707 mn Indian Internet users avail OTT entertainment services: Report

Mumbai, Feb 27 (IANS) About 86 per cent of Internet users or 707 million people in India enjoy OTT audio and video services, making it the top use-case for Internet in the country, according to a report on Tuesday.

The ‘Internet in India Report 2023’, jointly prepared by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and KANTAR, a marketing data and analytics company, showed that the rise is majorly driven by non-traditional devices (smart TV, smart speakers, Firesticks, Chromecasts, Blue-Ray etc). Together, these witnessed a growth of 58 per cent between 2021-23 at all India levels, said the report.

“‘Internet in India’, which is based on the ICUBE 2023 study, covering over 90,000 households across all states and Union Territories of India (barring Lakshadweep), is the most comprehensive survey of internet usage in the country,” said Harsh Jain, Chairman, IAMAI, and CEO and Co-founder Dream Sports. He released the report at the inaugural session of the India Digital Summit 2024, at the Jio World Convention Centre.

The report also showed more people accessing video content over internet only devices (208 mn) than over conventional linear TV (181 mn).

Other top use-cases of the internet include communications (621 mn users), and social media (575 mn users).

Importantly, the report points out that users from rural India are driving all these use-cases, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the user base for each use case.

The growing internet penetration in India surpassed a new milestone of 800 mn as total active internet users reached 820 mn in 2023, meaning more than 55 per cent of Indians have used the internet last year.

“Internet penetration grew across the nation at a modest 8 per cent YoY. Rural India (442 mn) is a clear majority accounting for over about 53 per cent of the total user base,” said Puneet Awasthi, Director, Specialist Businesses, Insights, South Asia -- Business Development, Kantar, India, while presenting the key figures of the report

States with the lowest internet user base also showed signs of highest growth rates. Jharkhand (46 per cent penetration) and Bihar (37 per cent penetration) are showing above average growth rates of 12 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.