Decoding Digital India: Unveiling the New Age User's Online Habits and Trends
As per the report, users spend an average of 194 minutes per day on social media platforms.
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A comprehensive report titled “New Age Digital Consumption in India: A Survey of Social Media, OTT Content & Online Gaming” by Professor Rajat Sharma from IIM Ahmedabad in partnership with Dr. Vikash Gautam, Adjunct Fellow at the Esya Centre sheds light on how Indians engage with social media, OTT content services, and online gaming. This study offers valuable insights into consumption patterns across these key digital segments based on a survey of 2,000 users and app-data of over 20.58 lakhs users.
Watch this video to know what these findings were:
1. Diverse User Engagement Patterns
● Social Media: Predominantly used for interacting with friends, family, and colleagues for personal and professional reasons.
● OTT Content: Primarily accessed for entertainment and leisure.
● Online Gaming: Users engage for a variety of reasons including entertainment, skill-building, and career opportunities. This indicates the heterogeneous nature of online gaming in the Indian digital consumption basket.
2. Platform Reach and User Activity
● Social media has the highest reach among users, followed by OTT content services and online gaming.
● Monthly Active Users (MAUs) and Daily Active Users (DAUs) data reveal significant engagement across all three segments, with notable peaks in social media usage.
● Social media emerges as the most ingrained digital habit, boasting 100% reach among internet users with 89% using it daily.
● Users spend an average of 194 minutes per day on social media platforms, significantly outpacing OTT & online gaming (44-46 minutes).
3. Monetization Trends and User Spending
● Social Media: Largely free for users, funded primarily through advertising.
● OTT Content: Users typically spend between INR 201-400 per month on subscriptions, reflecting similar spending habits as traditional TV subscriptions.
● Online Gaming: Users spend less than INR 100 per month on average, with a small fraction of gamers paying for premium features. The majority of revenue in the gaming sector comes from pay-to-play models, such as fantasy sports and entry fees for online rummy.
4. Employment and Skill Development
● While OTT content services provide a way for users to unwind and relieve stress, online gaming offers both entertainment and opportunities for skill development.
● 28% of users consider online gaming important for their employment prospects and 50% consider it important to improve their number-crunching or research skills in sports.
● It would be beneficial to nurture these positive externalities with a favorable and consistent national policy framework.
5. Policy Implications and Regulatory Frameworks
● The report emphasizes the need for a nuanced regulatory approach to online gaming, distinguishing between games of skill and games of chance.
● It suggests that policy should focus on harm reduction rather than paternalistic interventions, advocating for responsible app design and clear definitional frameworks to guide industry practices.
6. User Sensitivity to Price Changes
● Users exhibit high sensitivity to price changes, particularly in OTT content services and online gaming. 71% users say they would reduce gaming time if costs increased by 30%. OTT experiences lower price sensitivity and would decline at 17% under similar conditions.
● This suggests that price adjustments could significantly impact user engagement and spending patterns.
The report by IIMA and Esya Centre provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of digital consumption in India. It calls for balanced regulatory measures that protect users while promoting healthy digital consumption habits. By understanding user engagement patterns, spending behaviors, and the socio-economic impact of digital services, policymakers and industry stakeholders can better navigate the opportunities and challenges in this rapidly growing sector.
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