Indians Willing To Pay More For Good OTT Content, Reveals Survey

Most of the Indian consumers are willing to spend more for premium subscriptions to experience an enhanced video and audio quality revealed a study conducted by Wakefield Research conducted in four countries for Dolby Laboratories which was aimed at understanding the changing content consumption habits during the pandemic.

“Indian consumers are now prioritising and seeking better experiences possibly driven by long hours spent at home. Indian consumers are spending more on quality in order to better connect with content and to connect with each other,” the survey revealed. 

In India, the study was conducted across six cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

Almost 96% of Indians are looking to upgrade their entertainment equipment in the next six months, the survey revealed.

“Despite all of the challenges of this past year, this study has illustrated the power of entertainment in bringing us together with those that are most important to us,” said Pankaj Kedia, Managing Director, Emerging Markets, Dolby Laboratories.

The survey also pointed out 97% of Indian respondents have leveraged their monthly spending on content by 48% on an average compared to the start of the year.

Over 85% of Indians respondents who participated in the survey have in the past six months already invested in upgrading their streaming services. 

Digital media and entertainment, including OTT, digital news, social media and gaming, was already seeing great numbers at the beginning of 2020 and it is expected to grow more resilient compared to other sectors, given the current pandemic.

OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar have increased the number of original shows which is increasing viewership on these platforms. 

Also, OTT platforms in India are offering attractive subscription plans like Netflix presently offers four subscription plans in India, ranging from INR 199 – 799/month. The launch of movies like Laxmii Bomb, Bhuj: The Pride of India and Sadak 2, along with a library of original shows proved to be the icing on the cake.

In the initial days of the lockdown, companies like Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and others reduced the quality of their video streaming services in India. This was done to deal with the unprecedented traffic surge that came after India went under lockdown.

 The overall OTT market in India is expected to grow at 21.8% CAGR from INR 4,464 Cr in 2018 to INR 11,976 Cr in 2023, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2019–2023. A September 2019 report by KPMG predicts that India will have more than 500 Mn online video subscribers by FY2023. This would make it the second-largest market after China.