Leading social media platforms-Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and X-have witnessed a 5-15 percent decline in number of users in urban India over the past three years, according to the latest report of UK-based audience intelligence firm YouGov. 

On the other hand, Instagram, SnapChat and Reddit have gained 11 percent, 7 percent and 3 percent more users respectively in the same period. LinkedIn remains unaffected with the same 38 percent social media users engaging with the business networking platform. 

According to the YouGuv study, Gen Z is spending more time on social media compared to the millennials, 30% of them spend 11+ hours in a week. Instagram and Snapchat are more popular among Gen Z, whilst Facebook is most appealing for those aged 35+. 

The study indicates a major shift in media habits of urban Indians, which will be crucial for marketers and businesses looking to engage with their target audiences effectively.  

e4m has reached out to India teams of both Google and Meta to seek their comments on the story. The story will be updated as and when they respond. 

A report of another audience intelligence firm Data.ai released early this year had also noted a muted growth in social media networks in the country between 2022 and 2023. 

Leading social media platforms attracted more eyeballs during and in the post-pandemic period, hence brands also allocated more ad dollars towards this space. India’s top advertisers, including FMCG leaders, allocated over 25 percent of their digital ad spends to social media apps. 

“These trends indicate a growing phenomenon of social media fatigue towards apps that were extremely popular till sometime ago. Conversations have now shifted largely towards Instagram and SnapChat, both Gen Z and millennials,” says Paras Mehta, Business Head of MatterKind, an IPG group company. 

Experts noted that entertainment and sports content consumption is gradually shifting from YouTube to over-the-top platforms, while news content is largely being consumed on news aggregator platforms, impacting the social media apps. 

Some ad experts noted that users become more selective about their online activities. Rather than mindless scrolling, young netizens are now using social media for inspiration, product discovery and networking. This shift is evident in the preference for social media platforms over search engines when seeking new products or services. 

Shradha Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Grapes, says, “There has been a massive shift of traffic from Facebook to Instagram of late. Therefore, we are witnessing a jump in Instagram traffic. As far as WhatsApp is concerned, many Indians have stopped using the app as it is perceived that Meta is reading and listening to their content. A large number of Indians are now conversing through Telegram and other apps.”

Vishal Chinchankar, CEO Madison Digital and Madison Alpha, has a different point view. He said, “YouGov talks about urban statistics. My sense is that the larger growth for Meta and YouTube is getting build on the back of rural markets. Hence the drop in urban users won’t much impact the ad spends on social media.” 

While most brands prefer targeting on digital, I am of the opinion that brands should go broad on digital. If spill over works on TV then there is no reason why it should not work on digital, Chinchankar opines.