Streaming services have unlocked huge potential for language content

Media consulting firm Ormax Media announced the release of its latest research report on the Indian streaming category, titled The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2022. The report, based on research conducted across more than 6,000 SVOD & AVOD audience in urban India, is India’s largest profiling study on the streaming category. 

As per Ormax Media’s 2021 estimates, India’s digital video audience universe stood at 353.2 Million, of which 31% were SVOD audience while the remaining (69%) were AVOD audience. In this follow-up report, the SVOD and AVOD groups have been profiled in depth, on various aspects of their digital video consumption, such as viewing behaviour, languages, format & genre preference, subscription drivers & barriers, media habits, etc. The report is now available for subscription for streaming platforms, brands and content producers. 

The report reveals that the audience are watching content across multiple languages, because of the presence of dubbing and subtitling options that are widely available, especially on SVOD platforms. An Indian SVOD audience watches content in 4.6 languages on an average. A large share of audience of content in the four South Indian languages comes from outside their native state. For example, 88% Malayalam content viewers are from outside Kerala, while 82% Tamil content viewers are from outside Tamil Nadu. The AVOD outlook on language content is more conservative, primarily because of the low presence of multi-language dubbing on AVOD services, including YouTube. 

Dubbing has also fuelled the growth of English and other foreign language content, including Korean. 65% SVOD audience and 43% AVOD audience in urban India watch English language content, though a sizeable section among them (more than half) prefer to watch it in an Indian language via dubbing. 

Average number of languages of content consumption among SVOD audience are higher in the Southern states, with Karnataka leading with an average of 5.7 languages. UP, Rajasthan, MP & Chhattisgarh rank the lowest on this measure, at an average of less than four languages. 

Speaking about the report, Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO, Ormax Media, said: “Streaming is a fast-growing category in India, and hence, it is important for content creators and marketers to constantly upgrade their understanding of the audiences, their taste, their viewing habits, and their viewing triggers. This report is a comprehensive update on how the behaviour and choices of Indian OTT audience have evolved over the course of the pandemic years, where there was unprecedented exposure to streaming content”. 

Speaking about another key finding besides the growth of multi-language content, Kapoor said: “A lot of AVOD content is being made in India today with an SVOD lens. However, this report reveals that the formats and genres preferred by SVOD and AVOD audience are significantly different from each other. Since streaming has come up in India only recently in a big way, a lot of content greenlighting in the category has happened on instinct so far, without any robust consumer data to aid the decision-making process. The Ormax OTT Audience Report is our endeavour to help platforms make more informed content choices”.