dimensions like viewing behavior, language, format and genre preference, customer acquisition and retention motivators and barriers, triggers for content sampling, media habits, etc. The report is now available for subscription for streaming platforms, brands and content producers. 

Keerat Grewal, head of business development, Ormax Media, stated, “In a cluttered marketplace where a typical SVOD subscriber will pay for only 2-3 apps, it is imperative that pay OTT platforms base their pricing, content and marketing strategies based on their target audience’s behavior and taste. While platforms have access to data of their own subscribers, Ormax has been consistently working on building industry-wide data for the OTT category in India. Our latest report on SVOD audience enables platforms to look at their target group at a macro level, through insights that can be leveraged by business, content, marketing and product teams, towards creating more compelling value propositions for the audience.”

Further, speaking about the growing influence of Connected TVs, she added, “Contrary to popular perception, penetration of Connected TV is not a trend limited to the metro cities, and is finding traction in mini metros and small towns too. In a category that’s been watched primarily on the smartphone over the last few years, the growth of Connected TV can fundamentally alter how and what type of content is consumed on OTT in India, an area the report underlines using audience insights.”