Streaming a big hit in 2022 despite cinemas making a comeback

Leading streaming apps continued to dominate Indian consumers' attention in 2022 despite the reopening of cinema halls, businesses and workplaces. Mobile video remains a key trend to watch for marketers, suggests Data.ai’s “State of mobile report”. 

The report further says homegrown OTT platforms like Hotstar, SonyLiv and Zee5 have seen tremendous growth in 2022 over 2021 in terms of downloads, active users and user monetisation. 

While globally spending on mobile has slowed down, in India it is still growing. Moreover, the time spent on mobile phones in India has gone up to 4.9 hrs in 2022, from 4.5 hrs and 4.7 hours a day in 2020 and 2021, respectively. 

As per the report, India is the second largest mobile spending market ($28 billion) in the world after China ($111 billion) and the US ($20 billion). 

(Source: Data.ai State of mobile report 2023)

Coverage of major sporting events can be a highly effective way to add new users and keep them engaged on popular streaming services, the report said. 

Hotstar added close to 99 million downloads in 2022 with two peaks - in September’s first week and October last week - thanks to the live streaming of two cricket tournaments - Asia Cup and ICC Men’s World Cup. 

The OTT platform of Disney star group, which has been the streaming partner of the Indian Premier League, (IPL) tops the chart in terms of active users as well. The service added 15 million new active users taking its total active user count to 133 million. They spent close to six hours every month watching the content on the platform. 

MX Player, the Times Network’s platform, has been the most downloaded OTT app in India and the third most downloaded app worldwide across 2022. 

The Indian OTT audience universe stands at 424 million people, according to The Ormax OTT Audience Sizing Report 2022. Of these, 119 million are active paid OTT subscriptions in India.