Mumbai, Feb 27 (IANS) – A recent report revealed that 86 per cent of Internet users in India, totaling 707 million people, enjoy over-the-top (OTT) audio and video services, making it the most popular internet use-case in the country. The report, titled ‘Internet in India Report 2023’, was prepared by IAMAI and KANTAR.
The rise in OTT services is mostly driven by non-traditional devices such as smart TVs, smart speakers, Firesticks, Chromecasts, and Blue-Ray players, which saw a 58 per cent growth between 2021-23 at all India levels. The report, based on the ICUBE 2023 study covering over 90,000 households, was released by Harsh Jain, Chairman of IAMAI.
In addition to OTT services, the report highlighted that more people are accessing video content via internet-only devices (208 million) than through conventional linear TV (181 million). The top internet use-cases in India also include communication (621 million users) and social media (575 million users).
Interestingly, the report pointed out that users from rural India are driving these use-cases, accounting for over 50 per cent of the user base for each category. The total active internet users in India reached 820 million in 2023, indicating that more than 55 per cent of Indians used the internet last year.
Puneet Awasthi, Director at Kantar, India, noted that internet penetration in India grew by 8 per cent YoY, with rural India accounting for over 53 per cent of the total user base. States like Jharkhand and Bihar, with the lowest internet user base, are showing above-average growth rates of 12 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, indicating a positive trend in internet adoption.
