Indians spending 11 hours on streaming videos a week

MUMBAI: The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed consumer behaviour and Indian are now streaming videos for 10 hours and 54 minutes weekly on average -- outdoing the global average by three hours, according to a new report.

Indian viewers consume the most online video content per week on average, with almost 70 per cent subscribing to new streaming services in the last six months during various states of lockdowns, said the report by Limelight Networks, a video delivery and edge cloud services provider.

More than half (51 per cent) of Indians admit to sharing login information or using someone else's account to stream content.

"Our research indicates that video buffering challenges amount to discontentment, and service providers have an opportunity here to win customers over by improving the streaming and video quality," said Ashwin Rao, Country Director, Limelight Networks India.

"There is a need for reliable infrastructure to be set up, to match the increasing appetite for new and improved online experiences".

Online video consumption has exceeded traditional broadcast viewing.

India has witnessed one of the steepest increases in online viewing as compared to traditional broadcast viewership.

Indian viewers are watching 10.9 hours of online content on average, as compared to 8.7 hours of traditional broadcast viewing per week in 2020.

"Almost half (47 per cent) of global consumers will cancel a streaming subscription due to high prices.

Indian consumers' behavior is consistent with the global average, with almost 46 percent indicating price sensitivity.

YouTube dominates as the most-preferred platform for watching user-generated content (65 per cent), followed by Facebook (16 per cent).

"The choice of Indians is similar with varying averages, with YouTube and Facebook usage standing at 72 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, the findings showed.

The "State of Online Video" 2020 report was based on responses from 5,000 consumers in France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the US.a