India has 424 million OTT viewers, 119 million paid subscriptions: Report

 

Top six metros account for only 10% of India's OTT universe, but account for 33% of total paid subscriptions in the country

India currently has 423.8 million (or 42.38 crore) OTT viewers, which translates to a penetration of 30%, which means three out of ten Indians watched online videos at least once in the past month. However, India has only 119 million active paid OTT subscriptions out of 49 million paying (SVOD) viewers, which is an average of 2.4 subscriptions per paying audience member.

These are the findings of a report titled Ormax OTT Audience Sizing Report 2022 by media consulting firm Ormax. The research was done from July to September 2022 based on a sample size of 13,500 in urban and rural India.

Furthermore, 65% of these paid subscriptions are held by male viewers. The top six metros account for only 10% of India's OTT universe, but account for 33% of the total paid subscriptions in India. Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru are the top three cities with over 8.5 million active paid subscriptions each. India's OTT universe has grown by 20% from 2021 when it stood at 353.2 million. Around 19.2% of OTT viewers are watching content on SVOD platforms but have not paid for any direct subscriptions themselves; 11.6% are currently a paid member of at least one streaming service or have paid for at least one subscription directly (not through a telecom bundle). About 43.5% only watch videos on free streaming platforms, including at least one platform other than YouTube, and 25.8% only watch videos on YouTube and/or social media platforms.

“A major part of the 20% growth in viewer base has come from rural India and smaller towns. Metro cities have reached saturation level with over 79% OTT penetration. "The next phase of growth requires platforms to tap into smaller markets," Shailesh Kapoor, founder and CEO of Ormax Media, said in a statement. Subscription has remained stable at 2.4 per paying user. This data point holds immense strategic value, as it suggests that subscription growth will come from more people paying for subscriptions than more people paying for subscriptions," Kapoor said.