India has 353 Million OTT users & 96 active paid subscriptions : Ormax Report

Media consulting firm Ormax Media has released the largest audience research to size the OTT universe in India, titled The Ormax OTT Audience Report 2021. The research, based on a sample size of 12,000 across urban and rural India, was conducted in May to July 2021. 

Ormax Media released select findings of the report, which reveal that the Indian OTT audience universe is currently at 353.2 Million (or 35.32 Crore) people. This translated into a penetration of 25.3%, which means that one in four Indians watched online videos at least once in the last one month. The report breaks this universe by gender, age, NCCS, pop strata, states and cities.  

Speaking about the need for the report, Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO - Ormax Media, said: “India’s OTT audience universe is rapidly growing, and an accurate estimation of market size is a crucial strategic component in a growing category. While streaming companies have data on usage and subscription of their own platforms, there is no industry-level audience research available to size and profile the Indian OTT market at large. This research, which will be conducted in the same period every year, aims to plug this significant data gap in the streaming industry in India”.   

The report also reveals that there are currently 96 Million active paid OTT subscriptions in India, across 40.7 Million paying (SVOD) audiences, i.e., an average of 2.4 subscriptions per paying audience member. 66% of these paid subscriptions are with male audience. The top 6 metros contribute only 11% to India’s OTT universe but 35% to total paid subscriptions in India. Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai are the top 3 cities in this regard, with more than 8 Million active paid subscriptions each.  

Speaking about the findings, Kapoor said: “OTT is no longer a niche category, but at 25% penetration, there is still a huge potential to grow the market, especially outside the top cities. We have seen a rise in regional OTT platforms in India over the last year. This report provides market and demographic level data for platforms to take sound investment decisions on regional products, be it a stand-alone app or regional content within a national app”. 

The full report is available by subscription for streaming platforms, production companies, media agencies and other companies associated with the OTT category in India.