Prolonged stay-at-home periods, especially during the pandemic, have led to an explosion in online video consumption in India, according to a new study by Bain & Co. According to the report – ‘India Online Video – The Long and Short of It’, the online video user base in the country has reached over 350 million people, which grew by 24% between 2018 and 2020, as compared to the markets is almost double. such as China and Indonesia.
However, despite this growth, there remains massive headroom in penetration and usage. About 59% of India’s Internet users consume online video, compared to 67% in Japan, 69% in Indonesia, 74% in Brazil, 76% in Mexico, 78% in South Korea, 79% in the UK, 83% in the US and 92% in China.
The report estimates that by 2025, three out of four Internet users, or 600–650 million Indians, will consume short-form video (SFV), with active users spending 55 to 60 minutes per day. Meanwhile, long-form video (LFV), which is already nearly twice as much as SFV, with around 350-400 million users watching it, is projected to see the same number of users by 2025.
Videos that are between 15 seconds and 2 minutes in length are considered SFV, while videos longer than 2 minutes are classified as LFV.
“In India, the SFV market has taken off over the past two years, growing 3.5x in user base and 12x the total time spent by all users on the SFV platform,” it said, adding that over 200 million More Indians watched SFV. At least once in 2020, daily active users spend up to 45 minutes a day on these platforms.
Although India’s short-video user base has historically been largely male in Tier 2 and smaller cities, it is growing rapidly, growing moderately in metros and among women, it noted. .
“Smartphone users spend about 4.8 hours a day on their devices, of which an average of one hour is spent watching videos. Despite this rapid boom, there is massive headroom for growth – online video user penetration in India is around 60% of internet users, while China has over 90%,” said Arpan Sheth, partner and global leader at Bain & The company’s Vector Solutions Group, said.
As per the report, there are over 50 million users in India who have created and posted at least one short video.
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