INDIAN

OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Post Pandemic
Consumption

INDIAN TRENDS
2020-21
Relevant Statistics
& Insights from an
Indian Perspective.
Prologue
MICA, The School of Ideas, is a premier academic institute
that integrates Strategic Marketing, Design, Digital, and
Creativity. Its post-graduate management programmes are
designed to provide a holistic understanding of the digital
environment and insights into digital companies and
platforms, their strategies, and innovations. This has
enabled MICA to remain at the forefront among
management institutes , given its ability to address the
increasing needs of a complex, ever-changing global
market and consumer environment and preparing its
students into future leaders for a digitally enabled world.

The first Over-The-Top (OTT) Report developed by MICA

and launched in 2018 was an endeavor in this direction.
The fourth OTT Report in this annual series is more
significant in light of the challenges faced the industry on
account of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.

India which is currently the world’s fastest-growing OTT

market, is set to become the sixth-largest globally by 2024.
The OTT service providers and telecom players have striven
to provide the Indian consumers a greater and more
enhanced experience in recent times. With the advent of
5G technology, the Indian consumer stands to benefit
more with a much better experience along with a better
pricing model. It needs to be noted here, that the
consumption pattern in a country like India is very diverse,
as is the content being produced, which has led to a rapid
change in the ecosystem and proliferated massive growth.

The year 2020-21 was particularly significant , with the

pandemic forcing consumers to stay homebound. The
platforms that would generally expect a human-to-human
contact were seriously impacted by this.

This brought about a paradigm shift in the consumption

patterns. The country added a lot of new consumers to
digital platforms, and the added convenience of consuming
digital content on OTT platforms drove growth within the
sector. Video content consumption, audio content
consumption, news, gaming, e-sports, payments, food
delivery, education, work from home all brought about, a
massive growth in digital consumption.

It is my pleasure to present the fourth Over-The-Top (OTT)

Platforms Report, developed by MICA, encompassing
in-depth research and analysis from an Indian perspective
and thus, in many ways, unique and radical in its approach.

Dr. Shailendra Raj Mehta

President and Director, MICA, The School of Ideas.
Dean’s
Message
It is with great pleasure that we present to you the fourth
edition of MICA’s Indian OTT Platforms Report 2021. This
report reflects the vision, research collaborations and the
dedicated efforts of MICA’s Media and Entertainment
Management Area and Centre.
The Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector in India faced a
complete shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic during the
year 2021. However, the deeply embedded digital
transformations built over the years enabled the industry to
emerge stronger with new technology, tools and a deep
understanding of digital platforms and online applications.
The OTT ecosystem in India was hence, well placed during the
pandemic period in leveraging opportunities across diverse
markets and consumer groups in India. This is evident from
the growing presence of local language-specific markets and
programming, along with the right mix of technology.
The Media and Entertainment sector companies have also
developed digital strategies to focus on content-based
storytelling, connecting with digitally-enabled consumers, and
creating meaningful experiences for long-term
relationship-building. MICA is one of the first academic
institutions, to recognize global disruptions, the potential of
digital and creative revolution, and the power of leveraging
transformational opportunities. We have incorporated and
mainstreamed - digital transformation management in the
M&E sector, data analytics, and business management
strategy learning in our post-graduate programme
curriculum. Further, business management specialization in
the Media and Entertainment Management Area is also being
evolved with the help of industry experts.
In addition to business management, strategic marketing,
brand management, marketing analytics, corporate
governance, and cultural and creative communication
courses, the institute also offers a post-graduate-level
specialization in digital transformation – Digital
Communication Management.
This apart, MICA also conducts short-term online courses
such as the Post-Graduate Certificate Programme in Media
and Entertainment Management for working professionals.
We are developing deeper relationships and active
partnerships with the Media and Entertainment industry
leaders for offering short-term courses, executive learning
programmes, besides knowledge co-creation for innovations
and analytical research. These programmes provide
participants with a holistic understanding of the evolving
global and digital environments, digital companies and
technology platforms, business strategies, digital marketing,
creative communications, industry trends, and global
innovations to specifically focus on consumer insight mining
and engagement.This is mainly because, learning the most
effective ways of connecting the industry with consumers in a
digitally-enabled world is critical and timely.
MICA’s Media and Entertainment Management - MEM
specialization offers an increasingly attractive career path for
creative and analytical managers and leaders of the next
generation. Our pedagogical innovations in online and
campus-based teaching enhance student learning
experiences in the post-Covid world. We are committed to
enabling and facilitating a truly exciting and stimulating
life-long learning environment, and promoting experiential
education, to nurture creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship,
and futuristic strategic management.
Preeti Shroff, PhD
Dean, MICA-The School of Ideas.
Foreword
I am happy to present the fourth Indian OTT Platforms
Report 2021!

This report takes into account the period between April

2020 and March 2021. Last year was a special year for all
sectors due to COVID19. Work from home, schooling from
home, socializing from home, entertainment from home
pushed individuals to consume more and more content.
Indian digital consumption has shown tremendous growth
in the previous year. The testing times of COVID19 brought
in transformation in consumption patterns as well. Insights
of Newspaper consumers, moviegoers, music concerts
consumers, travelers, sports enthusiasts, learners, payers,
social gatherings were seamlessly transformed into digital
consumers. Regionalization of content and platforms
pushed the consumption from the rural and semi-urban
markets.

India is going to add significant numbers to the digital

consumers' database. These numbers are from the region-
al markets. Tech innovations have brought convenience to
the lives of OTT consumers. Indian OTT consumers are
primarily young, within the age bracket of 15 – 34. Despite
seeing growth in subscriptions, India largely remained an
advertising market last year. Gaming, especially e-sports,
short-form video content, news app consumption, music
platforms consumption, podcasts, video platforms
consumption, crowdsourced food content creation, and
education platforms content creation and consumption
were some of the highlights of the previous year. Indian
OTT segment is all set to get redefined with the launch of
5G.

The fourth Indian OTT Platforms Report brings a more

robust analysis for the consumers of the report. On behalf
of the entire research team, I appreciate the feedback of all
our readers. We try to incorporate something new every
year when initiating the work on the report. This year we
bring in more insights from primary and secondary
research that the entire team has put together. Moreover,
this year we bring you an additional feature of Social Media
platforms. I want to thank all the researchers and contribu-
tors, our partners ComScore, and Communications Crafts,
on behalf of the Center for Media and Entertainment
Studies (CMES), MICA, for contributing to the report. Happy
reading!

Dr. Darshan Ashwin Trivedi

Editor, Indian OTT Platforms Report and
Adjunct Faculty, MICA - The School of Ideas.
Message from CMES
We are delighted to introduce the fourth edition of MICA's OTT
report—an initiative of the Centre for Media and
Entertainment Studies (CMES). CMES—a MICA initiative that
aims to bridge the gap between Academia and the Media &
Entertainment industries through research-based solutions
for enduring contemporary issues and problems. While
focusing on academic research related to the Media and
Entertainment sector, the Centre focuses on grooming talent
with industry orientation at its core.

Apart from the MICA OTT Report, the Centre is working

seamlessly at creating innovative and collaborative platforms
for academia, industry, researchers and policymakers to find
high-end research-based solutions for everyday challenges of
the Media and Entertainment sector. In addition, the Centre is
becoming a training platform for students, practitioners, and
professionals to become the future-ready Media and
Entertainment industry leaders of India.

CMES is MICA's quest to demystify the unique identity that

'academia' and 'industry' hold, as one is 'the other' for another.
The Centre, in a nutshell, is an attempt to break the silos and
bring both 'academia' and 'industry' together and provide a
platform where knowledge is generated for sustainable
practices along with innovation research and collaborations.

This year's report showcases the ever-changing ecosystem of

the OTT in the Media and Entertainment sector in India with
increased regional consumption and content across
platforms, the challenges in the post-pandemic entertainment
ecosystem, and the opportunities for growth for different
stakeholders. The new edition of the report encapsulates the
growth story of gaming platforms, edutainment, and social
media platforms as the natural extension of OTT business in
India. This report deep dives into the growth of consumer
engagement, consumption patterns and subscription-driven
business in the OTT ecosystem of India.

We are confident that the MICA OTT report 2021 will provide
the required insight to all our readers, both in the industry and
academia.

We wish all our readers a happy reading, and CMES solicit our
reader's kind review and inputs at cmes@micamial.in

Prof. Santosh K Patra Dr. Bhaskar Das

Head, Centre for Media and Mentor, CMES
Entertainment Studies (CMES)
Prologue
Another year is completed, and we are out with another
update on our report.

It's a matter of great satisfaction for us that the report is

finding more and more readers across the entertainment,
advertising, media, news, and digital content industries
with each new volume.

What's more exciting is that we constantly get inputs,

feedback, and ideas from our colleagues across these
industries. And so, you'll find that we are continually
enriching our content with more in-depth research, more
data, more insights, and more platforms. This year, you'll
find analysis and insights on the OTT platforms, including
music services, gaming platforms, Social Media platforms,
and a few other digital platforms that are difficult to
categorize.

The rules of the game are constantly changing. A

prolonged pandemic has had unforeseen impacts on
content consumption habits and patterns. The platforms
have tried new and innovative ways to attract the audience
and keep them engaged. You'll find the report full of these
insights that have made a difference for these platforms.
We continue the tradition of engaging with industry
forerunners like Manish Kalra (Chief Busniess Officer, Zee5
India), Mr. N.P. Singh (Chief Executive Officer, Sony Pictures
Networks India (SPN)), Ali Hussein (Chief Executive Officer,
Eros Now), etc. to ensure that the insights presented in this
report are as comprehensive as possible.

Our research, analysis, and design teams have gone to

great lengths to make the report an engaging and
enriching read. I hope you enjoy consuming this content as
much as we've enjoyed making it.

Chirag Dagli
Director, Communication Crafts
Choosing the
appropriate digital
platforms for your
campaigns
Building a digital strategy is getting increasingly complicated,
fueled by the growth of new digital platforms in India. Digital
media consumption used to be dominated by global
platforms—Google and Facebook—until a few years ago,
and while they continue to be powerhouses, we are seeing
the rapid growth of new platforms where consumers are
spending more and more time. Be it in ecommerce, OTT,
Telco ecosystems, digital payment ecosystems, gaming,
short format content platforms, and in the audio
space—music aggregators, podcasts, audio books
etc—consumers are embracing a number of different digital
platforms and experiences. The job of media and marketing
professionals is certainly becoming tougher.

So how does one go about selecting the right digital

platforms for a campaign?

The starting point for all digital strategy, in fact all

marketing/media strategy, needs to begin with two key
ingredients:

1. Clear Business Objectives: Business objectives that are

SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and
Timebound.

2. Clear Audience Definition: Target audiences need to be

defined clearly and sharply. This definition should be in
alignment with the business objectives.

Only once you have both of the above can you start building
a robust strategy and choose the right channels.

For the sake of simplicity, let’s consider digital only

campaigns and look at how one should go about choosing
the right platform.

One simple approach is to look at the marketing

funnel, which is a useful tool to build the right
digital channel mix.
 Early stage in the lifecycle of a brand or product or service
when the key imperative is to build awareness and visibility.
Consciouness
Relevant for both new and relatively older brands or
products or services when the key imperative is to build
differentiation in the minds of consumers.
Considera�on
Moving consumers from contemplating buying a brand pr
product or service to actual purchase.

Conversion Conversion isn’t the end but the beginning of a customer

relationship and sustaining loyalty is even more critical
today.
Con�nuity/
Loyalty Happy customers are your best ambassadors and
encouraging positive advocacy from existing customers
Advocac helps gain new ones.
y

NB: This is certainly not a simple linear journey as consumer behavior is

evolving rapidly following far more complex journeys. However, this construct
still represents key steps in the journey and helps align business/marketing
objectives to media choices.

So how does one apply this construct to make the right

digital channel choices?

Need: High reach/ Organic: SEO, content,

targeted reach social, PR, etc
Consciouness Paid: Ads on video, display,
social, etc

Need: Credible Influencer marketing,

Considera�on Differentiation product reviews, video ads,
blogs, editorial content

Need: Push to Try or Buy Performance marketing:

Conversion Search & Social, affiliate
marketing, shopping
ads/ecommerce ads, social
Con�nuity/ commerce, etc
Loyalty
Need: Retain, increase ARPU R e m a r k e t i n g ,
personalization in comms
Advocac and offers, email and in app
y
notifications, supported by
loyalty programs

Need: Encourage positive Customer review videos,

WOM testimonials, sharable
content, etc, supported by
referral programs
While this is a broad framework to select appropriate
channels, different tactics will need to be used depending
upon: Business objective and Audience.
And once you have made the broad choices of channels, the
next step is to look at specific platforms within each channel.
Eg, YouTube vs FB vs Hotstar to run video ads, Google
shopping ads vs Fb Click to Buy ads, etc.
A number of different factors need to be considered while
choosing the right platform
• Alignment with audience profile and sizing
• Targeting options/Targeting flexibility: Eg, Lookalike
audiences, Programmatic, In market, etc
• Cost per desired metric: CPM/Cost per View for reach,
CPC/CPL for consideration, etc
• Ad tracking options/Data pass back
• Self-service or managed service platform
• Ad formats available with brand
• Performance benchmarks/metrics of each
• BAV of platform—Brand safety given content of platform,
Ad fraud likelihood and platform-specific safeguards and
viewability of your advertising asset
• Data privacy measures being adopted by the platform,
given the context of changing data protection laws
A closer look at OTTs:
OTTs have been growing rapidly as consumer and therefore
advertising platforms in India. They offer strong video ad—
programmatically as well as brand content hosting
platforms. Some are experimenting with gamification and
shoppable content, to create more avenues for brands to
leverage.
When it comes to selecting an appropriate OTT platform,
one should be looking at all the metrics mentioned above as
a starting point.
Given the absence of any single source of measurement
across OTT platforms, currently measuring the efficacy of
one Vs the other is not easy. Unless one is looking at
marquee events like cricket, choosing the right mix of OTT
platforms requires the willingness to experiment and learn.
Many brands have arrived at the desired mix of OTT
platforms by spending across multiple OTT platforms and
then measuring response from each. An alternative is to use
emerging tools like Google’s Ads Data Hub (ADH), which can
be used to determine the incremental reach delivered by
each OTT platform in a mix, and therefore use the ones that
deliver a good incremental reach.
As the OTT ecosystem evolves, players will enhance the
advertising capabilities, including sharper targeting options,
self-service platforms, more rich media ad options,
influencer marketing on platform, etc. This is a core
entertainment platform that is here to stay, and the earlier
advertisers start experimenting with OTT, the faster they can
learn and grow.
Closing comments
For any business looking to scale up, the choice of digital
platforms is a learning journey. The process above lays down
a systematic approach to go from business objectives to
media objectives to media channels to media platforms. In
the early stages of scaling up digital media, this will provide
marketers with a start.
However, its important to remember that different brands,
even within the same category, see different responses from
different channels and platforms. Therefore it is important
to deploy measurement right from the early stages of scaling
up digital media spends.
The right measurement framework allows brands to
measure the efficacy of specific channels/platforms over a
period of time, and therefore make more informed
decisions about which platforms to go with, for the long
term. Test and Learn, Matched Market tests,
Multi-touchpoint attribution, Media Mix modeling, etc, are
just some of the ways one needs to test the efficacy of
different media channels and finalize the ideal media mix.
Therefore, measurement should never be an afterthought
but a part and extension of the media planning process.
Continuous measurement provides truly value insights that
allow marketers to optimize media channel mixes and
improve ROIs.
And finally, given the context of the Indian digital
environment and its continued evolution, we need to
recognize that there will always be the emergence of new
channels and new platforms. Once these fall within the
criteria articulated above, it is prudent to test these out and
measure efficacy and then decide regular adoption. Eg:
Connected TV, Social Commerce, Programmatic Digital
outdoor, etc, are currently at a nascent stage of
development but early experience with these could unlock
great potential and give brands an early lead in using these
platforms to achieve their business goals.
Andy Chakravarthy
OTT Regulations: The
challenges
and opportunities
“With greater power comes great responsibility” is a dictum
oft heard. While a few media houses in India began to
experiment and enter the traditional non-linear markets,
the titanic shift to the digital world began around 2015. The
adversities of the pandemic saw an impetus being given to
this alternate, more convenient mode of entertainment,
and it was only a matter of time before the Wild Wild West
got tamed, or at least was channeled in a certain direction.

Conventional content and distribution means are now

being challenged by non-conventional content, thoughts,
social issues, distribution formats, etc. The chasm between
law with technology still stays, and the shifting goalpost in
respect to values and traditions once held so dear, are
some of the reasons that it became pertinent and
important that certain guidelines and a direction be given to
the OTT platforms. While we would like to believe that the
OTT phoenix would rise from the ashes, it would be utopian
to consider that one of the oldest civilizations in the world
would disregard centuries of underlining social fibres, to
embark on a journey which is unknown and as yet
undefined.

The writing on the wall for a kind of streamlining began to

gain momentum as OTT platforms grew from mere
non-linear television to curated content. This need reached
a kind of criticality when individually created content was
being uploaded and being seen across different
geographical locations.
Criticality was reached when such social influencers began
to gain prominence with not even an iota of responsibility
for content posted by them. The pandemic and the
lockdown in India and the world over gave rise to a new
breed of content creators.

In many cases, the content created by such persons on

such OTT platforms/websites, was devoid of basic
accuracies and and/or cultural sensitivities. All that was now
needed was a basic phone with an inbuilt camera and the
aspiration to become famous and known. Gone was the
need for having a set-up or even basic checks and balances
in place.

The new rules seem to encourage the OTT platforms and

give them an opportunity to draw their own “Laxman
Rekhas”—a kind of a soft-touch approach being m a d e
by the government to the various
stakeholders.
One of the biggest requirements has indeed been
considered in the new rules i.e. gatekeeping. Opportunity
has been given to the stakeholders to self-determine the
classification of their content. A leaf has been taken from
existing laws while adding a three-age classification under
the U/A classification (7+, 13+, and 16+). By retaining the U
(Universal) and A (Adult) categories, it has been recognized
that content can be on various topics and issues, including
specific content for adults. While OTT platforms are
required to have in place control mechanisms through
which online curated content may be made available on
verification of certain perimeters, it would be unfair to the
stakeholders where parents choose not to exercise such
controls or abdicate their parental responsibilities and use
the OTT platforms as a scapegoat.
The new rules also provide an opportunity to the
stakeholders to resolve issues and grievances at individual
corporate levels and then at industry partner levels, failing
which such grievances would be escalated to the oversight
mechanism of the inter-department committee. This
inter-department committee seems to be a concern with
various stakeholders, as it is often the case of upholding the
status quo and/or approaching the situation through
well-defined structures, which may not be industry-friendly.
The rules as presently envisaged are both, a challenge and
an opportunity—a challenge to implement some of the rules
now mandated by law and an opportunity to streamline and
structure a largely unstructured aspect of the media, which
is mainly driven by commercial constraints.
The present rules seem to be an attempt, perhaps for the
first time, to infuse some semblance of structure and
direction in the OTT sector. Though these rules have been
challenged in various courts across India, interestingly, they
have not been stayed by any court. These rules, however, will
have to face the test of time and judicial scrutiny, especially
in matters of creativity and the free-thinking mind and spirit
of every Indian.
Like all new and emerging industries, a gentle hand-holding
may be needed till the child grows into an adult discerning its
own future and path ahead. While time will be the judge of
this journey, one can only hope that future generations look
kindly upon us as the basis of their future is presently being
set by us.
Adv. Dominic D’souza
(Media - Legal, Strategy, Regulatory)

The new rules pertaining to intermediaries and the

temporary or intermediate storage of information/content
by service providers seems to be bringing it in line with
extant laws, especially in matters of state, security, and
personal laws. The challenge, however, lies in the taking
down and/or blocking, and the other responsibilities being
added to such service providers.

The OTT segment largely depends on which hat one dons.

From a governmental point of view, issues such as national
security, upholding fundamental rights, data protection,
uncontrolled dissemination of fake news or privacy-related
issues are just some of the challenges while balancing these
against national interest and individual freedoms. For an
OTT service provider, the challenges are different in nature,
perhaps the biggest challenge being the diversity of India
and the oversensitivity of certain people, while keeping
commercial aspects in mind. The content provider/creator
for an OTT platform has yet another set of challenges while
“telling the story”. Will the content be accepted at face value
as a work of art and fiction, or as a dissenting voice, thereby
exposing themselves and the platform to unnecessary and
frivolous litigation or would “playing safe” be a better option?
The biggest beneficiary in all of this perhaps, is the end
consumer, who is now suffering from an abundance of
choices and options. The end consumer, however, is faced
with the dilemma, especially where non-fiction content is
concerned, as to the accuracy and authenticity of such
content; in places where emotions and sensitivities get
blurred, fiction is often considered to be a fact.
FROM PRINT TO DIGITAL –
INSIGHTS OF THE INDIAN
INFORMATION SEEKER
As we have transitioned from print to digital over the past
few decades, the Indian information seeker has transformed
and transitioned too. The requirements of the consumer
have changed to a great extent. Back in the days when
breaking news was still a thing and news was broken on
radio or television, the information seeker or consumer was
passive because the information was passed from one to
many. The only way they probably involved themselves was
through discussing the news over tea or at places such as
book clubs, etc. With the rapid growth of digital platforms,
the information seeker has innumerable places from where
the information can be obtained. This has made the seeker
become dynamically involved. They actively participate by
indulging in debates and discussions through tweets,
through comments, and many other ways. This has definitely
empowered the information consumer. They often generate
the news themselves through content creation, citizen
journalism, and the infamous WhatsApp University.

This article sheds light on the shift in consumption of news,

consumption of entertainment, content segmentation, and
the changing consumer behavior. It traces the evolution of
media from print to digital.

Shift in news/information consumption

The growth of digital platforms has ensured the migration of

consumers from passive to active. Active participation has its
own advantages and disadvantages. There are some
advantages of citizen journalism and content creation; for
instance, the video of a disaster or calamity taken by the
seeker himself might reach people even before the
journalist reaches the spot, grassroot level issues often get
highlighted, etc. However, there is a major disadvantage too.
The disadvantage here is the verification process.
Information given out through digital platforms and social
media cannot be easily verified. This unverified information
often becomes news.

Shift in entertainment consumption

There was a time when people used to wait for

Chitrahaar to watch Bollywood songs. In those
days, we had only magazines, newspapers,
radio, and television as a medium of consuming
content. Also, the number of TV channels and
radio stations were fewer as compared to today.
Due to the mass communication platforms and channels
being few in number, the content was not as varied as it is
today.
Today, we can watch a Raj Kapoor movie with a click as well
as a Rajkumar Rao movie. Not just movies, but content is also
spread across topics and categories. This wide variety of
content ensures that consumers of all age groups and
different psychographic traits have something of their
interest.
Digital media and social media have content ranging from
politics to entertainment, health to automobile, social issues
to gossip. And not only this, the content is also further
divided into niche categories. For instance, health content
will be divided into various sub-topics such as fitness,
nutrition, yoga, body positivity, etc. This leads to
community-led content, also known as the phenomenon of
tribalism.
Content segmentation and changing consumer
behaviour
This niche content creation allows the consumer to do
research before making purchase decisions. For instance, if
someone has to buy a car, they would do in-depth research
before going to the dealership. And not just cars, consumers
are often researching for relatively small purchases such as
home appliances etc. Even before watching a movie, a
consumer is researching by reading several movie reviews
and then deciding whether to watch it or not. Consumers
today want to improve and empower themselves by
increasing their knowledge and digital platforms help them
do so.
Give a child a magazine and they might throw it away; give
them an iPad or any other gadget and they would happily
spend hours with it. This is because a magazine is not
interactive. Young information seekers want their
information to come through interactive media. With the
advancement of technology and growth of the digital world,
communication is no longer a one-way street; it has become
a two-way process. People are not interested in platforms
which do not allow information to be shared. Whether
Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp or any of these popular digital
platforms, information can be shared within seconds with
just one click.
Medium and consumer transition: from print to
digital
Print was a process which took time--time to write, time to
print. This ensured that information being given out was
confirmed and cross-checked.
Now with news being shared with a single click of a button,
verification and authenticity become the casualties. This
has caused a poverty of trust and poverty of attention
amongst the consumers. They have developed a syndrome
called ‘continuous partial attention’ or attention deficit
hyperactvity disorder syndrome.
With print, the audience was making a conscious choice to
read. The medium was passive but the audience was active.
They picked up the newspaper or magazine and decided
what to read and what to skip. In the case of television, the
medium is active whereas the audience is passive; they can
multitask. However, today, because of the digital space
being huge, the medium and the audience are both active.
In terms of marketing challenges from print to digital, we
must understand that now the narrative is transmedia.
Previously, the competition was inter category and now it is
intra category. A consumer has the choice to keep moving
from one platform to another and from one medium to
another.
To conclude, the journey and evolution of the consumer
has influenced the transition from print to digital. The
format only supports the activism of consumers. Also, one
must remember that the consumer is platform agnostic
and hence, all mediums will continue to survive. They will
survive complementarity with each other or as a substitute
to other media platforms.
“Technology comes after your life.” – Dr. Bhaskar Das

Apart from interactivity, there are other factors related to

user experience which become important for today’s
information seeker. Use of graphics, the aesthetic sense,
the speed of communication, app interface, etc., all
determine which platforms the users will use the most.
Initially, the company was the dissenter. Then, the brand
became the dissenter of activity. Now, the consumer is the
king.
Evolving OTT Platforms
with Blockchain
Technology
Blockchain is an arrangement of recording data that makes
it difficult to alter. It is a distributed digital ledger that
provides a secure, transparent, and traceable way of
making and recording transactions, agreements, and
contracts between multiple parties. Blockchain allows the
storage and processing of data in a distributed manner
across its participating members (i.e. nodes). The key idea is
that no central body has singular control over the data or
content, and therefore it cannot be deleted or altered
without being recorded.

Over-The-Top (OTT) implies bursting content across various

gadgets at whatever location we need. It is a helpful little
term that clarifies the new technique for streaming film and
TV content over the internet without the requirement of
conventional transmission, link, or satellite compensation
TV administrations.

India’s OTT video consumption (Consultancy.in, 2021)

Industry and web search information show viewership on

OTT platforms undoubtedly spiked during lockdowns,
particularly in more modest towns and urban areas. The
early impact has not been supported for all stages in the
same, yet net viewership keeps on being a lot higher than
during the pre-pandemic months. Paid memberships on
OTT apps developed to 29 million by July 2020—an
increase of 31% (Shahidi T., 2020) in only four
months, as per statistics accessible with India
Brand Equity Foundation.
Notwithstanding, the one major undertaking that the area
has gone into the new year is to hold the premium of the
sizable community market. Blockchain empowers direct
support in the organization for buyers, content makers, and
foundation suppliers.
Blockchain-controlled change is inescapable, and the speed
of experimentation and advancement is amazing. It's
justifiable given that Blockchain will give a business an
addition of $176 billion by 2025 and $3.1 trillion by 2030
(Gartner, 2019) across ventures. Blockchain innovation
can address the media and OTT industry's long-standing
battles with issues.
Typically, the value of digital content slowly decreases,
because the value of content can usually be determined
through the difficulty of its accessibility. Hence, digital
content that becomes easily available in open-source
environments will become worthless to the creator over a
period of time, which is common in OTT content. Currently,
there is no way to track the copyright infringement or
leakage for the spread of digital content. Blockchain
technology has the right set of framework and tools for
content protection. It can be based on the digital watermark
and a blockchain-based system that allows only authorized
users to use online content and provide original multimedia
content. While the digital watermarking is used to reclaim
the copyright ownership of offline contents in the event
when the contents are leaked.
Today’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) solutions are
complex as they were not developed to support the diverse
business models, such as music downloads, streaming
services, multiple devices ownership, etc. Usage data today
is really siloed with record companies, studios, publishers,
and distributors. Blockchain brings self-executing smart
contracts that can really make the DRM for OTT industry
(music/videos) transparent, accessible, easy to understand,
and enable monetization with fair distribution of wealth
among the content creators. It removes intermediaries and
exploiters. Here’s an instance supporting this notion: A
system can exist where advanced content creators can get
directly paid by their fans without giving out huge
percentages of their deals to mediators. This
hindrance-less correspondence framework is conceivable
through blockchain, eliminating secret go-between
expenses; it also assists craftsmen with building up an
immediate client relationship with their fans. Blockchain
likewise assists them with naturally dealing with the permit,
IP (Intellectual Property) and agreement-related issues as
brilliant agreements.
Blockchain makes showcasing speculation focused on
which assists advertisers with estimating promoting
endeavors and their effectiveness. Few limited companies
have enjoyed monopoly in digital advertising space over the
last decade. The advertisement industry is looking for new
solutions due to a lack of trust emerging courtesy
advertisement frauds, bot traffic, and discrepancy over
online advertisement consumption data. Blockchain offers
a single source of truth to brands, so that they can see a
truly transparent picture of their investment across the
digital supply chain. Blockchain, with its distributed ledger
approach, reduces the chances of alteration to advertised
data. Advertisement auctioning process will be easier and
transparent with the help of blockchain-based advertising
platforms.
CDN (Content Delivery Networks) have emerged as a
powerful media delivery solution, addressing scalability and
delay-sensitivity concerns for OTT. It does this by storing the
frequently used content closer to the user. Blockchain can
effectively control storing in distributed systems (unused
capacity in multiple users' machines) and so brings
transparency in rewards for participating users for offering
their infrastructure that can be treated as additional CDN
layer (Micro CDN) As per the most recent insights, video
streaming will represent 82% of all internet traffic by 2022
(Streaming Media Magazine, 2020). Considering internet
traffic is relied upon to arrive at 4.8 zettabytes (Cisco, 2018),
having 4 zettabytes for video alone. (One zettabyte is 1021
bytes). Since the making of Bitcoin in 2009, both blockchain
innovation and the world have made some amazing
progress. The worth and use cases for this sort of
decentralized and changeless timestamping are boundless.
Truth be told, the appropriation of timestamping based on
blockchain is probably already being seen across numerous
areas and enterprises worldwide. It very well may be utilized
for administration, exchanging, installments, protection,
supply chains, and considerably more.
In conclusion, Blockchain brings trust and transparency to
the OTT ecosystem. Blockchain innovations will play an
important role in a number of aspects, including securing
content distribution, legalities, copyright protection,
contribution-based wealth distribution, digital
advertisement auctions, and many more. Watch out! Within
5 years, we will be able to see innovations that outperform
the capacities of the present OTT arrangements.
Nikhil Shah,
CEO and Founder, Cilans Systems
(Data Science and Blockchain Solutions)
Theatres Vs OTT: Will
Indian audiences go
back to movie theatres
to enjoy their favorite
films?
For close to a century, Indian entertainment consumers
enjoyed their favorite movies on the big screen—which later
came to be known as the ‘theatrical movie experience’. For
almost 5 decades since 1975, with the introduction of
television in people’s homes, the big screens coexisted with
millions of small screens in households, providing viewers a
choice of experiences in entertainment consumption. An
entire business ecosystem encompassing theatrical,
television and music rights of movies, television soaps and
serials emerged and took shape around these two types of
screens.

Fast forward to 2010… the world stumbled upon the reality

of entertainment in the digital space. One of the earliest
movers was Netflix, which rapidly changed its delivery
system to video streaming technology and digitization of
thousands of hours of content. Over-The-Top (OTT)
entertainment, as this technology came to be known, is
burgeoning into a multi-billion dollar industry in India,
cannibalizing smoothly into the established bastion of
traditional television, cinema theatres, radio, and other
traditional forms of entertainment.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way

audiences consume media in a dramatic but sure shift.
Consumers easily adopted OTT platforms that offered a mix
of convenience, productivity, and low cost. The growing
market and consumer appetite for content of choice
available on these platforms fueled this enormous demand.
OTT offers a ‘never before consumer
experience’—enormous choice of content across multiple
genres, ease of access, choice of device/mediums (smart
phones, tablets, laptops, and connected TV screens) and so
far, a liberal censorship policy. In fact, today’s OTTs have
given us the new www mantra of content—whatever,
whenever, wherever. Gone are the days when
enthusiastic family members fought for screen time of
choice on the singular television screen.
Size of the OTT market
The Indian OTT market (video and audio) is currently
estimated at USD1.8 billion (INR13,500 crores) and is further
expected to grow to USD4.2 billion by 2025 and USD12.5
billion by 2030. This growth will be fueled by increasing daily
hours of internet consumption, smartphone penetration,
and further reduction in data costs.
There is no doubt that media consumption on OTT
platforms in India has come to stay and has significantly
transformed the entertainment business. These platforms
have been attracting billions of new subscribers on
concurrent basis and the platforms themselves are
investing thousands of crores on technology, content, and
customer acquisition. It is not very clear how these
investments will pay off in the coming years. In addition to
the top favorites viz Netflix, Disney+Hotstar and Amazon
Prime Video, the space is seeing a plethora of local and
regional OTT players—MX Player, Zee5, ErosNow, Voot,
SonyLiv, AltBalaji, AHA, and Hoichoi. In a country like India,
which has over 25+ official languages, OTT platforms can
ignore regional content only at their own peril. The OTT
market in India is estimated to grow at the CAGR of 28.6%
over the next 4 years.
Emerging OTT business models
The key business models currently in usage are described
below:
a. Subscription-based Video On Demand (SVOD): Users
pay fixed subscription charges to access the content
repository
b. Advertising-based Video on Demand (AVOD): Users
watch content for free and platforms earn revenue
through advertisements
c. Freemium: Users watch content for free upto a certain
limit and platforms earn revenue through both
advertisement and subscriptions
d. Transactional Video on demand (TVOD): Users pay
one-time payment on pay-per-view basis instead of
subscribing to the OTT packages
e. Telecom Revenue: Users need to pay only the telco
charges and receive complimentary access to the OTT
platforms
It is increasingly being discussed and debated whether
consumers (the audience) will come back to the cinema
halls once there is a normalization after the pandemic.
While we are still in the midst of the pandemic, this is a
challenging question to answer.
When theatres briefly opened up for a few weeks at the end
of the first wave, it was observed that only a few movies,
Master and Tenet to be specific, attracted house-full shows.
Social distancing and safety protocols went for a toss, which
led to the belief that the pull of the big screen to enjoy
specific star-studded films was strong enough to overcome
the fear factor. Psychologists also attributed this
phenomenon to a possible claustrophobia—remaining
shuttered down within four walls for several months. This
established our long-held belief that moviegoing, being a
highly immersive experience and a social one too, is
something that cannot be easily substituted by home
entertainment. The mix of the audience coming to theatres
post the pandemic might undergo a change; we may expect
the 18 to 45 age group to come back to screens in large
numbers and adopt ‘revenge movie watching’ in
multiplexes. However, with almost 2,000 screens, mostly
single and double screens, getting shuttered down
permanently in India post the pandemic, this phenomenon
would be interesting to wait and watch…
What the future holds for OTT
The Indian OTT industry is poised for significant growth with
access to better networks, digital connectivity, and huge
content production across languages and genres. OTT
platforms in India are increasingly attracting subscribers on
a daily basis. At the same time, we may expect the OTT
landscape to get hyper competitive in the next 4-5 years
and the service providers will have to strive very hard to
emerge as a preferred platform among consumers.
The quality of content will always remain a major driver of
consumer growth. The industry has witnessed a
phenomenal rise in original content being aired on OTT
platforms. Back in 2018, more than 40% of the overall
production budgets of the entire world came from Netflix
and Amazon alone. It is also interesting that apart from
creating original content for bingewatching, OTT network
and production houses are seeing value in acquiring rights
to live events and performances, a kind of shadow play of
television shows. The first ever OTT Awards night was a
recent highlight for Indian audiences when they saw
Filmfare and OTT platforms join forces for the first time
ever. The enthusiastic Indian audience can expect more of
such landmark events in the coming years.
Kandaswamy Bharathan
Joint Managing Director, Kavithalayaa Productions Pvt. Ltd.
& Visiting Faculty, MICA & IIM A
OTTRACTION: The Battle
for Brand Experience.
Here’s an experiment. Let’s imagine that you have
subscribed to these three OTT (Over The Top)
platforms—Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney
Hotstar. Ok—Fire these up on your laptop, phone or
television. And now, try navigating through them, looking for
something nice to watch. You must have done this a lot of
times during the ongoing pandemic, but it still isn’t easy.
Every experience feels so different. Why do they make it so
difficult? Why can’t they just keep one way of doing things?

Well, they don’t want to—each OTT player wants the

experience that you have with them to be very
different—and better—than any other. This kind of
differentiation—the one that goes beyond content—seems
to be one of the key frontiers that all of these services are
battling over currently.

It wasn’t always like this. Remember the Cable & Satellite

(C&S) generation? In that simpler time, if you were to put
your palm over the spot where the logo of the channel was
on your TV, chances were that you could only guess the
channel’s name based on the program you were watching.
Recognize the program, recognize the channel. As a
channel, your brand’s user experience was based almost
exclusively on your content.

But now it’s different. An OTT player’s brand experience has

become a key for differentiation. From a marketing
perspective, we need to understand the chronology of
events to know how we’ve reached here:

- The battle for attention began with OTT channels aiming

to go beyond being niche players and attract users from
C&S homes. OTT platforms have now partially succeeded in
this—creating a category shift. Audiences are going OTT first,
and India is the fastest growing OTT platform worldwide,
slated to be number six in the world in the near future. (PwC
report 2020)

- Once the category shift was underway, various revenue

models and pricing strategies were also firmed up: AVOD
(advertising-led), SVOD (ongoing subscriptions), TVOD (one
transaction at a time), and hybrid (mixture of everything).
With so many players in the market, the strategic emphasis
shifted from just attracting people to category to
differentiation between players.
- There’s been a learning curve for all players—and the
category has now been quickly divvied up into various
segments, mainly driven by pricing and content type.
Pricing now seems to be across the spectrum, with
Netflix at one end of it and the rest of the players
huddled at the other end. Netflix, however, is trying
pricing variations, especially on its latest Netflix mobile
plan—an attempt to lower the price of entry into the
category.
- Content seems to be driven based on the inherent
strengths of each OTT player: Netflix on originals;
Amazon Prime Video on rustic, rural, and non-metro
driven content; Disney+HotStar on kid’s content and live
sports.
- The core differentiation strategy so far has been on the
content and its marketing. We’re aware that creating
premium content (Netflix leads here), leveraging existing
content (Disney), livestreaming sports (Hotstar), renting
out content (Disney+Hotstar), and acquiring new content
(MGM acquired by Amazon) have been central to the
race so far. The marketing has been interesting as well,
exemplified by Netflix creating content on YouTube and
advertising on C&S channels, and Amazon Prime Videos
doing college and community-driven events.
- However, this current “content-driven differentiation and
marketing” is expensive, time-consuming, and perhaps
unsustainable. It’s not enough to have just one arrow in
the quiver. Loyalty and engagement now have become
core marketing goals, therefore leading to the building of
a better brand experience going beyond the content.
Smart marketers across OTT platforms are looking to
develop an ever-improving brand experience when on the
platform. Marketers are looking at user data and behavioral
science for delivering this—just like social media platforms
have done successfully. And they’re on their way.
Let’s look at a few examples to know how this is being played
out currently:
- Browse Netflix and it will impress you with its tiles that
come to life when you hover on them (or annoy you if
they haven’t accurately understood the content you
might want to watch). Netflix will not only read your
mind—it will also urge you to impetuously click to
“viewing something remotely attractive mode” (Thinking
Fast—System 1 thinking), without trying to make a
rational choice (Thinking Slow—System 2 thinking).
Netflix’s engagement model seems to focus on churning
through a lot of content for you, based on your profile, of
course.
- Go to Amazon Prime Video, and the difference in
navigation to go to what you want to watch is
immediately visible. The experience is less
overwhelming; it allows you to “browse” rather than skip.
Even within a Series, you can pause to know more about
the actors and the like. It’s a reversal of
systems—Thinking Slow dominates. This approach
reflects a different kind of marketing, where each
subscriber makes rational choices. Even when Amazon
Prime Video is marketing “What’s your mood”? it’s not
predicting things for you; it is asking you to make a
thoughtful choice.
- Experience Disney+Hotstar, and you’ll be remindedof
Amazon Prime Video, with more emphasis on 'search’.
What’s notable is that their platform’s links have
old-school names (TV, films, and the like). This is very
different from Netflix’s new age nomenclature (Series).
These examples let us know how these platforms are
thinking about differentiating their brand experience that
goes beyond content. Of course, ethics plays a big part of
marketing. To an outsider, surprisingly, Amazon Prime
Video’s current brand experience seems to focus on some
kind of data privacy ethics much more than the data
profiling AI-driven mechanics of a Netflix.
Watch this space to see how it develops further. Here’s a
prediction: With Virtual and Augmented Reality coming into
the picture, it’s likely that the brand experience of each OTT
platform will become more “social” than ever.
Imagine The Family Man having an exclusive conversation
with you, or any other popular character of your choice.
Imagine your avatar having a watch party with avatars of
your friends based on your current mood.
Coming soon to a virtual world near you.
…Siddharth Deshmukh
The emergence of BIG
DATA: Powering the OTT
ecosystem
Statistician, Professor, Author, and Consultant, W Edwards
Deming once famously said, “In God, we trust; all others
bring data.”

Amongst all sectors, the OTT sector is the one that has built
an entire industry successfully perched on data.

OTTs revolutionized the way people across the world view

content. The content watching habit moved from being a
family affair in the living room to cozy corners (or during
travel), where one could watch content of their preference
at their own convenience. OTT viewing has now further
evolved into a distinctly individual experience or a
hangout-with-your-tribe activity. And now that the demand
has been created, the big question facing OTTs is: how do
we cater to so many distinct preferences?

The answer to this lies in DATA.

Curating for distinct preferences

Like everybody else’s family, mine too has individual profiles
for every member on the streaming platforms that we use.
However, not one profile will have the same
recommendation home page as the other. And
while it’s a simple algorithm trick, the technology
behind it has revolutionized the manner in which
content is served and consumed by the masses.

Every OTT platform is privy to information about

the minutest activity that a viewer records on their
platform. The nature of the data—the point at which
it is collected, the frequency of collection,
collation of results, and how we utilize the
insights thereof—throws light on various
aspects of viewer behavior on the platform.
This assists with decisions to be made
about content genres to be invested in,
tackling the point of churn and such, that
make this a very powerful tool in the
hands of platforms today. Predictive
analysis has, in fact, developed as one of
the foremost tools in deepening the
reach of these platforms.
Big data analysis has thrown up interesting insights to help
platforms cross the content chasm. Algorithms are
constantly studying viewing patterns extensively. The
recommendation engine, built on the back of robust
AI-powered meta-data, has revolutionized the content
game, with platforms being able to customize the content
served to each viewer.
Building a seamless experience
As OTTs expand horizons to go global, optimizing viewer
experiences becomes imperative to stay relevant. In-depth
data analysis using real-time and historic data offers granular
feedback to the platforms, enabling them to quell potential
churn by introducing features and innovations to improve
viewer experience.
For eg: I am a huge fan of knowing behind-the-scenes details
about English classics when I watch them, and I need them
immediately. In the past, I would roll off the platform, and get
caught up in reading reams and reams of content. Now,
however, the trivia icon on the screen itself ensures that I go
no farther than a click on the same page.
Oftentimes, talk about the use of big data to fuel OTT
businesses stops at recommendation engines and viewer
experience. However, there is a realm beyond this too—one
that has keen bearing on the revenue stream of the platform,
and therefore on the sustainability of the business itself.
Developing effective advertising solutions
Brand integration into content has rapidly emerged as a
leading revenue generator for OTT platforms across the
world. Given that viewer retention is top priority for them,
OTTs only allow for non-invasive ways of advertising; any
formats that compromise user experience or user interface
would sound the death knell for the platform. Data collected
may be sliced and diced by demography and geography to
design evidence-based bespoke campaigns to suit specific
advertiser asks.
The State Of OTT Advertising In 2020: Strong And Gaining
Momentum (forbes.com)
Optimising the technical infrastructure
OTTs have also begun to optimize available data to draw
territory-specific nuances that offer strong insights into
device demographics supporting platform infrastructure.
The strongest data networks that offer high-speed data
streaming in the region, incidences of piracy from the
market, engagement with smaller local broadband players
who are still strong contenders in tier II markets, are all
insights that have come from analysis of data
The RBSA report on the media industry, released in
July 2021, showed that India's OTT industry is set to be
worth US$15 billion by 2030. And this prediction isn’t far
from reality, given some of the statistics one sees today. Data
from December 2020 shows that the average monthly data
usage per user in India has increased 20% year-on-year to
13.5GB as Indians spent about five hours daily on a
smartphone, as per the Mobile Broadband India Traffic Index
(Mbit) 2021.
Smartphones with affordable data plans have made strong
inroads across the country. This has brought the requisite
infrastructure to people’s fingertips across the country and
created a massive opportunity. The next wave of growth in
the OTT landscape, thus, will be propelled by the Tier II, III, IV
cities and the Indian regional languages-speaking
population.
As Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and executive
chairman of parent company Alphabet Inc., said, “There
were 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn
of civilization and 2003, but that much information is now
created every 2 days.”
That said, there is another round of data tsunami that is
about to be unleashed, and platforms are gearing up to
harness it to the best of their abilities.
Tarun Katial
Investor and Founder in Media Tech and Edu Tech
Towards a Conscious
Content Culture (CCC)
We live in a world of connectivity and consumerism,
primarily shaped by the factor called content. Consumerism
led by the content and connectivity of the 21st century is not
limited to the idea of selling a product. Still, it has started
defining every realm of business, politics, society, and
individual self. This is further becoming important when the
pandemic has redefined human existence by replacing
everything physical, face-to-face to content-driven human
existence, whether print, audio or audio-visual, or even
experiential. We are dealing with a complex social reality
where seamless connectivity through technological
integration has given uniform 'accesses' to the
meta-narrative of content. Access to content has been the
most significant achievement of the 21st century through
digital narratives. Be it content for information or
entertainment, content has become the key to bringing
consumers together for any segment and any form of the
business. This is driving every facet of life and every industry
segment and has turned into one of the biggest businesses
in itself.

If we talk about the content business in general, no other

industry like Media and Entertainment has witnessed growth
and disruption. Growth and de-growth are happening within
formats; content is becoming format neutral; competition is
not happening from within the format but from outside.
Over the Top (OTT) is becoming the norm across all textual,
audio, visual or experiential formats. The unprecedented
growth of the OTT has also raised the alarm for the
unprecedented yet unregulated content consumption.

Equal and uniform access has posed multiple

threats not only for consumers but also for
creators. From consumers' perspective, it is
all about choice and access hence
the growth.

However, the challenge lies in the conscious

or unconscious. From the creator's
perspective, it is more about engagement
and Return on Investment than what
that engagement leads to. This is
where the need for control both
on consumption and creation,
but the devil lies in who will bell
the cat.

The time has come in India's OTT

environment to consider a
conscious creation and consumption
of digital content. When being mindful, either in the creation
or consumption of content, one should not forget about
becoming a conscious creator or consumer. The journey of
achieving a conscious creator or consumer needs to
undergo social, ethical, and legal watchdogs. Many people
have argued for a digital content regulation policy to ensure
fair content creation and consumption like any other media
format. However, I tend to differ with a blanket digital
content regulation. Unlike other media formats, digital
media, be OTT or otherwise, have enormous technological
advantages to play with the blanket digital content
regulation. I would argue for a journey to create a conscious
content and consumption environment by adopting a
multi-method approach. Some of my thoughts for creating
conscious content creation and consumption are as
bellows:
Different advisory and regulatory frameworks for the
content creator and content consumers.
For content creators-
It is essential to have a regulatory framework to classify
content without disrupting what to create. This should be
beyond universal/adult or genre classifications. This is the
high time to categorise content with precise psychographic
segmentations.
To ensure content segmentation, I would strongly suggest
that digital content creators review their content in a defined
psychographic segmentation before taking it to consumers.
The time has come to create a content audit system like the
financial audit system. Maybe an institution is waiting to be
formed as the Content Audit Bureau of India to produce
certified content auditors.
This will be a big boost towards achieving a conscious
content creator environment
Oftentimes, talk about the use of big data to fuel OTT
businesses stops at recommendation engines and viewer
experience. However, there is a realm beyond this too—one
that has keen bearing on the revenue stream of the platform,
and therefore on the sustainability of the business itself.
Developing effective advertising solutions
Brand integration into content has rapidly emerged as a
leading revenue generator for OTT platforms across the
world. Given that viewer retention is top priority for them,
OTTs only allow for non-invasive ways of advertising; any
formats that compromise user experience or user interface
would sound the death knell for the platform. Data collected
may be sliced and diced by demography and geography to
design evidence-based bespoke campaigns to suit specific
advertiser asks.
The State Of OTT Advertising In 2020: Strong And Gaining
Momentum (forbes.com)
Optimising the technical infrastructure
OTTs have also begun to optimize available data to draw
territory-specific nuances that offer strong insights into
device demographics supporting platform infrastructure.
The strongest data networks that offer high-speed data
streaming in the region, incidences of piracy from the
market, engagement with smaller local broadband players
who are still strong contenders in tier II markets, are all
insights that have come from analysis of data
The RBSA report on the media industry, released in
July 2021, showed that India's OTT industry is set to be
worth US$15 billion by 2030. And this prediction isn’t far
from reality, given some of the statistics one sees today. Data
from December 2020 shows that the average monthly data
usage per user in India has increased 20% year-on-year to
13.5GB as Indians spent about five hours daily on a
smartphone, as per the Mobile Broadband India Traffic Index
(Mbit) 2021.
Smartphones with affordable data plans have made strong
inroads across the country. This has brought the requisite
infrastructure to people’s fingertips across the country and
created a massive opportunity. The next wave of growth in
the OTT landscape, thus, will be propelled by the Tier II, III, IV
cities and the Indian regional languages-speaking
population.
As Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and executive
chairman of parent company Alphabet Inc., said, “There
were 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn
of civilization and 2003, but that much information is now
created every 2 days.”
That said, there is another round of data tsunami that is
about to be unleashed, and platforms are gearing up to
harness it to the best of their abilities.
Prof. Santosh K Patra
Head, Centre for Media and Entertainment Studies
(CMES)
Index
Background 32

Video Platforms
Disney+Hotstar 44
MX Player 48
Youtube 52
Jio Cinema 56
Hungama 60
Voot 64
Zee5 68
Alt Balaji 74
SonyLIV 78
Eros Now 84
Sun NXT 90
Ullu 94
Amazon Prime Video 98
Viu 102
Netflix 106
TVF 112
Yupp TV 116
Hoichoi 120
Adda Times 124
Shemaroo 126
Mubi 130
Manorama MAX 134
Aha 138
Big Flix 142
Discovery Plus 144

Music Platforms
Amazon Prime Music 148
Spotify 152
Ganna 156
Wynk Music 160
Jiosaavn 164
Apple Music 168
Hungama Music 172
Gaming Platforms
Candy Crush Saga 176
8 Ball pool 180
PUBG 184
Subway Surfers 188
Clash of Clans 192
Doodle Army 2 196
Ludo King 200
Clash Royale 204
Coin Master 208

Social Media Platforms

Whatsapp 212
Facebook 216
Twitter 220
Instagram 224
Linkedin 228
Snapchat 232
Telegram 236
Pintrest 240

Edutainment Platforms
Byju’s 244
Vedantu 248

Bundled Platforms
Vi Play 252
Airtel Xstream 256
032 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
 Digital Infrastructure
BACKGROUND From close to 251.59 million Internet subscribers in 2015,
India has come a long way with 749.07 million subscribers
in 2020. With an estimated population of 1.38 billion in the
country, internet marks close to 55% penetration. While
98% of urban India had access to internet, close to 33%
rural India could consume content on the internet in 2020.

Internet/Broadband Subscribers

Total Internet Subscribers 749.07 Million

% change over previous quarter 0.79%

Narrowband subscribers 50.84 Million

Broadband subscribers 698.23 Million

Wired Internet Subscribers 23.05 Million

Wireless Internet Subscribers 726.01 Million

Urban Internet Subscribers 455.98 Million

Rural Internet Subscribers 293.09 Million

Total Internet Subscribers per 100 population 55.41

Urban Internet Subscribers per 100 population 98.35

Rural Internet Subscribers per 100 population 33

(TRAI, 2020)

As per the DataReportal report 2021, there were  448.0 

million social media users in India as of January 2021, and
the number of social media users had increased  by  78 
million (+21%) between 2020 and 2021. This is equivalent
to 32.3% of the total population till January 2021.

Mobile connections in India have also seen a shift with 1.10 

billion  mobile connections recorded in India by January
2021. This figure has increased  by  23  million  (+2.1%)
between the time period of January 2020 and January
2021. Mobile connections in India in January 2021 were
equivalent to 79.0% of the total population.1

India is few years away from 1 billion-plus screens and 1

billion-plus internet users. The digitally connected world
has given birth to new possibilities of potential
connections. These connections are waiting to explode in
terms of new data sets about consumer insights, thereby
making the promise of content delivery even more
efficient.

1
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-india

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 033

While Indian consumers love to access content for free, 29
million subscribers paid for 53 million OTT video
subscriptions in 2020. As per a report titled ‘International
Media consumption 2021’ by YouGov, about 63% urban
Indians do not mind ads in exchange for free content while
55% of urban Indians are signed up to a film or TV
subscription. Digital/satellite TV services are the next most
popular—at 41%, second highest in the world after Mexico.
While a third read a newspaper online or in an app (32%)
but fewer read a magazine digitally (21%) (YouGov 2021).
Music subscriptions rank third—with one in three (33%)
subscribing to a paid version of a music streaming
platform. The 450 million Indian entertainment consumers
spent 4.6 hours per day on their smart phones (EY FICCI,
2021). Indian consumers have been adapting to their love
for cinema, games, drama, music, news, events, sports, and
innovations in digitally enabled platforms at a fast pace.
Needless to say, India is emerging as the most promising
market for OTT platforms, especially with the support of
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of
Things (IOT) and Machine to Machine (M2M) possibilities.
M2M and IOT
Covid-19 gave a boost to “touchlessness” across all
interactions. From human to machine connections, the
new world order is manifesting the machine-to-machine
interactions. These interactions foster more powerful and
more data-enriched interactions. They create immense
possibilities of interactions, consumption, consumer
insights, data-driven decision making, and understanding
consumer behaviour. The connected world is also all for
making human lives easier and pleasurable. These
additional connections and interactions will create more
data sets, eventually enabling advertisers to get better
bang for their buck, thanks to content creators with more
precise consumer preferences, and platforms with
stronger positioning.
2
A data lake is a centralized repository that allows you to store all your structured and unstructured data at any scale.
034 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Needless to say, the connected world will bring in new
opportunities for content business. Smart cities, connected
vehicles, public places with more number of screens,
driverless vehicles, multiple screens with similar logins will
eventually offer consumers a much better content
experience in the most convenient way. Digital currency will
play a vital role in the emerging digitally enabled world.
Investments in digital infrastructure are set to push the
growth of digital consumption in a unique way.
As per an analysis by EY, Indian M2M segment is growing at
38%, which has crossed 300 million connections in the year
2020 (EY FICCI, 2021). Data analytics has emerged as a
discipline that has proven to be an integral part of the OTT
industry. In the last one year, the platforms were observed
investing more and more in data lakes2 . The success ratio
of video, music, news, gaming and social media platforms
has increased over the years.
Increased Consumption
in 2020 due to Covid-19
pandemic
The year 2020 was exceptional. The Covid-19 pandemic
taught the entertainment industry to pause and relook at
some of the major offerings. Consumers were confined to
their homes for months. Initially, they were scared to even
go out. This resulted into a slow-down in the entertainment
industry. Events, cinema, OOH, live sports were some of
the most impacted platforms. Newspaper and magazines
were not preferred by a lot of consumers, because of the
fear of getting infected. Content creation also was
impacted in a big way due to guidelines issued by
government restricting larger number of people from
gathering in public. Covid-19 had a dramatic impact on
consumer behaviour globally, which in turn was reflected
on media consumption habits. Digital media assumed
greater importance as a means of keeping the public
informed and entertained within the confinement of their
homes.
When people were left with no option but to stay at home
with their family, they spent the initial time catching up with
family and friends over video chat, doing things on their
own, trying to experiment with different recipes, and when
they got bored of all of it, they resorted to their
entertainment devices. Eventually, work, education,
doctor’s appointments, payments, food delivery, medicines,
heath reports, shopping, home management, business,
investments, etc., underwent a transformation, and turned
into completely digitally-aided activities. Individuals started
spending more time on their laptops, tablets, smart TV sets,
and smart phones. Eventually, consumers ended up
consuming more content on these devices. The ecosystem
was favorable for this new world order. Consumers were
ready--they were doing activities besides consuming
content; they were also making payments online and
advertisers were reaching out to the potential customers
by making the right kind of marketing efforts supported by
data analytics. Online video undoubtedly became the new
normal for the world impacted by Covid-19.
While all the traditional media verticals reported a negative
growth over the previous year, digital subscriptions grew by
49% and online gaming grew by 18% over the last year, with
the reach of online video viewers at 468 million, online
news at 454 million, online entertainment at 450 million,
online gamers at 245 million, and online music consumers
at 205 million (EY FICCI, 2021). Though the business of
traditional platforms like cinema, television, radio, print and
sporting events was largely impacted, their online avatars
added to remarkable consumption and revenue growth.
While children and young adults started spending long
hours in front of their screens for academic reasons, this
was the same age group that was observed playing online
games as well. Due to government restrictions, multiplexes
and single screens remained shut for the entire time during
the lockdown; as a result, some of the big films were
streamed online and even recovered money. Although
radio could not garner enough revenue through the
traditional platform, music as a category grew from the
consumption point of view. People remained curious
throughout the year, which showed in the high
consumption of online news. Almost all major newspapers
were available in the digital avatar, offering the possibility of
breaking news faster. This also helped individuals stay in
touch with the current happenings around the world. Since
online video consumption would be a combination of
consumption insight coming from television and cinema
besides having the need to watch “personalized” content;
the reach of online video viewers saw a massive growth in
2020.
Technology Integration
India is currently the world’s fastest growing OTT market,
set to become the sixth largest around the globe by 2024.
The market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.6%
over the next four years, touching $2.9 billion in revenues
(Singh, 2021).
3
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021
The OTT players have started increasing investment in
improving the Quality of Experience (QoE) for the
consumers sampling their platforms. Investment in data
lakes is something platforms have been seen doing. All the
platforms have strong partnerships going with Content
Delivery Networks (CDN) to stay guarded for sudden
increase in content demand locally. Gaming and live
streaming especially would benefit from the low data
latency promise of 5G, which is expected to roll out in India
in early 2022. This will also push the consumers from IoT
and M2M segment. Data consumption is expected to
explode with the launch of 5G in the country. Cloud
Computing, AI, and ML to help the consumer insights
mining, recommendations, localization of content, content
compression, marketing strategy and content strategy are
factors that will come into play.
Security has been an issue of common concern on the
digital domain. Technology like Blockchain will address this
by having a more intelligent Digital Rights Management
(DRM), compared to current solutions like watermarking of
content. There are various AI and ML-based
consumer/media intelligence services that are partnering
with the platforms and advertisers in arriving at
strategy-driven decisions for better performance.
Gaming itself has been adapting to newer technologies
along with AI and ML enabling facial recognition, voice
recognition, gestural recognition, Virtual Reality,
Augmented Reality, wearables, etc. to enable newer
experiences.
Content Regulations3
Due to the unregulated nature of digital platforms for
entertainment, complete creative freedom was taken by
the content creators, which in turn created trouble for
shows like Tandav, Mirzapur, Pataal Lok and Ghoul. Though
these shows were well-received by the audiences, it
created legal hurdles for content creators and producers.
These shows increased consumption of content and
resulted in a massive growth but also showed that content
creators need to cater to the diverse sensibilities of the
Indian audience. This also resulted in numerous
controversies, with several shows, both Indian and foreign,
being dragged into disputes on questions of obscenity,
defamation, and hurting of religious sentiments. Hence the
question of creative freedom rises while catering to such a
massive and diverse audience. The Ministry of Information
and Broadcast (MIB) has in the past years stressed on
some form of regulation of OTT platforms to streamline the
sector and held consultations with several stakeholders
from the industry. And the MIB recently notified the
Information Technology Rules 2021.
INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 035
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and
Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, announced by the
Information Technology Minister and Information and
Broadcasting Minister, has for the first time introduced
content regulations for OTT platforms. The rules also talk
about practices that would curb fake news and obscene
content on social media platforms. The rules for content
regulations on OTT platforms have a three-layered
redressal system: at the OTT platform’s level, at the
self-regulatory body’s level, and at an inter-ministerial
committee level. The aim is to identify content that requires
an action--either deleting it from the platform or modifying
it. As per the rules, there are emergency powers that the
government has, to block access to any content in
question.
In the absence of any guidelines for content regulations on
OTT platforms, this is a welcome change. One very
important part here is the content classification in five
broad categories, viz. U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A
16+, and A (Adult). Platforms also need to have parental
locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher, and
credible verification mechanisms for content classified as
‘A’. Since the OTT platforms can have parental locks, the ‘A’
rated content, unlike television and cinema, can very easily
be disseminated.
While upfront content ratings will encourage viewers to
make informed choices, the question that still arises is: can
a viewer who continues to watch a film, series, or show
despite the warnings and ratings, still register grievances
under the grievance redressal mechanism? The rules do
not provide for specific grounds on which complaints can
be made, and given the subjective nature of the content
and diverse sensibilities of viewers, there are likely to be a
multitude of complaints. The challenge for OTT platforms
will be to balance grievances from different viewers with
varied social sensibilities and the demand for different
types of content on their “on-demand” service models from
a wide audience base.4 The new regulations are surely a
positive addition to the realm of OTT platforms. The
regulations are broad interpretations of Freedom of
Speech and Expression granted in the Constitution of India
and the limitations thereof. While the intent of the rules
appears to be to curtail problematic content, empower
viewers to make more informed choices, and create a level
playing field for various mediums, at this juncture, however,
the rules appear to be speed breakers in the fast-paced
OTT industry.5
This in turn will lead to piracy of content because the
content that one set of audience wishes to watch might be
offensive to the other set of audience. Proper
implementation of the regulation will possibly be a
challenge and the scope of misusing of the regulations is
feared, therefore, a balanced framework needs to be put in
place keeping in mind all stakeholders.
Short format takes a
leap
Of all the entertainment apps that existed in the short
format category, Chinese app TikTok was the one which
was synonymous with the younger audience. TikTok’s
Monthly Active Users (MAU) grew nearly 2X from 85 million
in June 2018 to 167 million in June 2020, while its daily
active users were 75 million before the ban.6 The app had a
share of 85-90 per cent of total monthly time spent by
Indians on short-form content in June 2020, but with the
ban on June 29 2020, along with 58 other Chinese apps,
TikTok lost a major share of the market to Indian apps such
as Josh by Dailyhunt, MX TakaTak, Roposo, Moj Mitron, Trell,
and Chingari, which expanded their share to around 67 per
cent, roughly translating to 55 billion minutes (91 hours), in
October 2020, according to a recent RedSeer report.
Many of the claimants weren’t well-equipped to fill the void
left by the ban on TikTok and had to handle huge traffic
spikes, and their products were far less mature. Alongside
domestic startups came an influx of larger Indian and
foreign internet companies into the space, such as
Instagram reels and MX TakaTak.
Short-form content penetration is currently around 45%
among India’s 600 million internet users, according to the
RedSeer report mentioned earlier. The current retention
rate of the segment is around 65%, with around 180 million
monthly active users. Furthermore, the Indian market for
the short-video format is crowded with several platforms.
As a result, consolidation seems most likely in the near
future.

As the OTT space grows and the content evolves, the

framework of the regulations will also evolve dynamically.
Regulation and censorship, keeping in mind the
sensibilities of the diverse Indian audiences, will ensure
that a lot of content will be regulated, censored or not be
permitted to be released.

4
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/new-rules-for-ott-platforms-regulation-or-restriction/2207205/
5
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/new-rules-for-ott-platforms-regulation-or-restriction/2207205/
6
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sme/tiktok-lost-40-market-to-local-apps-josh-mx-takatak-roposo-others-since-chinese-apps-ban-report/2153155/

036 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021


Future Growth
Possibilities
The Global Learning Management System (LMS) market is
expected to reach a whopping USD25.7 billion by 2025
(LMS Market, 2020). Going by the rate at which India is
rapidly transforming when it comes to e-learning at school,
college, and professional upgrade levels, the country is
expected to contribute in a big way in this direction. This is
also evident from the current success of Byju’s and many
other open source learning apps.
With 5G around the corner, reduced Customer Acquisition
Costs (CAC), investments in data analytics, AI, ML and cloud
computing, the video OTT market is going to explode in the
near future. OTT is going to play to the advantage of its
nonlinear offering, and prove to be advantageous over the
linear TV offerings. With exclusive regional language
platforms like Hoichoi (Bengali), ManoramaMax (Malay-
alam), Oho, Super (Gujarati), Planet Marathi (Marathi), Sun
NXT (Tamil, Telugu), Kanchanka, Tarang Plus, Aao TV (Odiya)
and language offerings from the national/international
platforms, the consumption of video OTT platforms is set to
grow even further. Besides, platforms have started offering
localized language search experience to address the
non-English-speaking consumers. With FMCG being one of
the major contributors, and the rural FMCG market slated
to grow multifold, the regional content consumption
supported by advertising will also explode in terms of
growth.
7
https://www.ey.com/en_in/media-entertainment/the-dawn-of-esports-in-india
8
https://mediabrief.com/kalagato-analyses-ott-media-landscape/
Due to growing challenges in the film industry, the TVOD
model, live streaming, geo-blocked delivery of content, the
smaller film segments and original streaming of niche films
will see a strong uptick in the OTT segment. Video OTT
platforms will continue to be driven by advertising revenue,
considering lower SVOD consumer base and the insight of
majority of Indian subscribers, who do not want to pay for
their content.
With 5G, immersive content like VR and AR will be available
in higher picture quality like 4K with almost zero data laten-
cy. This will enhance the consumer experience. The
consumer experience will become the key. The big players
will invest more money on the content, whereas the smaller
players will remain innovative with their storytelling.
Online gaming, esports, fantasy sports, and the skill-based
gaming segment will develop in the next few years. Online
gaming will continue to grow and reach 500 million gamers
by 2025, to become the third largest segment of the Indian
M&E sector (EY FICCI, 2021). Most of these games are
supported by advertising, however, the real money gaming
apps will drive growth. The esports industry itself is slated
to hit INR11 billion by 2025, with 1.5 million players
engaged in esports activities.7 News will continue to grow,
with more consumers and more regional as well as
Hindi/English language content. The short videos, textual
content, photo stories and info graphics supported videos
will continue to drive the growth.
As per PwC’s ‘Global Entertainment & Media Outlook
2020–2024’, “India holds the most potential of any market
in the world and its breakneck rate of growth will see total
OTT video revenue overtake South Korea, Germany, and
Australia to jump to be the sixth-largest market in 2024.”
Growing at a CAGR of 28.6% over the next four years to
touch revenues of $2.9 billion, OTT video is literally the
hottest sector out there.8
INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 037
 Content Trends April
2020 – Mar 2021
Following are some of the trending content on some of the
key video OTT platforms in the country.

SonyLiv Disney+ Hotstar Amazon Prime Mx Player Netflix Zee5 Voot

16 Afsos Aafat Selection Day High Priceless Time Out

A Simple Murder Malgudi Days Pushpavalli Hey Prabhu Jamtara Karanjit Kaur Fuh Se Fantasy

Your Honour PariWar Hear Me Love Me Ek Thi Begam She Rangbaaz It’s not that simple

Hadh Roar of the Lion Four More Shots 2 Official Bhootiyagiri Ghoul The Final Call Untag

JL50 Aarya Bandish Bandits Raktanchal Little Things Abhay2 Gone Game

Avrodh City of Dreams Breathe: Into the Shadows Pati Patni Aur Wohh Guilty Poison Asur

Undekhi Hostages Panchayat Basement Company Taaj Mahal 1989 Code M Raikar Case

Gullak Out of Love Paatal Lok High Delhi Crime Silence: Can You Hear It Illegal

TVF Pitchers Special Ops Mirzapur 2 Aashram Leila The Married Woman Marzi: A Game of Lies

Scam 1992 Criminal Justice Tandav Chakravyuh Sacred Games Gandi Baat Court Room

MICA Analysis

038 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 039
038 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
The year 2020-21 was special. The pandemic forced
consumers to stay homebound. Platforms that would
expect human to human contact were impacted by this. It
brought in a paradigm shift in the consumption pattern.
The country added new consumers to digital platforms.
The convenience of consuming content on OTT platforms
drove growth within the sector. Video content
consumption, audio content consumption, news, gaming,
e-sports, payments, food delivery, education, work from
home, all brought in massive growth in digital
consumption. The reach of online video viewers was 468
million, online news 454 million, online entertainment 450
million, online gamers 245 million, and online music
consumers 205 million. Online avatars of traditional
platforms like cinema, television, radio, print, and sporting
events showed significant growth.

The transition from traditional platforms to digital

platforms has empowered consumers to choose what they
would like to view. The consumer has proved to be
platform agnostic. Despite massive digital growth, India has
remained an “and” market, where multiple traditional and
digital platforms co-exist.

India is marching towards the milestone of 1 billion internet

users at a fast pace. The digital dark areas, primarily the
regional areas, will be adding new consumers within the
digital space. Over 450 million Indian entertainment
consumers spent 4.6 hours per day on their smart phones.
Indian consumers have been increasingly adapting to their
love for cinema, games, drama, music, news, events, sports,
and innovations in digitally enabled platforms. While all the
traditional media verticals reported a negative growth over
the previous year, digital subscriptions grew by 49% and
online gaming grew by 18% over the last year. While Indian
consumers love to access content for free, 29 million
subscribers paid for 53 million OTT video subscriptions in
2020.

Esports as a category saw a sharp increase. The Indian

government’s recognition and the rising popularity of
esports stars are set to push the category. Indian gaming
companies are aggressively building esports games. Due
consideration is being given to esports for its inclusion in
the Asian Games 2022 as a medal event. The stage is set for
this category to grow. With the ban on Chinese apps in
India, the most popular short video app Tiktok was out of
use overnight in the country, however, it was replaced by
MxTakaTak, Moj, Josh, Chingari, Zee5 HiPi, Instagram reels
and Facebook reels, all of which have gained popularity in
the previous year. The short video app is attracting younger
audiences in the country.

All the major newspapers were observed actively reacting

to the promise of digital news.

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 039

Apart from this, there were also digital news only
companies contributing to the consumer’s appetite for
news. The pandemic too played a part, keeping consumers
hooked to the news, seeking updates on topics like
lockdown, the rising number of covid cases, and updates
on covid vaccination. The previous year also brought about
a big shift in the revenue streams of the music industry,
where streaming revenue proved to be the highest
contributor due to the increased digital consumption of
music.
As far as consumer demographics are concerned, as per
the ComScore data, consumers in the age group of 15–34
showed high consumption of content across video OTT,
gaming, music, and news apps. Males in the age group of
15–24 contributed to higher consumption compared to
females. Moreover multiple platforms were observed with
regional offerings in languages like English, Hindi, Tamil,
Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali, Bhojpuri,
Haryanvi, Punjabi, Marathi, Rajasthani, Assamese, and
Gujarati. As per Meltwater data, Maharashtra and Tamil
Nadu were two states contributing to the highest
interactions with OTT platforms. Apart from India, the
United States was observed with more conversations
around OTT platforms.
Blockchain innovations are set to play an important role in
a number of aspects, including securing content
distribution, legalities, copyright protection,
contribution-based wealth distribution, digital
advertisement auctions, consumer rewards and many
more. Blockchain will prove to be one of the most efficient
innovations within the space of OTT platforms in the near
future.
Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic,
the OTT sector had a fabulous year. The future looks
optimistic. Consumers are hungry for content. From a
variety of standpoints—including technology, innovations,
consumer-centricity, content diversity, revenue and
legal—the Indian OTT sector is about to witness a sea
change. The digital segment is on the doorstep of an
explosion. We will see you next year with more in-depth
analysis on the Indian OTT segment—until then, have a
fantastic year ahead!

The biggest development on the legal front was the

amendment of IT rules, specific to the social media and OTT
content regulations. The rules for the first time have laid
out a regulatory framework for these platforms. These
rules have been introduced to tackle issues such as
national securities, upholding fundamental rights, data
protection, uncontrolled dissemination of fake news or
privacy-related issues. Protecting the freedom of speech
and expression for a diverse country like India, from OTT or
social media platform content creation point of view, is a
challenging task. In the absence of any other framework for
content regulations on digital platforms, the IT Rules of
2021 work as a good beginning for consumer protection.
The efficacy of the rules is yet to be recorded.

Big data analytics has transformed the entire ecosystem of

OTT platforms. It constantly gives insights to help keep the
consumers at the center of the value chain. The
AI-powered meta-data has revolutionized the content
promise. The measurements in terms of data analytics
have helped optimization of digital platforms for marketing,
thereby improving the revenue over a period of time. Tech
innovations, such as Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality, are
all set to make the marketing experience more experiential.

While content monetization and content piracy have been

areas of concern for OTT platforms, Blockchain can bring in
smart solution for the OTT industry.

Blockchain will ensure trust and transparency for the OTT

ecosystem.

040 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 041
044 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original SNIPPETS
Disney+ Hotstar is an online video streaming platform owned
by Novi Digital Entertainment Private Limited, a wholly owned Launched
February 2015 (as Hotstar);
subsidiary of Star India Private Limited. Disney+ Hotstar
April 20201 (as Disney+ Hotstar).
currently offers TV content, movies, and every major sport
covered live. Highly evolved video streaming technology and a Owned by
high attention to quality of experience across devices and The Walt Disney Company India
platforms, make Disney+ Hotstar the most complete video Headquarters
destination for OTT video consumers. Mumbai, India

Key Measures Google Play Store Downloads

The audience viewing Disney+ Hotstar falls in the age bracket 500M+2
of 6 to 34 in both the genders. Male viewers outnumber Unique Users
female viewers by 1.6 times. In both male and female 4.6M3
audience, majority of the viewers fall in the age bracket of
Reach
15-24 years.
27.8% (March 2021)

September 2020 had the highest TUVs followed by October Average Minutes/visitor
2020. The reason behind the rise was IPL 2020, the largest 60.1 (March 2021)
draw of Disney+ Hotstar.9 Monthly Active Users
300M4

Revenue Model
AVOD (Advertisement Video on Demand)5
Content Delivery Network
Limelight Networks6
Hours of Content
1 lakh hours7
Mode of Revenue
INR 1,499 yearly8

1
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/hotstar-rebranded-to-disney-hotstar-ahead-of-disney-launch-in-india-11583908100617.html
2
Google Play Store
3
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/disney-hotstar-crosses-26-8-million-subscribers-in-india-11607646286230.html
4
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/news1 uzz/mx-players-top-streaming-app-in-india-in-2019/article
show/73316298.cms#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20ended%202019%20with%20280,Now%2C%20we%20have%20launched%20gaming.
5
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/mx-player-offers-premium-shows-for-free/articleshow/68071496.cms
6
https://www.exchange4media.com/media-others-news/mx-player-partnered-with-limelight-networks-to-bring-high-quality-election-coverage-97108.html
7
https://www.hotstar.com/in/about-us
8
https://inc42.com/buzz/hotstars-18-5-mn-membership-helps-disney-boost-q4-growth/#:~:text=Hotstar%20is%20one%20of%20the, 20th%20Century%20Fox%20last%20year.
9
https://sportstar.thehindu.com/crick et/ipl/ipl-news/ipl-2020-uae-group-stage-fixtures-full-schedul e-match-timings-venues-mumbai-indians-chennai
super-kings-kkr-rcb-csk-rr-dc-srh/article32259845.ece

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 045

Consumer Demographics
Disney+ Hotstar Audience March 2021

TUV Females, TUV

Males
(000) Age Group (000)

6 -14 465 6 -14 324

15 - 24 37786 15 - 24 23037

25 - 34 32000 25 - 34 17238

All Males 100546 All Females 62304

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Disney+ Hotstar (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population

149465
150000 144919

130145
121158 143434 138263 122435 118928
120189
120000 114857
107395 124108 110375 123115
115682 97096 118637 116248 114665 113482
109805 105236 107060
83361 102715 103069 104803
90000 101918
92352 98061
93277 90294 94670
79427
78251
60000 68868

30000
7590 6114 5252 7463 5878 8574 9291 8179 7353 6651 7255 9405

0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

046 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Regional Consumption
Chennai tops entertainment consumption with 73%
viewership of Disney+ Hotstar. Big Boss Tamil Season 4 is
the most watched show in Tamil Nadu. Cooku with Comali
is the second most watched show. Evanukku Sriyana is the
most watched movie followed by Ungalukkaga Oruvan.10
Users of Disney+ Hotstar VIP now get the best of global
movies and shows dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu,
including superhero movies (Avengers: End Game), latest
animation films (The Lion King, Frozen II), kids’ favorite
characters (Mickey Mouse, Doraemon), exclusive Hotstar
Specials (Special Ops, Criminal Justice), unlimited LIVE
sports, and much more.11
In the News
· Disney+ Hotstar was the second highest watched VOTT
in the month of March 2021. The show, 1962: The War
in the Hills was the highest binge-watched show.15
• In August 2020, Disney+ Hotstar launched its services in
Indonesia.16
• In December 2020, Disney announced the addition of
20 new Marvel and Star Wars series on its streaming
platform in subsequent years. This news also indicated
the hike in the subscription amount as none of the
leading players offer Marvel and Star Wars series.17

App Availability • In April 2020, Disney partnered with Airtel to offer

Disney+ Hotstar is currently only available in India, and one-year subscription for Rs 401,18 along with VI to offer
since September 2020, in Indonesia.12 one-year free premium service19 and Reliance Jio for
VIP subscription.20
Digital Conversations
The platform was mentioned 1.12M times on various • Xiaomi partnered with Disney+ Hotstar to bring the ‘first
internet sources in the year 2020-21, with an average of day first show’ movie experience to its smart TV.21
3.07k mentions in a day.13
• The OTT service partnered with Cult.fit, Sarva, and
Brilliant Wellness to source health and wellness
Most consumed content14 programs by fitness and yoga experts, spiritual gurus,
and nutritionists. Disney+ Hotstar streamed 3,000 pieces
• Aarya 2 of content in English, Hindi, and Telugu.22

• Special Ops • Marvel Studios' Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston premiered

on Disney+ Hotstar on June 11, 2021. Six episodes long,
• Hostages Loki takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame
and explores a different version of the story with
• Out of love Hiddleston's titular anti-hero at its centre.23

• Aarya 1 • Disney+ Hotstar Premium released the official trailer of

Languages
The OTT platform offers content in seven Indian languages
along with English. The languages are Hindi, Bengali,
Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Marathi, and Kannada.
the original series, Big Shot. Big Shot premiered on
Disney+ Hotstar Premium on April 16, 2021.24
Innovations
• Disney+ Hotstar VIP introduced ‘Watch with friends’
feature; to start with IPL Playoffs. The innovation allowed
users to video chat with friends while watching the Live
Stream of matches all on a single screen.25
They also launched a 'virtual' in-stadia experience.26

10
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/chennai-tops-entertainment-consumption-with-73-viewership-disneyhotstar-210122
11
https://yourstory.com/2020/07/disney-hotstar-video-service-changing-content/amp
12
https://www.androidauthority.com/disney-plus-hotstar-1121087/
13
Meltwater analysis, accessed 2.5.2021. Keywords ("disney+hotstar" or "disney + hotstar" or "DisneyPlusHS" or "hotstar" OR disney+ OR disneyplus OR "disney +" OR
"disney plus")
14

15
https://mediabrief.com/top-3-ott-platforms-in-india/
16
https://yourstory.com/weekender/shreyas-talpade-nine-rasa-world-first-ott-platform-theatre-performing-arts/amp
17
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/disney-plus-unveils-plans-for-future-content-may-hike-subscription-fee-for-users-1749002-2020-12-12
18
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/disneyhotstar-partners-with-airtel-to-offer-one-year-subscription-for-rs-401/1939488/
19
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/vi-partners-with-disney-hotstar-to-provide-year-of-free-content-to-users-11615361749336.html
20
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/techook/reliance-jio-complimentary-disney-hotstar-vip-subscription-6442647/
21
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/xiaomi
-partners-with-disney-hotstar-to-bring-the-first-day-first-show-movie-experience-to-its-smart-tv/article32237706.ece
22
https://yourstory.com/2020/06/disney-hotstar-health-fitness-content-cult-fit-sarva/amp
23
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/marvel-studios-loki-starring-tom-hiddleston-to-premiere-on-disney-hotstar-on-11-june-9345091.html
24
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/disney-hotstar-premium-releases-official-trailer-of-original-series-big-shot-9460611.html
25
https://www.exchange4media.com/ipl-news/disney-hotstar-vip-introduces-watch-with-friends-feature-to-start-with-ipl-playoffs-108914.html
26
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/77948383.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 047

048 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
MX Player is a video streaming app that offers thousands of hours Launched
of premium, exclusive, and original content from leading produc- July, 20111 (Launched as an offline music app);
ers and publishers. It’s a one-stop app for some of the best movies, February 2019 (OTT streaming platform).
TV shows, web series, music videos and short videos. The platform
focuses on exclusive original content with an emphasis on Owned by
Times Internet (Times Group)
high-quality Hindi and regional Languages.
Headquarters
New Delhi

Google Play Store Downloads

500 million+2

Unique Users
148.4 M3
Reach
34.9% (Mar 21)

Average Minutes/visitor
1.8 (Mar 21)

Monthly Active Users

200 million4

Revenue Model
AVOD (Advertisement Video on Demand)5
Content Delivery Network
Limelight Networks6
Hours of Content
1,00,000 +7
Mode of Revenue
AVOD

1
Google Play store
2
Google Play Store
3
https://inc42.com/buzz/mx-player-tops-indias-video-streaming-app-for-time-spent/
4
https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/09/times-internet-is-grow-
ing-despite-influx-of-us-firms-in-india/#:~:text=MX%20Player%2C%20which%20has%20now,told%20TechCrunch%20in%20an%20interview.
5
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/mx-player-offers-premium-shows-for-free/articleshow/68071496.cms
6
https://www.exchange4media.com/media-others-news/mx-player-partnered-with-limelight-networks-to-bring-high-quality-election-coverage-97108.html
7
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad&hl=en_IN&gl=US
INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 049
Key Measures
The total male audience is 2.27 times higher than the female audience. In both the
genders, the age group of 5-24 years records the highest viewers. Though MX
Player does not have content tailored for kids/children, there are viewers in the age
group of 6-14 years.

Consumer Demographics
MX Player Audience March 2021

TUV Females, TUV

Males
(000) Age Group (000)

6 -14 54 6 -14 324

15 - 24 45108 15 - 24 23037

25 - 34 37437 25 - 34 17238

All Males 115951 All Females 51003

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors MX Player (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population

200000

171149 169083
161725 163429
149910 152967 148377 150051 144699 150923 169355 167430
150000 143457 139628 160221 161635
148485 151784 147324 148788 143365 149224
142329 138507
135745 131188
124546
120408 120076
100000
118591 115137 116862 111790 119159 114722
110963

50000

2156 1990 1783 2030 1686 1870 1873 2355 2580 2410 2133 2562
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The Total Digital Population and Total Mobile Population show the same trend. The
graph of TUVs between April 2020 and March 2021 has almost been flat. There is
a small peak seen in the December 2020, when the TUVs were at the highest. This
peak marked the release of two original MX Player shows, The Missing Stone8and
Beehad ka Baghi.9

8
https://www.mensxp.com/brands/mx-player/83953-thrilling-new-series-the-missing-stone-is-a-must-watch.html
9
https://www.aninews.in/news/business/business/actor-dilip-arya-shines-in-mx-players-latest-web-series-beehad-ka-baghi20201214181634/

050 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Regional Consumption
The platform has a strong distribution network in India,
with engagement coming from both the top metros as well
as Tier II, III, and even beyond towns. MX Player’s content
mix is young and mass, which allows for more widespread
viewership and they cater to India’s vast youth (with
audiences in the age group of 18–24 years) followed by the
25–34 years age segment.10
It has a wider user base in Uttar Pradesh.11
App Availability
MX Player is only available in India.12
• In April 2020, Dish TV India partnered with MX Player to
offer seamless video-on-demand content, which
enabled users to stream popular MX Originals, TV shows,
music videos and movies across multiple genres and
languages.18
• In January 2021, Akamai, a leading content developing
network, partnered with MX Player to provide its users
with a seamless digital experience. The enhancement in
user experience was particularly pronounced in the case
of MX TakaTak, a popular short-video platform that has
seen a rapid surge in the number of users.19

Top Content13 • In July 2020, Arré launched Official Bhootiyagiri in an

exclusive streaming partnership with MX Player.20
1. Aashram
• Insight TV launched on MX Player in December 2020. The
2. Queen partnership saw the launch of Insight TV across the
company’s OTT service in India along with its
3. Raktanchal international platforms in the US, UK, Canada, Australia,
New Zealand, Bangladesh, and Nepal.21
4. Cheesecake
• In March 2021, MX Player announced MX VDesi. It is the
5. Official Bhootiyagiri largest catalogue of international shows, dubbed in local
languages—Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.22
MX Original Series Aashram has seen a phenomenal
response. The fictional series has been directed by Prakash In the News
Jha and has Bobby Deol playing a self-styled godman • MX Player’s gaming feature, launched in February 2020,
whose aashram is a den of crime where he preys upon his has grown exponentially, going from 9 hyper-casual
gullible devotees.14 games to over 60 games that are now available across its
Android and iOS apps.23

Languages
The platform offers content in ten different languages:
Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Marathi,
English, Malayalam, and Bengali. The platform has
launched a robust catalogue of international content
dubbed in Hindi. A lot of Turkish, Korean, Spanish, and
Hollywood content has been dubbed into local
languages.15

In the News
• In July 2020, MX TakaTak short video community, made
locally and specially by MX Media & Entertainment, was
launched in India. MX TakaTak provided rich video
content and encouraged creation full of imagination.16
Taking over the Indian short-video apps market in the
wake of TikTok’s ban in the country, MX TakaTak claimed
in September 2020, that it had more than 10 million daily
active users and 45 million monthly active users, with its
app generating more than 1bn video views a day just one
month after the launch.17

10
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/11/27/mx-player-s-bedi-the-ott-player-s-plans-become-one-stop-platform
11
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/comscore-highlights-digital-media-consumption-trends-in-indias-state-clusters-111896.html
12
https://latestnews.fresherslive.com/articles/mx-player-which-country-app-154037
13
https://www.gqindia.com/binge-watch/collection/10-best-indian-web-series-on-mx-player-watch-right-now/
14
https://www.thequint.com/brandstudio/bobby-deol-plays-baba-nirala-in-mx-player-aashram-chapter-2
15
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/11/27/mx-player-s-bedi-the-ott-player-s-plans-become-one-stop-platform
16
https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/article/mx-takatak-the-new-social-video-fun-app-by-mx-player-now-available-on-google-play/61829o
17
https://musically.com/2020/09/09/indian-short-video-app-mx-takatak-is-doing-1bn-daily-views/
18
https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/04/dish-tv-india-partners-with-mx-player-to-offer-seamless-video-on-demand-content/
19
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/akamai-partners-with-mx-player-to-provide-its-users-with-seamless-digital-experience-110035.html
20
https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/05/arr-launches-official-bhootiyagiri-in-an-exclusive-streaming-partnership-with-mx-player/
21
https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2020/12/14/insight-tv-launches-on-mx-player/
22
https://www.afaqs.com/news/media/mx-player-announces-mx-vdesi
23
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/gaming-on-mx-player-emerges-as-a-runaway-hit-106795.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 051

052 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
About SNIPPETS
YouTube is a website for sharing videos. It was registered
on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Launched
Jawed Karim, three former employees of the American May 7, 2008 (India Launch)
e-commerce company, PayPal. They had the idea that Owned by
ordinary people would enjoy sharing their “home videos”. Google (Alphabet Inc.)
The company is headquartered in San Bruno, California.
Headquarters
San Bruno, United States

Google Play Store Downloads

10B+1

Unique Users
437M (March 2021)

Reach
93.6% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
14.9 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

425M2

Revenue Model
AVOD, SVOD, TVOD

Content Delivery Network

Google Networks

Hours of Content
1B+ hours3
Mode of Revenue
YouTube Premium (SVOD)

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.youtube
2
https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/11/youtube-and-whatsapp-inch-closer-to-half-a-billion-users-in-india/
3
https://blog.youtube/press/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 053

Key Measures World Matrix
The total male TUVs are 1.5 times more than the total female TUVs. In both the
gender categories, the maximum TUVs fall in the age group of 5–24 years. Regional Consumption
YouTube is cited as the preferred
platform for watching videos in
Consumer Demographics for YouTube regional languages, with Hindi
leading the charts, followed by Tamil,
YouTube Audience March 2021 Telugu, Kannada and Bengali, among
others.4
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
YouTube has also seen a staggering
Males: 6-14 3668 Females: 6-14 2637
growth in its vernacular or Indian
regional language content. Last year,
Males: 15-24 89000 Females: 15-24 55935 more than 95% of the online video
Males: 25-34 82549 Females: 25-34 48054
consumption was in Indian
languages, and Bengali content was
All Males 265293 All Females 173959 growing more than 100%
Source: ComScore
year-on-year in watch time. This year,
Google said Hindi led the charts,
followed by Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Total Unique Visitors YouTube (000) Bengali and others. The boom in
Between April 2020 and March 2021 content consumption in rural India
and among regional language users
Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population Desktop in the past few years coincides with
the growing internet penetration.5
500000
60998 62906 60220 63901

438509 440330 439616 437938

YouTube’s top regional language ads
57237 56864 56020 57915 57704 57067 56229 55957
400000
388829 387279 387838 388669 389380 416174 416411 414175 411290 for July–December included an ad by
380401 382497 382758
370629 369040 368905 370721 370425 358685 357467 357663 Amul in Tamil. YouTube in December
300000
2020 released its first-ever regional
language Ads Leaderboard, listing
200000
the top ten most-watched regional
language advertisements.6
100000
361712 360317 359584 361605 361770 352794 352395 351326 408069 409913 405598 404903

0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The platform sees a very flat trend, which means that it has a faithful viewerbase
throughout the year. The maximum TUVs, however, are in the month of December
2020.

4
https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/youtube-india-now-reaches-325-million-monthly-viewers/44286
5
https://inc42.com/buzz/youtube-has-over-325-mn-monthly-users-in-india-gaming-rules/
6
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/youtube-releases-its-first-ever-regional-language-ads-leaderboard-in-india/article33361345.ece

054 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

App Availability • Teachers turned YouTube into an education platform
YouTube is available everywhere, except China, Iran, North amid lockdown. The app, which was considered an
Korea, Pakistan, Germany, Tajikistan, and Turkey.7 entertainment platform, has now turned out to be an
education-first platform for teachers and students,
Top Content8 especially in areas with connectivity issues.14

1. Kota Factory
Innovations
2. What the Folks • YouTube’s short-form video feature, Shorts, which aims
to compete with TikTok, is achieving 3.5 billion views per
3. Please Find Attached day during its early test run in India.15

4. Soulmates • YouTube experimented with hiding the dislike count on

videos after feedback from creators. As a part of an
5. Better Life Foundation experiment, YouTube tested hiding the number of
dislikes on some creators' videos. Youtube noted that it
was not removing the dislike button and would work on
Top Indian YouTubers9 a new design based on the feedback of users who are a
part of the experiment.16
1. Carry Minati

2. Amit Bhadana

3. Ashish Chanchalani vine

4. BB ki vines

5. Technical Guruji

Languages
The app is the biggest example of ‘of the users, by the users,
for the users’. Content in all the Indian languages is available
on the platform.

In the News
• YouTube added UPI as a mode of payment for Indian
users of YouTube premium.10

• Sadak 2 trailer became the most-disliked YouTube video

in India.11

• YouTube in July 2020 lifted the restriction in streaming

108p HD videos in India. It was done to save the internet
bandwidth as a huge number of people were working
from home in the country.12

• Baby Shark became a global sensation after it was

remixed and recreated by the Seoul-based production
company, Pinkfong.13

7
https://blog.hidemyass.com/en/youtube-censorship-countries-block-youtube
8
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/top-20-indian-web-series-watch-video-youtube-6430987/
9
https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/from-carry-minti-to-bb-ki-vines-these-are-the-10-most-popular-you
tube-stars-in-india/slidelist/76276240.cms#slideid=76276558
10
https://blog.hidemyass.com/en/youtube-censorship-countries-block-youtube
11
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/top-20-indian-web-series-watch-video-youtube-6430987/
12
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/77018898.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
13
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-why-baby-shark-is-the-most-watched-video-on-youtube-6930166/
14
https://indianexpress.com/article/education/teachers-turning-youtube-into-education-platform-amid-lockdown-and-how-you-can-do-it-too-6371382/
15
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/youtube-shorts-tiktok-competitor-has-3point5-billion-daily-views-in-india.html
16
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/youtube-experiments-hiding-dislike-count-on-videos-after-feedback-from-creators-1785489-2021-03-31

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 055

056 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
About SNIPPETS
JioCinema is an OTT platform from the house of RPPMSL.
The app offers an exciting content of movies, TV shows, Launched
music videos, Jio Shorts and trailers. The viewers can September, 2016
explore the best studios of the world and watch their Owned by
favorites in a highly optimized and world-class video Reliance Jio Infocomm
streaming experience with Jio ID and Password.
Headquarters
Mumbai, India

Google Play Store Downloads

50M+1

Unique Users
Desktop 2.3M (March 2021),
Mobile App 9.5 M (March 2021)

Reach
0.5% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
8 (March 2021)

Revenue Model
Bundled exclusively free for Jio users
(monthly INR 149, yearly- INR 16992)
Content Delivery Network
Integrated with Cisco

Hours of Content
1L+ hours3
Mode of Revenue
Bundled

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jio.media.ondemand
2
https://selectra.in/ott/jiocinema
3
http://apigw.jio.ril.com/help/jiocinema/about/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 057

Key Measures App Availability
The male viewers are three times more than the female viewers. Among the male The app is limited to India, as it is
audience, almost 50% of the audience falls in the age group of 35 and above, while bundled with the SIM card.4
in female audience almost 45% of the audience falls in the age group of 15-24
years. Top Content5

1. Dude
Consumer Demographics for JioCinema
2. Twisted 3
JioCinema Audience March 2021
3. Jamai Badal
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
4. Yours Cupidly
Males: 6-14 12 Females: 6-14 25
5. Horses Stable the Race
Males: 15-24 484 Females: 15-24 297

Males: 25-34 351 Females: 25-34 121

Languages
Males: 35+ 822 Females: 35+ 221
Viewers can enjoy the content in Hindi,
All Males 1,670 All Females 665 English, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi,
Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, and Punjabi.6
Source: ComScore

In the News
Total Unique Visitors JioCinema (000) • Twisted 3: Jay Soni & Priya
Between April 2020 and March 2021 Banerjee-starrer crosses 2 million
viewership.7
Desktop Mobile App

20000
19644

16691
15000
14107 13788
12281
11485 9962 9711
10000 9535
10513 8544 8812

6474
5545
5000 4318

2501 2531 2745 2265 2335

1742 1928 2090
1340

0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The table shows the TUV on desktop and mobile app between April 2020 and
March 2021. In the mobile app, the highest TUVs are registered in the month of
April 2020, while on the desktop, December 2020 has the highest TUVs.

4
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/best-vpn-jiocinema-watch-abroad/
5
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0808044
6
http://apigw.jio.ril.com/help/jiocinema/about/
7
https://www.koimoi.com/television/twisted-3-jay-soni-priya-banerjee-starrer-crosses-2-million-viewership-already/

058 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 059
060 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
About SNIPPETS
Hungama started as India’s first digital brand solutions
platform in 1999. The platform has grown to become the Launched
leading digital entertainment company in India, providing 2019
services across  music, video, entertainment news, and Owned by
gaming categories.  The app combines content with Hungama Digital Media
technology to make digital consumption an enriching
Headquarters
experience for users.
Mumbai, India

Google Play Store Downloads

10M+1

Unique Users
0.56M (March 2021)

Reach
0.1% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
6.2

Monthly Active Users

87M2

Revenue Model
Freemium (the plans range between
INR 99-INR 1300 for the period one
month to one year3)
Content Delivery Network
Amazon Web Services

Hours of Content
1500+ hours4

Mode of Revenue
Freemium

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hungama.movies&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://www.hungama.org/about-us/
3
https://www.hungama.com/plans
4
https://www.flickzee.com/blog/hungama-play-subscription#:~:text=Hungama%20Play%20was%20launched%20in,%2C%20Short%20Films%2C%20and%20Documentaries.

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 061

Key Measures Top Content6
The male audience is extremely high on this platform—the number of male
viewers is 10 times the number of female viewers. In the female audience, viewers 1. Locked in love
are only in the age group of 25–34 years, whereas, in the male audience, the
highest number of viewers are in the age group of 25–34. 2. Strange Story

3. Raita Phail Gaya

Consumer Demographics
4. Shree Kamdev Prassanna
Hungama Audience March 2021
5. Ratri Ke Yatri
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
Languages
6-14 25 6-14 13 The service offers short-format
content, movies, TV shows, and short
15-24 1690 15-24 1185
films across genres in more than 15
25-34 1438 25-34 1636 languages like Hindi, English, Bhojpuri,
Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada,
All Males 4586 All Females 4612
Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, and
Source: ComScore more.7

The male audience is extremely high on this platform—the number of male

viewers is 10 times the number of female viewers. In the female audience, viewers
are only in the age group of 25–34 years, whereas, in the male audience, the
highest number of viewers are in the age group of 25–34.

Total Unique Visitors Hungama.com (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Total Mobile Total Digital Population

9855 9884 9733

10000 9198

7871 9096 9054

8948
8000 8446
6475 6318 6444 6359
7202 6102
6000 5257
5124
5894 5812 5867 5700
5595

4000 4598 4780

2000
818 725 800 876 828 767
595 542 663 588 588 667

0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUVs are seen in the month of April 2020. Just like other platforms, the
spike is because of the lockdown announced in 2020 because of the Covid-19
pandemic.

App Availability
Hungama Play is available on all leading app stores across different ecosystems in
over 190 countries. International users can subscribe using cards or various
payment gateways offered by their telecom operators.5

5
https://www.adgully.com/hungama-partners-with-leading-telecom-operators-in-different-countries-95393.html
6
https://www.hungama.com/all/top-shows-57/8481/
7
https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/snap
deal-enters-the-ott-race-partners-with-hungama-play-to-offer-video-streaming-content/articleshow/75245778.cms

062 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Hungama entered into strategic partnerships with leading telecom operators in

several countries across the world—such as Sunrise and Salt Mobile
(Switzerland), T-Mobile Polska and Plus (two of the leading telecom operators in
Poland), and STC, Zain, and Virgin Mobile (three of the primary telecom providers
in Saudi Arabia). In addition to these, Hungama has also partnered with
Ooredoo in Palestine, Batelco in Bahrain and Ncell in Nepal.8

• Dish TV India added Hungama Play app on its D2H stream.9

• Vi launched movie rental service in collaboration With Hungama. Vi offers over

380 movie titles through its new partnership.10

• Snapdeal officially entered the OTT race by partnering with Hungama Play to
offer a video streaming service to its users.11

• Huawei App Gallery added Hungama Play, Hungama Music apps for Honor,
Huawei smartphones.12

• Hungama Play launched Comedycha Raada, a Marathi stand-up comedy original.

Hosted by popular Marathi actor Pranav Raorane, the show includes 10
episodes featuring 21 budding stand-up comedians from Maharashtra.13

• Hungama Play launched Sanam Hotline, a new original comedy show in Marathi
and Hindi. The show features popular actors of the Marathi entertainment
industry in lead roles. Produced by CafeMarathi Studios, the show is directed by
Akash Gursale.14

• Hungama Play launched Ratri Ke Yatri, an original show featuring five sensitive
stories set in red-light areas.15

• Hindustan Talkies and Hungama collaborated to invest in India’s leading e-sports

platform Indian Gaming League (IGL).16

Innovations
Viewers can get the Hungama Plus subscription by getting ‘loyalty coins’ when the
user streams music or videos on Hungama Play, which users can redeem to get
any Hungama subscription plan. Hungama account is a must for this.17

8
https://www.adgully.com/hungama-partners-with-leading-telecom-operators-in-different-countries-95393.html
9
https://www.d2h.com/news/156/dish-tv-india-adds-hungama-play-app-on-its-d2h-str
10
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/vi-vodafone-idea-hungama-digital-pay-per-view-movie-rental-premium-video-on-demand-service-2376101
11
https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/snap
deal-enters-the-ott-race-partners-with-hungama-play-to-offer-video-streaming-content/articleshow/75245778.cms
12
https://www.indiatvnews.com/technology/news-huawei-appgallery-welcomes-hungama-play-music-apps-609869
13
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/hungama-play-launches-comedycha-raada-a-marathi-stand-up-comedy-original-103763.html
14
https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/12/hungama-play-launches-sanam-hotline-a-new-original-comedy-show-in-marathi-and-hindi/
15
https://www.indiawest.com/entertainment/bollywood/hunga
ma-play-launches-ratri-ke-yatri-an-original-show-featuring-five-sensitive-stories-set-in/article_5ef6a9ea-cd16-11ea-bc4a-870654ea37d6.html
16
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/spot
light/hindustan-talkies-and-hungama-collaborate-and-invest-in-indias-leading-e-sports-platform-indian-gaming-league-igl/articleshow/81308956.cms
17
https://www.flickzee.com/blog/hungama-play-subscription#mcetoc_1en8nojif0

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 063

064 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
Voot is a video-on-demand OTT platform that is a part of Launched
Viacom18 Digital Ventures, the digital arm of Viacom18. March 2016
With over 35,000 hours of exciting content for audiences
with varying choices and preferences, covering Colors Owned by
(Hindi), MTV, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Colors Kannada, Viacom 18
Colors Marathi, Colors Bangla, Colors Super, and Colors Headquarters
Gujarati, Voot offers the biggest TV shows, blockbuster Mumbai, India
movies & Voot Originals.
Google Play Store Downloads
100 M+1

Unique Users
12.2M (March 2021)

Reach
2.6% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
6 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

Monthly Active Users – 5.6 L2

Revenue Model
Freemium (INR 99 – monthly, INR 399 - yearly)

Content Delivery Network

Kaltura3
Hours of Content
35K4
Mode of Revenue
Freemium

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tv.v18.viola&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/2020-rise-of-paid-subscribers/2172942/
3
https://corp.kaltura.com/press/kaltura-powers-the-fastest-growing-cloud-tv-service-worldwide-voot-by-viacom18/
4
https://www.voot.com/about-us

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 065

Key Measures App Availability
The female audience outnumbers the male audience for this platform. The The app is available only in India.6

audience in the age group of 15-24 is the highest.

Top Content
The top shows on Voot are7
Consumer Demographics for Voot (000)
1. Asur
Voot Audience March 2021
2. The Raikar Case
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
3. The Gone Game
6 -14 39 6 -14 46
4. Illegal
15 - 24 1935 15 - 24 2696

25 - 34 1272 25 - 34 1217 5. Crackdown

All Males 4826 All Females 5710
Languages
The platform offers content in English, Hindi,
Source: ComScore
Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali,
and Gujarati.8

Total Unique Visitors Voot (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Total Mobile Total Digital Population

25000
21020

20000
17640
19336 16397
16251 16118
14768 14567
14147 13883
15000 16048 13897
13336
14206 12235
13680 14001
13281
12171 11781 12035
10000 11496 11164 11192

5000
2194 2107 2199 2639 2403 2396 2466 2386
1810 1826 1636 1139
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs trend between April 2020 and March 2021 shows downward slope. The highest TUVs
were recorded in April 2020, after the start of the first lockdown. It also coincided with the
release of three original web series, namely Marzi, Asur and The Raikar Case.

Regional Consumption
In July 2020, Voot Select offered its premium content to regional audiences. The channel
streamed its Indian originals—Asur, Marzi, The Raikar Case and Illegal—in Kannada. The
appetite for regional content consumption is huge and by making Voot Originals available in
Kannada, Voot Select not only expanded its reach but also added to the content experience of
its audience in Karnataka. As a network, Voot already had a strong presence in the Kannada
market with Colors Super, Colors Kannada Cinema, and Colors Kannada with content available
24 hours on Voot Select. Voot Select’s premium content will launch in multiple languages
including Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, and Telugu in future.5

5
https://www.exchange4media.com/industry-briefing-news/voot-select-takes-premium-content-to-regional-audiences-106330.html
6
https://www.screenbinge.com/channels/voot/
7
https://www.thefourthwall.in/2021/02/6-best-indian-web-series-on-voot-that-you-will-love.html
8
https://www.voot.com/channels

066 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Voot joined hands with Cult.Fit and Isha Foundation in June 2020. The objective
of the partnership is to provide content that promotes the physical & spiritual
well-being of Voot viewers.9

• In August 2020, Sony Pictures Networks and Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd's merger to
help their respective video streaming platforms, SonyLIV and Voot, would have
resulted in an entity that would have 30% higher revenue than the two did
individually..10 The merger was later called off in October 2020.11

• In January 2021, Vodafone Idea inked a strategic partnership with Voot Select to
offer premium VOD content to customers.12

• In February 2021, Sling TV launched Voot with India’s content in the US.13

• Mia by Tanishq collaborated with Voot Studio for a brand campaign celebrating
love in February 2021. The 40-second brand campaign showcased Mia’s latest
‘The Cupid Edit’ collection.14

Innovations
• Voot forayed into edutainment with upGrad partnership. There is a dedicated
upGrad segment on Voot featuring informative content on data science,
blockchain, tech and management.15

9
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/voot-joins-hands-with-cultfit-isha-foundation-105463.html
10
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/sony-viacom18-merger-to-help-sonyliv-voot-increase-revenue-by-30-11597126694705.html
11
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/sony-viacom18-merger-called-off-11601888757116.html
12
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/vodafone-idea-inks-strategic-partnership-with-voot-select-to-offer-premium-vod-content-to-customers/80478508
13
https://www.broadcastprome.com/news/sling-tv-launches-voot-with-indias-content-in-the-us/
14
https://www.exchange4media.com/industry-briefing-news/mia-by-tanishq-collaborates-with-voot-studio-for-brand-campaign-celebrating-love-110885.html
15
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/voot-forays-into-edutainment-with-upgrad-partnership-104948.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 067

068 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2020
Content
Original Content
SNIPPETS
Zee5 is an online video streaming OTT platform by Zee Launched
entertainment. Zee5 capitalizes on the advantage of February 2018
offering various languages—with 12 navigational and
featured languages across original series, live TV, catch up Owned by
TV, lifestyle shows, children's programs, exclusive short Zee Entertainment Enterprise (Essel Group)
series, and acclaimed plays. Zee5 offers an exhaustive Headquarters
array of content; with 90+ live TV channels, making it a Mumbai
complete video destination for OTT viewers. The platform
Google Play Store Downloads
has an exhaustive selection of Bollywood and regional
100 million+1
language movies.
Unique Users
25M (March 2021)

Reach
5.4% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
3.6 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

65.9 M2

Revenue Model
Freemium (3 months- INR 299/
12 months- INR 499)3
Content Delivery Network
Sugarbox Network4
Hours of Content
1.25 L+5
Mode of Revenue
Freemium

1
Google Play Store
2
https://www.livemint.com/industry/advertising/zee5-launches-ad-campaign-targeting-small-town-users-11615448847397.html
3
https://www.zee5.com/myaccount/subscription
4
https://www.cnbctv18.com/business/zee-invests-rs-522-crore-in-sugarbox-here-are-the-key-highlights-from-its-investor-call-5694611.htm
5
https://www.zee5.com/aboutus

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 069

Key Measures App Availability
The audience of Zee5 falls in the age group of 6 to 34 years of age. The highest In October 2018, ZEE5 launched its
viewers in the male audience are in the age group of 25–34 years, whereas in the service in 190 countries. The
female audience, it is 15–24 years. The number of male and female audience is platform claims that it has 76.4
almost the same. million monthly active users (MAUs)
across Indian and global markets.
Further, it recently launched content
Consumer Demographics for Zee5 (000) in five international languages,
including Malay, Thai, Bahasa,
Zee5 Audience March 2021 German, and Russian.8
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000) Top Content9

6 -14 40 6 -14 42 • Abhay S1 & S2

15 -24 3954 15 - 24 3693
• Rangbaaz S1 & S2
25 - 34 4392 25 - 34 2307

All Males 12066 All Females 12049

• State of siege: 26/11

Source: ComScore • Code M

• Mentalhood
Total Unique Visitors Zee5 (000)
Between April 2020 and March 2021 • Black Widows
Tablet Desktop Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population • Bicchoo Ka Khel
60000
53881 • Jeet Ki Zid
50000
51766
• Kaafir
36971 36527
40000 34725 34453
35356 29621
34967 27104
30000 33000 32553 26239 25303
25139
22998
27386 27900 19881
20331 25439 24870 23807
20000 17161 23584
16723 21784
19864 18800
12964 16714 17418 17322
14874 15620 14274
10000
2575 2098 2040 2168 2274 1950 1959 1700 1497 1325 1180 1640
0 147 153 148 150 152 58 15 9 7 6 4 5
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

The platform had the highest number of viewers in April 2020—the reason behind the peak
was the real-time update of the COVID 19 situation in India.[ https://www.exchange4me-
dia.com/digital-news/zee5-new-chan-
nel-sees-spike-in-viewership-during-covid-19-103900.html] Post that, viewership showed a
downward trend.

Regional Consumption
Like many other OTT platforms, ZEE5 plans to double down on regional content by increasing
investments in the local segment. The platform will focus on language markets like Tamil,
Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Bengali. ZEE5 plans to produce more original web shows in
regional languages besides showcasing more blockbuster regional movies. Their major
priority is focusing on the southern market and the Bengali market, which has higher viewer
base.7

6
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/zee5-new-channel-sees-spike-in-viewership-during-covid-19-103900.html
7
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/zee5-will-double-down-on-regional-content-in-2021-manish-kalra-111531.html
8
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/media/zee5-looks-at-a-global-play-to-build-a-presence-in-190-countries/71041124
9
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.graymatrix.did

070 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages
The platform offers content in 12 different languages, which
are English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Punjabi.10

• The platform in March 2021 launched 'Any Time

Manoranjan' campaign targeted at customers in tier II
cities.11

• ZEE5 launched its short video platform HiPi, with an aim to

engage “billions of Indians to embark on a journey from just
being a fan to achieving fandom”.12

• Airtel in July 2020 announced new prepaid plans with free

ZEE5 subscription.13

• Manoj Bajpayee’s Silence premiered on ZEE5 in Februrary

2021.14

• ZEE5 launched its first Pakistani original series, Churails.

Churails is the first original from ZEE Entertainment
Enterprises Ltd’s much-loved content brand Zindagi, and it
started streaming on ZEE5 on August 11, 2020.15

• Arjun Rampal starred in ZEE5’s Nail Polish, a

courtroom-drama about a murder trial. The film was
directed by Bugs Bhargava Krishna.16

• ZEE5 launched ZEE5 Kids, with over 4000 hours of content

in nine languages specifically tailored for kids.17

10
https://www.zee5.com/aboutus
11
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/zee5-will-double-down-on-regional-content-in-2021-manish-kalra-111531.html
12
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/tiktok-rival-hipi-zee5-short-video-platform-2255209
13
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/airtel-announces-new-prepaid-plans-with-free-zee5-subscription-all-you-need-to-know-1698211-2020-07-08
14
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/manoj-bajpayees-silence-to-premiere-on-zee5-7187150/
15
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/churails-zee5-first-pakistani-original-series-zindagi-6529550/
16
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/arjun-rampal-to-star-in-zee5-nail-polish-6605946/
17
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/zee5-launches-kids-offering-zee5-kids/1931520/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 071

 The unfortunate event turned pandemic, COVID-19, last
year led to behavioural and lifestyle changes in people,
including a noteworthy change in their media
consumption patterns. With restrictions that prevailed on the
movement of people and prohibitions that
stayed on gatherings, consumers were left with limited
options to stay occupied and entertained. They
invariably sought to find means to entertain themselves in the
safe confines of their homes.

Being an audience first platform, we, at ZEE5, wanted to step

up by giving audiences a wider range of choices to keep them
entertained while being confined at home. We constantly
delivered their favorite and engaging content and continued
to delight our pan-India audience with a plethora of real,
relevant, and resonant stories across both AVOD and SVOD
platforms. We added new titles to our library, bolstering our
existing reservoir to 2 lakhs+ hours of on-demand content
spanning ZEE5 originals, movies, TV Shows, Live TV, ALTBalaji
shows, Ad-free Catch-up TV, Zindagi TV shows, kids’ content,
the best of Korean dramas, and much more. With deeper
regionalisation as the core focus since our inception, we
ensured the momentum on content production did not drop
even in the pandemic.

On the tech front, since a country like India needs an agile

tech stack to handle massive traffic, we constantly worked on
enhancing ours which enabled us to offer a seamless content
viewing experience for millions of audiences across devices.
Further, to stay more relevant for brands, we instilled a future
ready ad-tech and mar-tech stack, in addition to the 100+
taste clusters that we identified which facilitates us to
personalise content, ensure multi-device compatibility, and
hyper personalisation for our audiences
and partners. In one year, we also strategically forged value
driven B2B partnerships with ecosystem players to reach and
democratise access for a greater chunk of the country’s
population to bespoke entertainment content. Most
importantly, we worked towards becoming the multilingual
storyteller for millions of entertainment seekers by
democratizing access to compelling and diverse
entertainment.

All of this concerted effort helped us observe an overall

growth of 200% in 2020. We also observed an upward
trajectory in our viewership including a rise of 45% in our paid
viewers, an up-tick in our subscriptions by an impressive 80%.
We observed 1.3X growth of engagement with a 1.4X increase
in app installs and threefold growth in viewership on
connected devices as we enhanced the living room
experience and brought the box-office home with
compelling content.

Enter 2021, we aim to continue being the streaming

platform of choice for Indian content in local
languages and have already firmed up our robust
content line-up for 2021 with 50+ theatricals and 40+
Originals across diverse languages.

072 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

While we will continue to explore different genres by
understanding different consumer cohorts, family and
regional content will continue to be our focus, with the latter
being a key growth driver. This year will witness us further
cementing our position as the Multilingual Storyteller for
Millions of Digital Indians, taking a step closer to our vision of
being the largest content destination when it comes to
content in your own language. Lastly, we are also working
towards further enriching the living room experience for our
audience, an area that will see targeted growth owing to the
popularity of connected devices.

Furthermore, we foresee 2021 as the year of reimagining,

rethinking, and reworking business, and content strategies.
With Radhe, we have become pioneers in exploring
multiformat film releases, and we will continue to explore
different ways of delivering mass entertainment content to
different sets of audiences. We are bullish on growth coming
in from tier II, III, and IV markets, where faster digital
acceleration is likely to make OTT mainstream faster than
ever. In fact, the industry has already started discussing the
early dynamics of 5G and how that will play out in advocating
‘Entertainment Inclusion’ for underserved markets and
audiences.

MANISH KALRA,
CHIEF BUSNIESS OFFICER, ZEE5 INDIA

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 073

074 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
ALT Balaji, a subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms Limited, is the Launched
Group’s foray into the digital entertainment space. After April 16, 2017
conquering television and making a strong mark in films,
Balaji Telefilms aims to reach out directly to individual Owned by
audiences, by providing them with original, exclusive, and Balaji Telefilms Limited
tailor-made shows that can be accessed at their fingertips. Headquarters
Mumbai, India
ALT Balaji offers fresh, original and exclusive stories.
Google Play Store Downloads
Tailored especially for Indians across the globe. With
10M+1
stories from different worlds, in genres ranging from
thrillers, mystery and crime to drama, comedy, and Unique Users
romance, ALT Balaji caters to individuals from all strata of 7.6M (March 2021)
the society. Reach
1.6% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
4.6 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

2.1M2

Revenue Model
SVOD (three months - INR 100, six
months - INR 180, one year - INR 3003)
Content Delivery Network
Eko India

Hours of Content
823 hours4
Mode of Revenue
SVOD5

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.balaji.alt
2
https://www.adgully.com/altbalaji-crosses-2-1-mn-active-subscribers-monthly-billing-crosses-rs-10-cr-100905.html
3
https://www.altbalaji.com/subscribe
4
https://inc42.com/features/altbalaji-doubles-subscription-revenue-in-fy2020-as-bold-content-strategy-pays-off/
5
https://www.altbalaji.com/about-us

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 075

Key Measures App Availability
The male audience is almost double the female audience. There is high traction in 18% of the traction comes from the
the age group of 15–24 years in both male and female audience. global audience, organically. ALT
Balaji has a fair share of an
international audience across the US,
Consumer Demographics for Alt Balaji (000) UK, Canada, Australia, the Middle
East, and Southeast Asia markets,
Alt Balaji Audience March 2021 who download and watch their
content.9
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
Top Content10
15 - 24 1315 15-24 696
1. Paurashpur
25 - 34 1132 25 - 34 258

All Males 4770 All Females 2425 2. Broken But Beautiful 2

Source: ComScore 3. Fittrat

4. The Married Woman

Total Unique Visitors Alt Balaji (000)
Between April 2020 and March 2021 5. Apaharan

Desktop Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population 6. Virgin Bhaskar
12000
7. Bose: Dead/Alive
10109
10000
9817
8050 8074
7652
8000
8176 6850 7835 7855 6936
6325 7438
5943 5975 7088
6687 6779
6000 5143 5270 6676
5774 6162 5831
4557 5557 5658 5887
5004 5179 5166
4000 4660 4463 4504 4313
4222
3455
2000
321 214 208 122 158 105 164 179 237 241 174 237
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Between April 2020 and March 2021, the digital population has reduced by 1.3
times. The least TUVs are registered in the month of July 2020. The desktop
population shows a flat trend throughout FY 20-21.

Regional Consumption
Over 60% of consumers of ALT Balaji come from top tier 1 cities, and 40% from Tier
2 and 3 cities.6 Launched three years ago, ALT Balaji has been among the big
players providing regional language content, mostly in Hindi, to Indian audiences.7
“We’re planning on a major thrust into south Indian languages, probably Tamil or
Telugu in 2021. But our strategy then would be to at least launch with about 16 to
20 shows and build that up to a large pack. Regional users will lose interest if we get
just one or two shows and call ourselves a regional player.” —Nachiket Pantvaidya,
CEO, ALT Balaji, and Group COO, Balaji Telefilms.8

6
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/we-intend-to-double-our-direct-subscriptions-to-double-digit-figures-nachiket-pantvaidya-110464.html
7
https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/alt-balaji-was-never-formed-to-compete-netflix-or-amazon-says-founder-ekta-kapoor/articleshow/76316691.cms
8
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/alt-balaji-ceo-interview-ott-platforms-adult-content-6423886/
9
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/we-intend-to-double-our-direct-subscriptions-to-double-digit-figures-nachiket-pantvaidya-110464.html
10
https://www.meritline.com/alt-balaji-web-series/

076 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages
Catering to a wider and diverse audience group, Alt Balaji
offers a host of Hindi offerings dubbed in Indian and
international languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bahasa,
Arabic, etc., among others. With each of these languages
having its unique appeal and local flavour, Alt Balaji is looking
to expand its regional language content library in future.11

In the News

• In October 2020, ALT Balaji acquired a 17.5% stake in

celebrity digital engagement platform, Tring.12

• ALT Balaji and PayPoint India joined hands for deeper OTT
penetration.13

• ALT Balaji launched Season 6 of its popular show Gandii

Baat in January 2021.14

• ALT Balaji launched magnum opus drama Paurashpur.

Touted to be on the lines of Games of Thrones, Paurashpur
released in February, 2021.15

• Bicchoo Ka Khel, starring Divyenndu Sharmaa, Anshul

Chauhan, Zeishan Quadri, Mukul Chadda, and Rajesh
Sharma aired on November 18, 2020.16

11
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/we-intend-to-double-our-direct-subscriptions-to-double-digit-figures-nachiket-pantvaidya-110464.html
12
https://www.vccircle.com/balaji-telefilms-altbalaji-buys-into-celebrity-engagement-platform-tring/
13
https://www.aninews.in/news/business/altbalaji-and-paypoint-india-join-hands-for-deeper-ott-penetration20200706163556/
14
https://scroll.in/reel/984388/gandii-baat-trailer-altbalaji-erotic-thriller-series-is-now-into-season-six
15
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/altbalaji-to-launch-magnum-opus-drama-paurashpur-6742303/
16
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/bicchoo-ka-khel-trailer-divyenndu-sharmaa-cannot-seem-to-let-go-of-mirzapur-munna-6906905/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 077

078 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original Content
SNIPPETS
SonyLIV is an Indian OTT Freemium streaming platform
owned by Sony Pictures Networks India. It’s a top premium Launched
January 2013
streaming platform where subscribers can watch popular
TV shows, movies, sports, web series. Owned by
Sony Pictures Networks India

Headquarters
Mumbai, India

Google Play Store Downloads

100 M+1

Unique Users
21M (March 2021)

Reach
4.6% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/ Visitor

27.8 (March 2021)a

Monthly Active Users

70-80 M2

Revenue Model
SVOD (the plan varies; Liv Premium INR 999,
Liv Special+INR 399, Liv Special INR 199,
WWE Network INR 2993)
Content Delivery Network
Amazon Web Services4
Hours of Content
40,000 hours5

Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonyliv&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://technosports.co.in/2021/01/11/top-5-most-streamed-ott-app-in-2020/
3
https://www.sonyliv.com/faqs#accordion9
4
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/media/sonyliv-delivers-live-and-on-demand-content-across-india-with-aws/
5
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200506005140/en/Leading-Disruptor-in-Live-and-On-Demand-Video-Streaming%E2%80%94SonyLIV-Selects-Intertrust

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 079

Key Measures Top Content9
The male audience outnumbers the female viewers by 1.2 times. The maximum
viewers are in the age group of 15–24. 1. Scam 1992

2. JL 50
Consumer Demographics for SonyLIV (000)
3. Avrodh
SonyLIV Audience March 2021
4. Gullak
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
5. Undekhi
6 -14 103 6 -14 45
Languages
15 - 24 5805 15 - 24 3371
The platform offers content in five
25 - 34 3123 25 - 34 2726 languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu,
and Marathi10
All Males 12666 All Females 9953

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors SonyLIV (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Total Mobile Total Digital Population

50000
45611

39307
40000 43022

31354 37039
29156
30000 26448 25340
23942 23136 24301 29424
21418 27734 21527
25288
23376 22893 23777
20000 16555 22304
20717 19990

15835
10000
3078 2655 1788
785 720 907 1066 1642 1385 1698 2215 1746
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

There is not much difference in TUVs between April 2020 and March 2021. A sharp
tip is seen in December 2020, when IND vs AUS Boxing Day Test was streamed live
on SonyLIV, resulting in a rapid increase in viewership.6

Regional Consumption
After the success of Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story, the series was dubbed
in regional languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada to reach a
larger audience. Along with this, other titles like Avrodh, Your Honor, Undekhi, and
many more have been dubbed, indicating the app’s plan of foraying into the
southern market.7

App Availability
SonyLiv is available in all countries except the US, the UK, and Europe. As for
SonyLiv Premium, you can only access it in India, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman,
and Bahrain.8

6
https://www.indiatvnews.com/sports/cricket/live-stream
ing-cricket-india-vs-australia-2020-2nd-day-4-when-where-how-to-watch-online-ind-vs-aus-telecast-on-tv-sony-liv-app-jio-674599
7
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/sonyliv-ramps-up-content-portfolio-with-live-sports-dubbed-regional-show-201126
8
https://anonymania.com/unblock-sonyliv-anywhere-abroad/
9
https://www.gqindia.com/binge-watch/collection/best-indian-series-on-sonyliv-watch-weekend-to-know-why-they-are-so-hyped/
10
https://www.sonyliv.com/custompage/tv-shows-2240

080 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Scam 1992 becomes one of the highest-rated shows on IMDb with 9.6 rating
beating GoT.11 The makers announced Season 2 in March 2021 which will focus
on the case of Abdul Karim Telgi.12

• In May 2020, SonyLIV announced its SonyLIV 2.0 build with a refreshed &
enhanced user experience and new brand identity.

• Undekhi received backlash for its promotional gimmick in July 2020. After people
called out SonyLIV for its bizarre promotional call for its latest web series
Undekhi, the streaming platform issued an apology on social media.13

• In June 2020, the digital selection process of KBC recorded a 42% jump in
participation.14

• The 63rd Grammy Award got streamed in India exclusively on SonyLIV in March
2021.15

• SonyLIV became an exclusive partner with WWE to stream the show in India.16

• Tata Sky Binge added 1000+ hours of exciting on-demand content from
SonyLIV’s distinguished library, including originals, TV shows, and movies along
with the benefits of catch-up TV and live sports.17

• AVM Productions entered the webspace with a new series. In March 2021, the
studio announced a collaboration with SonyLIV to bring shoot a crime-thriller
series called Tamil Stalkers.18

• WinZO became the official co-powered sponsor in India-Australia Series on

SonyLiv.19

Innovations

• SonyLIV signed IAMAI’s Streaming Self-Regulation Code, hoping to get

government support.20

11
https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/scam-1992-becomes-one-of-the-highest-rated-shows-on-imdb-with-96-rating-beating-got-338045
12
https://www.indiatoday.in/binge-watch/story/after-scam-1992-sonyliv-announces-season-2-make-way-for-scam-2003-the-telgi-story-1775454-2021-03-04
13
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/sonyliv-undekhi-receives-backlash-for-promotional-gimmick-6499496/
14
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/sonylivs-digital-selection-process-of-kbc-records-42-jump-in-participation/article31793820.ece
15
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/63rd-grammy-awards-to-stream-in-india-exclusively-on-sonyliv-210313
16
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/sonyliv-brings-wwe-action-exclusively-in-india-210204
17
https://www.afaqs.com/companies/tata-sky-binge-partners-with-sonyliv-to-bring-high-quality-shows-movies-sports-to-customers
18
https://www.cinemaexpress.com/stories/news/2021/mar/24/avm-productions-enterwebspace-with-a-new-series-23564.html
19
https://www.afaqs.com/companies/winzo-becomes-the-official-co-powered-sponsor-in-india-australia-series-on-sony-liv-2
20
https://www.medianama.com/2020/09/223-sony-liv-lionsgate-play-iamai-self-regulation-code/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 081

 “The stay-at-home directives in 2020 led to limited social
activities and fewer outdoor entertainment options, opening
new avenues for some industries. Improved connectivity and
technological advancement provided a leg up to many
over-the-top (OTT) platforms across India. Quite evidently,
India’s streaming industry had hit the purple patch in 2020 as
an increased paid subscriber base tuned into premium
services to avail their choice of content.

A few OTT platforms went bullish by offering popular and new

content pieces across formats, genres and languages to an
increased paid subscriber base across India. Unlike previous
years, originals, digital movie premieres, international content,
live sports witnessed a spike in viewership during the
lockdown. With increasing popularity and adoption of online
streaming services, video-on-demand came of age. SPN’s
digital platform SonyLIV witnessed 600% growth in paid
subscriber base in FY 20-21.
With major OTT players making heavy investments to ensure
viewers get the best of original content, we continued to cater
to our audience by building a robust slate of differentiated
stories. Scam 1992 -The Harshad Mehta Story became one of
the best-reviewed and most successful originals breaking the
clutter. The daily average premium subscriptions on the
platform increased by 143% in the following weeks after its
launch. Also, a slew of other originals and new content offered
since July 2020 created unprecedented demand on the
platform.
Sports content, besides originals, was the most consumed
content on OTT platforms from September 2020 to January
2021.  Streaming platforms will continue to innovate their
content catalogues and sustain sports viewership. In India,
most of the audience is still connected to cable TV but
increased digital adoption will accelerate sports streaming.
Thirty per cent of SonyLIV subscriptions in 2020 was driven by
live sports.  WWE streaming packages, the much-anticipated
India tour of Australia are some of the sports events that
contributed to approximately 10-12% of the overall views on
the platform.
Content innovation laced with technological advancement will
act as a catalyst for increased engagement in the coming
years. Technology will accelerate production efficiency,
eliminate physical production restrictions, improve viewing
experience,  and amplify content consumption and
engagement. Implementation of player and CDN
(content delivery network) optimization on
SonyLIV minimized buffering, start time,
stream lag and improved frame quality. Today
we have our own Content Management
System (CMS) developed in a
build-operate-transfer model.

082 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Subsequently, we will invest and build our subscription
management and data management platform, along with our
own search and development platform. 
As the audience continues to embrace and adapt digital
platforms, OTT players will further amplify personalized
viewing experience to sustain the growth trajectory.”

Mr. N.P. Singh,

Chief Executive Officer,
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN)

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 083

084 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
Eros Now is one of India’s leading OTT platforms with the Launched
biggest catalogue of movies and music in several regional 2012
languages. The app offers content in HD, Bollywood, and
regional Indian movies, TV shows, Eros Now Originals, Owned by
music, and music videos. Eros STX1
Headquarters
Mumbai, India

Google Play Store Downloads

10M+2

Unique Users
1.2M (March 2021)

Reach
0.3% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
3.2 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

36.2M3

Revenue Model
Freemium (one month- INR 49,
quarterly- INR 79, one year- INR 3994)
Content Delivery Network
Azure Content Delivery Network5
Hours of Content
15,000 hours6
Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/media/arti
cle/eros-international-and-stx-entertainment-together-can-yield-run-rate-revenue-and-cost-synergies-of-up-to-50-million-by-2022/articleshow/75325750.cms
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.erosnow
3
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/eros-now-targets-to-take-total-subscribers-to-50-million-by-march-2023/79680336
4
https://erosnow.com/purchase
5
https://inc42.com/buzz/eros-now-banks-on-originals-to-build-on-36-mn-subscribers-drive-overseas-revenue/
6
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xfinite-and-eros-now-expand-partnership-for-blockchain-based-content-engagement-program-on-algorand-301309155.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 085

Key Measures Top Content9
The platform has more male viewers than female. The total male viewers are more
than twice the total female viewers. The maximum number of viewers fall in the age 1. Hindmata
group of 25–34 years in male whereas in the case of female it is 15-26 years.
2. 7 Kadam

Consumer Demographics for Eros Now (000) 3. Modi Season 2

Eros Now Audience 2021 4. Metro Park 2

Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000) 5. Flesh

6-14 12 15-24 308 Languages

Eros Now is one of India’s leading OTT
15-24 274 25-34 47
platforms with the biggest catalogue of
25-34 361 movies and music in several languages,
All Males 1015 All Females 361 including Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi,
Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi,
Source: ComScore Gujarati, and Bengali.10

Total Unique Visitors Eros Now (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Total Mobile Total Digital Population

4000
3610
3500
3484
3000

2500

2000 1797

1500 1693 1352

1174 1272
1091 1054 1094
1296 861 825
1000 699
794 1075
1041 1099 960
905
791 760 699
500 662
213
136 125 61 85 103 160 146
67 78 41 66
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs in the time period between April 2020 and March 2021 kept on
decreasing. In the month of April 2020, it was the highest. Till March 2021, TUVs
decreased by 29%.

Regional Consumption
Eros Now had a fair run with Hindi original series and plans to launch regional web
series in due course. It strategizes to run 80-100 minutes of regional content under
the Eros Quickie category that streams short-format programs primarily to cater to
mobile audiences.7

App Availability
The service was initially launched in the United States, Canada, and India. Eros Now
Select after the partnership with Apple TV is now available to customers in
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Cambodia, Indonesia, Israel,
Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan.8

7
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/pandemic-push-otts-place-their-bets-on-regional-content/2097431/
8
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/eros-now-select-now-available-in-11-countries-for-apple-tv-channels/article33400434.ece
9
https://erosnow.com/originals
10
https://erosnow.com/about_us

086 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Eros Now Select is available through Apple TV Channels in 11 new countries

since December 2020.11

• In April 2020, Eros International and STX Entertainment merged to form a new
entity, Eros STX Global Corporation. The merged entity had an increased
economic scale of more than $600 million in pro forma revenue for the year
2019 and over $300 million of aggregated future revenue from STX
Entertainment films already released in 2019.12

• Eros Now released the first trailer of Vikrant Massey-starrer Switchh, which is
directed by Mustufa Raj. The movie was shot in the UAE entirely and premiered
on Eros Now’s streaming platform on March 21, 2021.13

• Eros Now aplogised for Navratri posters as #BoycottErosNow trended. An ad

campaign by Eros Now featured stills from Bollywood movies with captions that
were slammed as distasteful by many on social media.14

• In December 2020, Eros Now announced a slate of film premieres, which

includes 33 film premieres and 13 originals in more than eight languages, with
the likes of Dulquer Salmaan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui starring in them. The slate,
dubbed as Kahaani Har Rang Ki, was introduced by actors Ayushmann Khurrana
and Kartik Aaryan.15

• EROS Now live streamed Abu Dhabi T10 League in 12 countries in January
2021.16

• Eros Now partnered with Sony India in July 2020. Eros Now App now comes
pre-installed on select models of Sony Smart TVs in India.17

• Ranvir Shorey-starrer Metro Park rolled out a ‘quarantine’ edition, which had
actors shoot their portions independently at their residence.18

• Eros Now partnered with Dish TV India. DishTV & D2H customers can now
access Eros Now services on their android Set-Top boxes—Dish SMRT Hub &
D2H Stream.19

11
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eros-now-select-now-availa
ble-140000465.html?guccounter=1&guce_refer
rer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQA
AAM7Or1HfIf7gr5GwqHLbNLGbAfunbFIrN49PR1RKzLsycPXOta3HfGZbK
J3IDGYzfKv2jJX34xTfFZO2NUbPtShvQexheM_lhvcSyd84Zk0xf6d8K7VBCMyvwT9brnq0cErO9SQxY7KrM7YWdz5_-Qq81PJLHJjcgvwtv43jk2Gs
12
https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/media/arti
cle/eros-international-and-stx-entertainment-together-can-yield-run-rate-revenue-and-cost-synergies-of-up-to-50-million-by-2022/articleshow/75325750.cms
13
https://www.broadcastprome.com/news/shot-in-the-uae-bollywood-thriller-switchh-trailer-released/
14
https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/eros-now-aplogises-for-navratri-posters-as-boycotterosnow-trends-2314165
15
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/eros-now-an
nounces-slate-of-film-premieres-likes-of-dulquer-salmaan-nawazuddin-siddiqui-to-star-in-them/article33306071.ece
16
https://www.insidesport.co/abu-dhabi-t10-live-streaming-eros-now-to-live-stream-abu-dhabi-t10-league-in-12-countries/
17
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200720005251/en/Eros-Now-Partners-with-Sony-India
18
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/ranvir-shorey-starrer-metro-park-to-have-quarantine-edition-6419782/
19
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200630005039/en/Eros-Now-Partners-with-Dish-TV-India

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 087

 The new ‘at-home’ environment has led to the rise of
direct-to-consumer apps, local ‘bite-sized’ entertainment
platforms and user-generated content formats. With
improved connectivity and technological advancements,
Indian OTT audience has proliferated in number during the
pandemic and India is now considered as one of the fastest
growing OTT markets in the world. With consumers
embracing digital technologies for entertainment, the sector
is poised to grow further. The significant shift in consumer
entertainment behavior resulting in cord cutting, new digital
releases, sports events, originals, regional content, OTT
industry will continue to upsurge exponentially.

With the legacy studio and our experience of running content

in the theatrical industry for so long, at Eros understand the
pulse of our audience which gives us an edge in the industry.
We have put this rich experience and understanding of the
sector to grow Eros Now into a global player. Eros Now
successfully concluded last fiscal year by adding 10.6 million
new paid subscribers to reach a total of 39.9 million paid
subscribers and 224.0 million registered users worldwide.

As the world moves towards a new normal, we will continue to

expand while constantly improving user experience on Eros
Now through engaging content, innovation, and increased
focus on technology. The plan has already been put to action.

In an interconnected world, businesses need to focus on

synergies and take a collaborative approach rather than going
solo. Developing the right model and working with the right
partners to ensure coevolution while adding value to a
customer’s life is the key. We have pivoted our distribution
model to focus primarily on direct-to-consumer relationships
while continuing to strengthen and expand select key
distribution partnerships. We believe in the power of
technology. Earlier this year, we had forged a unique and
strategic relationship with Microsoft to create backend video
technology. This collaboration will help Eros Now develop a
new intuitive online video platform to ensure seamless
delivery of content.
At the start of this year, we had announced the launch of 46
original series and movie premieres across 8 Indian languages
during fiscal 2021. The announcement of the biggest and
most promising content lineup across multiple Indian
languages is expected to upscale the growth trajectory. To
date we have already released 25 titles with the rest to follow.
We have also been the trend setter during the lockdown by
adopting to new shooting techniques and following all
lockdown norms to offer multiple relevant, fresh, and
entertaining content for its worldwide audience.
India is one of the largest and fastest-growing digital markets
in the world and the pandemic has further propelled this
growth. I believe that in addition to large cities, the
growth will come from tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

088 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Therefore, businesses should spend time to understand the
India that resides in the hinterland. Situation will normalize
sooner or later but we may still have a new environment to
deal with. User behavior, their perspective towards
entertainment and their consumption pattern might have
changed or evolved. And companies should be ready to
embrace this change and plan their growth strategies
accordingly.

Ali Hussein,
Chief Executive Officer, Eros Now

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 089

090 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
Sun NXT is an online video streaming platform owned and Launched
operated by Sun TV Network Limited, which offers live TV June 2017
content, movies, originals, kid’s content, music and more
across five Indian languages. It’s high level audio/video Owned by
streaming technology and high attention to the quality of Sun TV Network Limited
user experience across devices and platforms makes Sun Headquarters
NXT the most complete entertainment destination for Chennai, Tamil Nadu
southern OTT audio/video consumers.
Google Play Store Downloads
10M+1

Unique Users
2.7M (March 2021)

Reach
0.6% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
66.1 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

18 M2

Revenue Model
SVOD (month- INR 50, three months-
INR 130 and year- INR 4803)
Hours of Content
50,000 hours4
Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.suntv.sunnxt&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://www.exchange4media.com/media-tv-news/sun-tv-networks-top-management-foresees-ad-revenue-de-growth-in-fy21-109073.html
3
https://www.sunnxt.com/payment/subscription/
4
https://www.sunnxt.com/about/
INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 091
Key Measures Top Content
The platform has more male viewers than female. The maximum number of SunNXT is a catch-up TV.8 The popular
viewers fall in the age group of 18–24 years, with men in this age group content is as follows:9
outnumbering the female audience in this age group by almost three times.
1. Kalyana Veedu

Consumer Demographics for Sun NXT (000) 2. Nayaki

Sun NXT Audience March 2021 3. Manasaare

Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
4. Shubha Sankalpam

18-24 403 18-24 143 5. Chocolate

25-34
Source: ComScore
Total Unique Visitors Sun NXT (000)
Between April 2020 and March 2021
278 25-34 196
Languages
Sun TV Network Limited offers live TV
content, movies, originals, kid’s
content, music across five Indian
languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Malayalam, and Bengali.10

Total Mobile

2986
3000
2796

2500

2010
1935
2000
1809
1714
1554 Source: ComScore
1607
1524
1517
1500 1393

1036
1000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The above graph shows total mobile TUVs of Sun NXT. The highest TUVs are seen
in the month of September 2020. The reason can be Jio Fiber providing a
‘no-condition 30-day free trial to all new consumers, which included Sun NXT too.5
Unlike other platforms, in SunNXT, the TUVs increased between April 2020 and
March 2021.

Regional Consumption
Sun NXT offers a collection of over 4000 movies, music videos, TV shows, and live
TV in four south Indian languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, apart
from a few other languages as well. No doubt the app has major consumption in
the southern states.6

App Availability
The app is accessible in the US, Canada, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Africa,
Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East. Viewers can even stream Sun NXT
content on JioTV, Airtel Xstream, and V! movies & TV.7

5
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/jio-fiber-new-plans-announced-rs-399-699-999-1499-30-day-free-trial-12-ott-app-subscription-free-2288007
6
https://www.gizbot.com/sun-nxt-subscription-plans.html?story=2
7
https://yourstory.com/2021/01/hotstar-netflix-amazon-prime-video-regional-ott-platforms-2021/amp
8
https://www.amazon.in/Sun-TV-Network-Limited-NXT/dp/B072814ZX5
9
https://wittycolumn.com/top-10-web-series-on-sun-nxt/
10
https://www.sunnxt.com/about/

092 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Sun TV announced its plan to invest around Rs 600 cr in movies and content for
OTT platform in November 2020. Commenting on the advertisement market,
the company said that in October 2020, advertisement revenue had recovered
to over 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels.11

• Telecom partnerships have been driving Sun NXT subscriber growth. While Sun
TV is likely to spend Rs 2 billion on Sun NXT, analysts believe the broadcaster is
“grossly under-invested” in Sun NXT.12

• Sun Nxt, the OTT platform of Sun TV in Tamil, bagged online streaming rights for
a few Tamil movies, including Ayalaan, Party, Kombu Vatcha Singamda, Raangi,
Raja Vamsam, Naa Naa, Trip, Panni Kutty, Oomai Vizhigal, etc.13

Innovations

• The management of Chennai-based Sun TV Network seems to have abandoned

the earlier ‘hybrid strategy’ for its digital platform and come to the conclusion
that an advertising-led model will likely not work in the video-on-demand
universe in the longer term.14

11
https://www.business-standard.com/article/entertainment/sun-tv-to-invest-around-rs-600-cr-in-movies-and-content-for-ott-platform-120111300383_1.html
12
https://telecomtalk.info/telecom-partnerships-driving-sun-nxt-subscriber-growth/322177/
13
https://www.filmibeat.com/top-listing/upcoming-tamil-movies-bagged-by-sun-nxt-for-online-streaming-ayalaan-5-6188-571.html
14
https://ultra.news/s-e/51793/sun-nxt-to-abandon-ad-based-strategy

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 093

094 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
Ullu is a video streaming service that offers a wide variety of Launched
genres from drama, horror, suspense, thriller to comedy and Decemeber 2018
beyond. The platform has a vast collection of web series,
movies, Ullu Originals and more in regional languages. Owned by
Ullu Digital Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary
of Jaypeeco Infotainment

Headquarters
Mumbai, India

Google Play Store Downloads

10 M+1

Unique Users
3.1M (March 2021)

Reach
0.7% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
14.9 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

198 M2

Revenue Model
SVOD (7 days- INR 36, 1 month- INR 81,
4 months- INR 153, 1 year- INR 2523)
Content Delivery Network
Amazon Web Services

Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cdi.videostreaming.app&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://thebiem.com/netflix-alternatives-in-india/
3
https://ullu.app/#/subscribe

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 095

Key Measures App Availability
The male audience is 1.5 times more than the female audience. The majority of the The app has presence in more than
male audience falls in the age group of 15–24 years, whereas in the female 100 countries.5
audience, the majority of viewership is seen in 25–34 years age group.
Top Content6

Consumer Demographics for Ullu (000) 1. Black Coffee

Ullu Audience March 2021 2. Generation Gap

Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000) 3. The Bull Of Dalal Street

15-24 567 15 - 24 232 4. Kirdaar

25-34 546 25 - 34 688
5. Dubeyji and The Boys
All Males 1379 All Females 924

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Ullu (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population

4000
3568
3500 3275 3250
3434 3199
3075 3059
3000 3190 3148
3212 2734 3051
2554 2992 2957
2500 2218 2306 2666 2695
2491 2616 2574 2567
1978 1882
2135 2229 2286
2000
2082 1901
1935 1966 1824
1732 1796 1714
1500

1000

500
145 102 94 110 111 162
95 77 70 65 91 93
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs chart above shows the highest viewers in the month of April 2020. There
is a sudden drop in the month of October 2020. The audience in the time period
between April 2020 and March 2021 has decreased by 10.34%.

Regional Consumption
The biggest market is the Bengali market, followed by Telugu. Eighty per cent of the
subscribers are from India. Of the remaining 20 per cent, Gulf countries are the
biggest, followed by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Latin America and Canada. In India,
most subscribers come from Hindi speaking markets like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,
and Maharashtra. 4

4
https://www.afaqs.com/interviews/will-spend-up-to-rs-10-crore-per-show-to-change-ullus-edgy-image-vibhu-agarwal
5
https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/web-series/article/Rasika-Dugal-Crucial-to-be-familiar-with-characters-world-21595195?infinite-scroll=1
6
https://thebiem.com/netflix-alternatives-in-india/

096 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages
The content is available in nine different languages—English,
Hindi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and
Kannada.

In the News

• In December 2020, Ullu announced their brand new series,

Slip, with a refreshing suspense and thriller storyline.7

• In 2020, media reported that the Ullu featured adult and

explicit content during the COVID-19 pandemic to gain
more subscribers.8

Innovation

• The Ullu app has launched the Ullu music channel in

August 2020. The channel focuses on giving opportunities
to budding singers, song writers, and musicians who might
not have settled contacts in the music industry, to present
their work.9

7
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/ullu-brings-in-a-refreshing-new-change-to-its-content-with-slip-201202
8
https://www.vice.com/en/article/ep4pep/indian-local-streaming-platforms-erotica-sex
9
https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/tvnews4u-epa
per-tvnews/ullu+app+launches+ullu+music+channel+aims+at+giving+opportunities+to+outsiders-newsid-n203151614

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 097

098 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original SNIPPETS
Prime Video is a video streaming service that's included in
your Amazon Prime membership. Subscribers can watch Launched
thousands of titles on Prime Video at no additional December 2016
cost—including many award-winning movies and critically Owned by
acclaimed original TV series. Users can rent or buy movies Amazon
and TV episodes not included with Prime Video, and
Headquarters
subscribe to over 100 premium channels with Prime Video
Seattle, USA
Channels Subscriptions.
Google Play Store Downloads
100M+2

Unique Users
47M (March 2021)

Reach
10.6% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
94.9 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

80M3

Revenue Model
SVOD (yearly INR 9994)
Content Delivery Network
Amazon Web Services

Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
This chapter covers only India data
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.avod.thirdpartyclient
3
https://www.business-standard.com/article/entertainment/ott-debut-of-shoojit-sarkar-s-gulabo-sitabo-may-script-a-new-story-120061300040_1.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 099

Key Measures Top Content8
The male category occupies the biggest chunk in the TUVs. In both male and
female audience, the highest viewers are in the age group of 18-24 years. 1. Made in Heaven

2. The Family Man

Consumer Demographics for Amazone Prime Video (000)
3. Mirzapur
Amazon Prime Video Audience March 2021
4. Breathe
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
5. Paatal Lok
18-24 11385 18-24 7540

25-34 10309 25-34 5533

6. Panchayat

Source: ComScore Over half of Mirzapur Season 2 viewers

finished watching the show within 48
hours of its release.9
Total Unique Visitors Amazon Prime Video (000)
Between April 2020 and March 2021 Languages
The app has content in nine local
Total Mobile
languages, including Hindi, Marathi,
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam,
60000
Gujarati, Punjabi, and Bengali, and is
also available in three local user
50554 interfaces—Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.10
50000 48190
46888 47269
45331 46562 45655
44969

44522

40000
38547 38260
37413

30000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The maximum TUVs were in December 2020. The possible reason could be the
much awaited remake of Coolie No.1 starring Varun Dhawan, a modernized
version of the 1995 flick, also directed by David Dhawan.5

Regional Consumption
Amazon Prime Video (APV) is watched in over 4,300 cities and towns in India,
making India one of the fastest growing markets for Amazon Prive Video globally.
Along with Hindi content, the platform has consistently launched content in other
Indian languages including movies and shows such as CU Soon (Malayalam), V
(Telugu), Soorarai Pottru (Tamil), AB Aani CD (Marathi), Ponmagal Vandhal (Tamil),
Law (Kannada), Comicstaan Semma Comedy Pa (Tamil original series) and Putham
Pudhu Kaalai (Tamil anthology of five films). This shows that the app has a viewer
base in different southern states too.6

App Availability
The app is available in 18 countries—Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Turkey,
United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and India.7

5
https://www.gqindia.com/binge-watch/collection/upcoming-new-shows-movies-on-amazon-prime-video-releasing-december-2020/
6
https://www.livemint.com/technology/apps/amazon-prime-video-to-invest-in-more-indian-content-as-ott-competition-continues-11610880141614.html
7
https://www.amazon.in/amazonprime?_encoding=UTF8&ad
grpid=89346394715&ext_vrnc=hi&gclid=CjwKCAjwuvmHBhAxEiwA
WAYj-BpimSYbzbs2UjzusYZzqgonB5PKGIMtVoaMR_kk9mcifwarR06Vi
BoCT_8QAvD_BwE&hvadid=509716345330&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hv
locint=&hvlocphy=1007740&hvnetw=g&hvpone=&hvpos=&hvptwo=&h
vqmt=e&hvrand=4129794579299708355&hvtargid=kwd-342311194444&hydadcr=15722_2210662&ref=pd_sl_2ddkbdocj8_e&tag=googinhydr1-21
8
https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/amazon-prime-web-series-521358.html
9
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/fire-tv-users-double-in-2020-amazon-71612190499759.html
10
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.avod.thirdpartyclient

100 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Amazon Prime Video was the most subscribed to platform11

• Amazon Prime show Tandav faced calls for a ban in India for hurting religious
feelings, even though the makers and Amazon Prime Video apologized and
edited the scene.12

• OTT debut of Shoojit Sarkar's Gulabo Sitabo scripted a new story. The movie was
among the first films to take the OTT route for release rather than opting for the
conventional theatrical release due to the lockdown induced by the coronavirus
pandemic.13

• Since December 2020, Tenet—Christopher Nolan's epic time-bending espionage

movie—is available on Amazon Prime Video in India, in English, Hindi, Tamil, and
Telugu but the Prime Video version is limited to high-definition (HD) video
resolution and not 4K.14

• Amazon Prime Video forayed into live sports; bagged India rights for New
Zealand cricket in November 2020.15

• The makers of Mirzapur announced the renewal of the series for the third
season on Amazon Prime Video, after a successful run of two seasons.16

• Tamil action thriller, Master, starring ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, had
a digital premiere on Amazon Prime Video in January 2021.17

• Amazon announced that its customers in India can now access Prime Video
through a dedicated app available on the Microsoft Store on Windows 10
devices.18

Innovations

• Airtel users can get a free trial of Amazon Prime mobile edition for 30 days.
Airtel-Prime Video Mobile Edition plans are priced at INR 89, INR 131, INR 299,
INR 349 and INR 399.19

• Amazon Prime Video’s ‘Watch Party’ feature is now available in India. Up to 100
people can watch together, but on computers only.20

11
https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-tech/arti
cle/netflix-is-the-most-popular-platform-in-india-while-amazon-prime-video-has-the-highest-subscribers-report/articleshow/78034513.cms
12
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/18/media/tandav-controversy-amazon-india-intl-hnk/index.html
13
https://www.business-standard.com/article/entertainment/ott-debut-of-shoojit-sarkar-s-gulabo-sitabo-may-script-a-new-story-120061300040_1.html
14
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/news/tenet-movie-amazon-prime-india-video-online-watch-download-release-date-ott-streaming-2402758
15
https://www.thehindu.com/business/amazon-prime-video-forays-into-live-sports-bags-india-rights-for-new-zealand-cricket/article33063682.ece
16
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/mirzapur-renewed-for-season-3-7048941/
17
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/vijay-master-to-premiere-on-amazon-prime-video-on-january-29-7163082/
18
https://www.thehansindia.com/tech/amazon-prime-video-app-arrives-on-windows-10-devices-in-india-631533
19
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/airtel-users-can-get-a-free-trial-of-amazon-prime-mobile-edition-for-30-days-here-is-how-1758924-2021-01-14
20
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/news/prime-video-watch-party-india-how-to-computer-100-people-amazon-2335376

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 101

102 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
About SNIPPETS
Vuclip, a PCCW Media Company, was one of the pioneers of
the video streaming domain and a widely-trusted Launched
video-on-demand service provider, with a global footprint March 2016
across more than 22 countries. Borne of innovation, Viu Owned by
intended to become one of the world’s most recognized Vuvlip
MediaTech giants, however, the service has been discontin-
Headquarters
ued in India from November 2019 onwards.
Singapore

Google Play Store Downloads

50M+1

Unique Users
60K (March 2021)

Reach
0

Average Minutes/visitor
2 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

45 M2,3

Revenue Model
Freemium (month- INR 994)
Content Delivery Network
Akamai5
Hours of Content
40,000 hours6
Mode of Revenue
Freemium

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vuclip.viu
2
Includes 16 markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East including Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait.
3
https://www.broadcastprome.com/interviews/in-conversation-with-abe-shady-aboul-naga-gm-viu-me-pccw-media-company/
4
https://www.viu.com/ott/in/en/hindi/faq
5
https://www.akamai.com/uk/en/about/news/akamai-in-the-news-2019.jsp
6
https://www.viu.com/ott/in/en/hindi/faq

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 103

Key Measures Top Content8
The table above depicts the consumer demographics of Viu, the male audience is
higher than the female audience. In case of male audience the age group of 15-24 1. Love Lust and Confusion
has highest audience, while in female audience majority of the audience is seen in
the age group of 25-34. 2. 13 Mussoorie

3. Kaushiki
Consumer Demographics for Viu (000)
4. Memories
Viu Video Audience March 2021
5. XYX
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
Languages
15 - 24 3 15 - 24 4 The platform offers content in Marathi,
Hindi, Telugu and Kannada languages.9
25 - 34 2 25 - 34 6

All Males 18 All Females 15 In the News

Source: ComScore • Viu launches new Arabic show, ‘Ansaf

Majaneen’. Drama follows a heart
transplant recipient who hears the
Total Unique Visitors Viu (000) voice of his donor in his head.10
Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Total Digital Population

800

700 657

600 655

500

400

300

200
74 74
100 69 57 74 60
118 45 48 49
32
74 74 69 49 57 74 0 60
45 48
0 0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUV are seen in June 2020. After the suspension of Viu services in India
the TUVs have drastically gone down.

App Availability
Viu is a leading pan-regional OTT video streaming service. It‘s available in 16
markets including: Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Myanmar in Asia; Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and the UAE in the Middle East; as well as South Africa.7

7
https://www.hq.viu.com/
8
https://wittycolumn.com/top-10-web-series-on-viu-india/
9
https://www.viu.com/ott/in/en/hindi/originals
10
https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/tv/viu-launches-new-arabic-show-ansaf-majaneen-1.76547689

104 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 105
106 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Netflix is a streaming service that offers a wide variety of
SNIPPETS
award-winning TV shows, movies, anime, documentaries Launched
and more—on thousands of internet-connected devices. January 2016 (India)
Netflix, in full Netflix, Inc., media-streaming and video-rental
Owned by
company was founded in 1997 by American entrepreneurs, Netflix Inc.
Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. It is also involved in the
creation of original programming. Headquarters
Mumbai, India (India Operations)

Google Play Store Downloads

1B+1

Unique Users
34M+ (March 2021)

Reach
7.3% (March 2021

Average Minutes/visitor
13.5 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

203.6 M2

Revenue Model
SVOD (Mobile- INR 199, Basic- INR 499,
Standard- INR 649, Premium-INR 7993)
Content Delivery Network
Netflix Open Connect4
Hours of Content
36000 hours of original content5
Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.mediaclient&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/netf
lix-scores-with-streamfest-in-india-as-global-subscriber-base-crosses-200-million/articleshow/80376812.cms?from=mdr
3
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926?ui_action=kb-article-popular-categories
4
https://blog.apnic.net/2018/06/20/netflix-content-distribu
tion-through-open-connect/#:~:text=Netflix%20Open%20Connect%20is%20our,use%20to%20access%20the%20Internet.
5
https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/how-long-would-it-take-to-watch-all-of-netflix/

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 107

Key Measures
The male TUVs are 17.36 % more than the female TUVs. The platform majorly
caters to the age group between 6 and 34 years. The female audience in the
children’s age group is more than male audience. In both the genders, the
maximum TUVs fall in the age group of 15-24 years.

Consumer Demographics for Netflix (000)

Netflix Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

6 -14 135 6 -14 277

15 - 24 9666 15-24 6489

25-34 5719 25-34 5359

All Males 21884 All Females 18080

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Netflix (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population Desktop

80000

70000
5849
60000
9006 62244
50000
8023
57326
40000 50821 6778 4413
4472 4295 4460
4387 3895
43391 6447 6150
30000 34744 34373
43215 35278 34043 33146 32491
31825
37128 30293 29855 30520
20000 30242 30896 29102
29852 28078 29386
25079 24679
31022 25212
10000 20774 18411 19326 23329 47463
22097 22579 24103 23631 25053
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs suddenly spiked in the month of December 2020. The platform had a
stellar line-up of movies and shows coming in December, AK vs AK was one of
them.6

Regional Consumption
The TUVs suddenly spiked in the month of December 2020. The platform had a
stellar line-up of movies and shows coming in December, AK vs AK was one of
them.7
A small town-based series, Jamtara: Sabka Number Aayega, had the longest run
among Indian titles on Netflix’s Top 10 leaderboard in India. Regional-language
content was not far behind though. Several Indian-language shows and movies
dominated internet search trends and generated conversation on online forums.
Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, a Telugu movie on Netflix, logged one of the highest
Google search volumes.8

6
https://www.gqindia.com/binge-watch/collection/upcoming-new-shows-movies-releasing-on-netflix-in-december-2020/
7
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/how-netflix-india-is-making-itself-more-desi-and-accessible/article32750789.ece
8
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/lockdown-led-push-for-ott-platforms-set-to-carry-on-into-2021-11608102539208.html

108 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

App Availability
Netflix is available for streaming in over 190 countries, except China, Crimea, North
Korea, and Syria.9

Top Content10

• Most popular romantic series: Mismatched

• Most popular docu-series: Bad Boy Billionaires: India
• Most popular non-fiction series: Too Hot to Handle, Indian Matchmaking,
Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives
• Most popular anime series: Blood of Zeus, and One-Punch Man Season 2
• Most popular non-Indian, non-English series: The Protector
• Most popular K-dramas: The King: Eternal Monarch, Kingdom Season 2, It's Okay
to Not Be Okay, and Start-up

Languages
Majorly the content in Indian originals is available in Hindi; the other popular
languages are Tamil and Telugu.

9
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/14164
10
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/news/netflix-india-most-popular-movies-series-2020-gunjan-saxena-bad-boy-billionaires-k-drama-docu-anime-kids-2336677

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 109

In the News

• AK vs AK, an edgy thriller directed by filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, has now

been watched in 40 countries, and subtitled and dubbed in more than 30
languages.11

• Netflix unveiled 15 Indian series for 2021 (and possibly beyond), including five
new ones. Some of the new TV shows included the Raveena Tandon-led
supernatural crime thriller Aranyak from Rohan Sippy (Criminal Justice: Behind
Closed Doors), the R. Madhavan-starrer comedy Decoupled from author Manu
Joseph, the four-part anthology Ray (with Abhishek Chaubey directing one of
them), the young love anthology, Feels Like Ishq, that features Radhika Madan,
Tanya Maniktala, Zayn Marie Khan, and Neeraj Madhav, and the black comedy
pulp thriller, Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein, starring Shweta Tripathi and from Sidharth
Sengupta (Apharan).12

• Netflix India anounced a free weekend in India in October 2020.13

• Netflix’s StreamFest initiative in India, which gave free weekend access to

non-subscribers in December 2020, brought in "millions of users" to the
streaming platform, in the face of increasing competition from local rivals.14

• In February 2021, Netflix faced fresh scrutiny as India tightened its grip with new
streaming guidelines.15

• Delhi Crime bagged top prize—the best drama series honour—at the 48th
International Emmy Awards 2020.16
• Netflix faced boycott calls in India over a kissing scene in the series, A Suitable
Boy.17
• Netflix India releases three episodes of Bad Boy Billionaires amid legal tussle.
The Bad Boy Billionaires: India documentary series about liquor tycoon Vijay
Mallya, Subrata Roy of the Sahara group, IT executive Ramalinga Raju and
jeweller Nirav Modi was released in October 2020.18
• An Indian government agency for protecting child rights asked Netflix Inc to
immediately stop streaming its new drama series, Bombay Begums, after it
reviewed complaints around scenes showing children consuming drugs.19

Innovations

• In October 2020, Netflix introduced the complete Hindi UI (user interface).20

This was done to further the platform’s appeal in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.21

• Netflix password sharing could come to an end as company tests new feature.
Netflix is testing a new feature, which will ensure that only those who own the
account or live with the owners of the account are able to access to it.22

11
https://www.fortuneindia.com/enterprise/netflix-and-its-battle-for-india/105217
12
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/news/netflix-india-ray-bombay-begums-decoupled-finding-anamika-aranyak-yeh-kaali-kaali-ankhein-feels-like-ishq-2382236
13
https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/20/netflix-to-test-free-week-
end-long-access-in-india/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHJj8GquzjOEX1iRJ4d5StDpc5BpVJXLc7OnDXT4g5
QNl-guitBFSteWcfhg34iTnrJyagQIL-hrTuhddmB08_3MiidcQlC0pm1pcT0heGaBwzutbSFkI4t3OXds-Trj2sfoJwOLi4cYBUdZpt2zDhMNwKTd0tbVo1-7o_JPityb
14
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/netf-
lix-scores-with-streamfest-in-india-as-global-subscriber-base-crosses-200-million/articleshow/80376812.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_cam
paign=cppst
15
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-25/facebook-netflix-face-fresh-scrutiny-as-india-tightens-rules
16
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/-
big-win-for-india-netflixs-delhi-crime-wins-top-prize-at-international-emmy-awards-2020/articleshow/79380740.cms
17
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/23/media/a-suitable-boy-netflix-india-intl-hnk/index.html
18
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/netflix-india-releases-three-episodes-of-bad-boy-billionaires-amid-legal-tussle-6703636/
19
https://www.reuters.com/article/india-netflix-idUSKBN2B40N1
20
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/how-netflix-india-is-making-itself-more-desi-and-accessible/article32750789.ece
21
https://inc42.com/buzz/netflix-introduces-hindi-interface-to-lure-indian-viewers/
22
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/netflix-password-sharing-could-come-to-an-end-company-testing-a-new-feature-7224899/

110 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 111
112 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original Content
SNIPPETS
TVFPlay is a premium content destination from The Viral Launched
Fever (TVF). It caters to the young audience who want a 2012
premium content experience. It hosts all of TVF’s premium
shows as well as shows and content from around the Owned by
The Viral Fever (TVF), operated by
world.
Contagious Online Media Network Pvt. Ltd
On TVFPlay, viewers can browse and watch regular shows
and content, created and curated especially for the young Headquarters
audience, across a variety of genres like humor, drama, Mumbai, India
trends etc.
Google Play Store Downloads
5M+1

Unique Users
1.5M (March 2021)

Reach
0.3% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
23.2 (March 2021)

Revenue Model
AVOD

Content Delivery Network

Brightcove Video Cloud2

Mode of Revenue
AVOD

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tvf.tvfplay
2
https://www.brightcove.com/en/company/press/viral-fever-selects-brightcove-enable-new-ott-service-reaching-indias-millennial-audience/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 113

Key Measures App Availability
The male viewers of TVFPlay are double the female viewers. The 15–24 years age TVF Play is available only in India.
group occupies the highest share in the total male and female audience.

Top Content (only the shows

Consumer Demographics for TVF Play (000) available on the OTT
platform are considered)5
TVF Play Audience March 2021
1. Yeh Meri Family
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
2. Inmates
15-24 417 15-24 184
3. Cubicles
25-34 160 25-34 135

All Males 748 All Females 319 4. Bisht, Please

Source: ComScore 5. Bachelors

6. Kota Factory
Total Unique Visitors TVF Play (000)
Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population

3000
2772

2500 2502

2000
1659
1442 1521
1500 1338
1443
1312 1153
1089 1085
1261 990
949 912 892 931
1000 1066 989 998 950
909
818 759 815
807 722
578 540 538 394
500 392 481
290 330
155 124 99 112 236
92 83 91 125 88 84
0 69
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

April 2020 had the highest TUVs thanks to the beginning of the first lockdown.
Eventually the TUVs declined. The month of April 2020 had almost twice the TUVs
compared to March 2021. TVF produced many shows for other OTT platforms in
the FY 2020-21.

Regional Consumption
TVF Play has a mix of content from different parts of the country. TVF has been
looking to expand into different regions after announcing the Telugu remake of
Permanent Roommates.3

Web series and videos are picked up from the lives of middle-class society
showcasing their innocent reality with a lot drama and comedy. The platform is
available free of cost.4

3
https://theenvoyweb.com/news/tvf-announces-2021-web-series-lineup/
4
https://www.latestly.com/technology/top-5-movie-streaming-apps-on-google-play-store-sonyliv-tvf-play-airtel-xstream-mx-player-amazon-prime-video-2330464.html
5
https://www.koimoi.com/television/from-kota-factory-to-yeh-meri-family-here-are-best-tvf-web-series-available-to-binge-watch-this-weekend/

114 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages

The content available is majorly in Hindi language.

In the News

• Arunabh Kumar announces the sequel to one of the hit Timeliners series, College
Romance.6

• Netflix streamed the season 2 of TVF’s popular student life web series Kota
Factory on the platform in 2021.7

• The Viral Fever (TVF) announced its web series slate for 2021, with some of its
most popular shows getting a sequel.

6
https://theenvoyweb.com/news/tvf-announces-2021-web-series-lineup/
7
https://www.latestly.com/technology/top-5-movie-streaming-apps-on-google-play-store-sonyliv-tvf-play-airtel-xstream-mx-player-amazon-prime-video-2330464.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 115

116 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original Content
SNIPPETS
YuppTV is one of the world's largest internet-based TV and Launched
on-demand service provider for South Asian content October 2015
offering a diverse library of TV channels, movies and TV
shows in regional languages. Owned by
YuppTV

Headquarters
Hyderabad, India

Google Play Store Downloads

10M+1

Unique Users
9.4M (March 2021)

Reach
2% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
1.3 (March 2021)

Revenue Model
SVOD (one month- INR 492)

Hours of Content
25000 hours3

Countries Movies Languages

191+ 2000+ 17+

Channels
4000+

Mode of Revenu
SVOD

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tru&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://www.yupptv.com/allpackages.aspx
3
https://www.yupptv.com/help/about

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 117

Key Measures Top Content6
The total male audience is 2.3 times more than the total female audience. In both
the genders, the majority of the audience falls in the age group of 15–24 years. It is a catchup TV—which means it has
no original content.

Consumer Demographics YuppTV (000) 1. Kumkum Bhagya

YuppTV Audience March 2021 2. Dance Deewane 3

Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
3. Indian Idol Season 12

15 - 24 1205 15 - 24 1038 4. Indian Pro Music League

25 - 34 742 25 - 34 238
5. Jabardast
All Males 7481 All Females 1406

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors YuppTV (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile App Total Mobile Total Digital Population

15000
12880

12000 12572 10907

10078
10672 9402 9486
10452 9934 8379 v
9000 8254 9246 9326
7469 9310 9662 7494
8270
8043 6621 8211 8319
6067 7374 7386
7573 5384 7666 7247
7214 6450
6000 5913
5199 5690
5114
4748
3000

231 197 131 230 196 358 272 171 160 121 120 179
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUVs were recorded in the month of September 2020. Unlike other
platforms, here the graph shows a bell shape trend.

Regional Consumption
YuppTV majorly focuses on South Indian language content.4

App Availability
YuppTV is currently available in more than 90 countries including the UK, the US,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, and several locations in the Middle
East. However, similar to Netflix, YuppTV has different content libraries for different
countries.5

4
https://fossbytes.com/einthusan-alternatives/
5
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/best-vpn-yupptv-abroad/
6
https://www.yupptv.com/

118 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages

The platform offers content in 12 Indian languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu,

Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odiya, Bhojpuri, and
English.7

In the News

• YuppTV acquires the rights of Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020. The
streaming platform has added a new feather to its cap by telecasting Dream11
IPL 2020 on YuppTV.8

• Yupp TV is partnering with BSNL for “YuppTV Scope,” which promises to deliver
a properly curated experience with users getting personalized
recommendations based on viewership patterns, which are manually checked
and curated via a team of experts, using AI and machine learning.9

• The platform forayed into the online education space by launching a novel
edtech platform called YuppMaster. The platform is backed by tech
infrastructure, specialized faculty members, live interactive classes, and is
currently one of the most affordable platforms for IIT-JEE and NEET aspirants in
India and the Middle East, the company said in a statement.10

Innovations

• In July 2020, YuppTV announced a country flash sale by introducing different

price packages for different countries.11

7
https://www.yupptv.com/
8
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yupptv-acquires-rights-of-dream11-indian-premier-league-2020-301130856.html
9
https://telecomtalk.info/bsnl-yupptv-announce-yupptvscope/332959/
10
https://www.thehansindia.com/business/yupptv-enters-online-education-space-616356
11
https://www.gulte.com/movienews/17000/yupptvs-flash-sale-best-of-telugu-hindi-tv-shows

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 119

120 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original Content
SNIPPETS
Hoichoi is an on-demand video streaming platform for Launched
Bengalis all over the world. With a library of over 500 September 2017
Bengali movies, Hoichoi also showcases exclusive original
shows and shorts, with new content being added every Owned by
Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF)
month.
Headquarters
Kolkata and Dhaka

Google Play Store Downloads

5 M+1

Unique Users
0.4M+ (March 2021)

Reach
0.1% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
4.4 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

1M2

Revenue Model
Freemium (one year- INR 599
one screen & 899 two screens)3
Content Delivery Network
Akmai4
Hours of Content
1,00,000 +5
Mode of Revenue
Freemium

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.viewlift.hoichoi
2
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/bengali-ott-hoichoi-gets-1-3-crore-subscribers-in-three-years-40-users-from-foreign-markets-5858231.htm
3
https://www.hoichoi.tv/viewplans
4
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/software/stream-engine-what-goes-on-behind-delivering-contents-on-ott-platforms/articleshow/71869602.cms
5
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad&hl=en_IN&gl=US

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 121

Key Measures The app has a good subscriber base
The audience watching Hoichoi falls under the age group of 6–34. Male viewers are in Sweden and Japan too. There is a
in the age category of 6–14. Male audience is higher than female audience. In male significant Bengali population in
audience, the maximum number of viewers is in the age group of 25–34, whereas Bangladesh, Middle East, UK, and
in the female audience, the maximum of viewers is in the age group of 15–24. Australia. These are big international
markets. Overall, Hoichoi has
subscribers in more than 70
Consumer Demographics for Hoichoi (000) countries.8

Hoichoi Audience March 2021 Top Content9

Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
1. Byomkesh

6-14 24 15 - 24 199 2. Kamini

15-24 77 25 - 34 153
3. Manbhanjan
25-34 294
4. The Stoneman Murders
All Males 416 All Females 363

5. Paap
Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Hoichoi (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App Desktop Total Mobile Total Digital Population

1500

1205
1200
1065
897
900 814
742
835 657
603 768
600 531
597 568 463 480
559 427
401 460 377 341
398
300 145 350
225 159 128 331 298
145 157 146 162 215
159 128 106 139
103 93
0 151
0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The app saw many ups and downs in the TUVs in the time period between April
2020 and March 2021. In August 2020, Hoichoi launched First Day First Show, a
new property to stream Bengali feature films, which will helm the direct releases of
Bengali movies.6

Regional Consumption
The majority of consumption is from the Bengali-speaking belt—West Bengal.
More than 20% of the viewers come from Bangladesh, which has a bigger diaspora
of Bengali people when compared to India.7

App Availability
Hoichoi started seeing growth in consumption in markets like Agartala (capital of
Tripura), where they did not have much of a presence. It has successfully cut across
Tier I, II, and III markets. Because of COVID and the subsequent lockdowns,
whatever the platform had envisioned happened much faster.

6
https://www.adgully.com/hoichoi-presents-first-day-first-show-a-new-property-to-stream-bengali-feature-films-95350.html
7
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/bengali-ott-hoichoi-gets-1-3-crore-subscribers-in-three-years-40-users-from-foreign-markets-5858231.html
8
https://www.afaqs.com/interviews/why-hoichois-vishnu-mohta-feels-theatrical-releases-of-films-help-ott-players
9
https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali-hoichoi-web-series-524556.html

122 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages In the News

• The platform offers content in Bengali and Hindi (dubbed only).10 • A Parental Control feature will soon
be added on the platform which
In the News comes with Hoichoi being among
the top 17 OTT platforms of India
• Media company Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), which owns the streaming service that have signed up for a unified
Hoichoi, obtained a court order against Zee5 to pull a 2012 film it produced self-regulation process with IAMAI
from the streaming service’s catalogue. In a statement, SVF said that Zee5 didn’t for classification and demarcation of
hold the rights to the film, Chitrangada, and was streaming it without a license.11 content available on all
video-on-demand apps and
• Hoichoi announced the slate of 2021.12 The list includes the following:13 websites in India.19

• Almost 40 percent of the audience

Popular Shows on Hoichoi comes from non-urban areas and
their primary mode of transaction is
cash. So, Hoichoi adopted the
Maradonar Juto Mouchaak Byomkesh S7 successful telecom model of top-up
cards to make it convenient for the
Rabindranath Ekhane
Dujone
Kokhono Khete Asenni
Tangra Blues (World Premier) viewers to subscribe to Hoichoi. This
offline payment mechanism helps
Mohmaya Murder in the Hills Prem Tame (World Premier)
the platform reach the masses.20
Kakababur Protyaborton
Mohanagar Shei Je Holud Pakhi 2
(World Premier) • Hoichoi launched live TV with FTA
channels on app and website.21
Srikanto Paap 2 Psycho (World Premier)

Mandaar Eken Babu S5 Golondaaj (World Premier)

• Hoichoi is now available for JioFiber customers. Additionally, Bengali and Hindi
Original Series of Hoichoi will also be available through the JioTV+ app.14

• Hoichoi offers Bengali content on Dish TV and D2h Platforms. Dish TV’s
partnership with Hoichoi provides original and premium Bengali content to
customers.15

• With shoots being stalled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hoichoi is trying to
keep its audience entertained with shot-at-home web series. Shows like Case
Jaundice and Pabitra Puppies have already started streaming on the platform,
and they will soon launch Love and Affairs.16

• Hoichoi inked a strategic partnership with Chingari App for a larger content
promotion and distribution.17

• Hoichoi turned its mobile website into a Progressive Web App (PWA) to provide
ease of usage to all users. The new interface is particularly beneficial to those
viewers of Hoichoi who still use 2G and 3G networks.18

10
https://www.hoichoi.tv/about-us
11
https://www.medianama.com/2020/10/223-hoichoi-svf-zee5/
12
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/regional-streaming-services-to-woo-audiences-more-aggressively-11616302280854.html
13
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/hoichoi-gives-a-glimpse-of-its-2021-content-slate-210320
14
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/hoichoi-now-available-for-jiofiber-customers-106757.html
15
https://telecomtalk.info/hoichoi-dish-tv-d2h-partners/283118/
16
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/hoichoi-shot-at-home-web-series-bengali-6461931/
17
https://indiaeducationdiary.in/hoichoi-inks-strategic-partnership-with-chingari-app-for-a-larger-content-promotion-distribution/
18
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/hoichoi-launches-progressive-web-app-to-provide-ease-of-usage-to-all-users/1941763/
19
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/bengali-ott-hoichoi-gets-1-3-crore-subscribers-in-three-years-40-users-from-foreign-markets-5858231.html
20
https://yourstory.com/2020/10/vernacular-ott-hoichoi-video-platform-bengali-content/amp
21
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/hoichoi-launches-live-tv-with-fta-channels-200410

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 123

124 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Originals SNIPPETS
Addatimes is the first of its kind Bengali video-on-demand
platform, which offers a wide range of effervescent, witty Launched
and original content that is contemporary yet binds the November 2016
traditional Bengali culture together for the Bengalis global- Owned by
ly. Addatimes Media Private Limited

Headquarters
Regional Consumption
Kolkata India
Major traffic is from West Bengal as the content is in Bengali. 2

Google Play Store Downloads

App Availability 1M+1
Launched on June 15, 2016,  Addatimes is available in India.3
Revenue Model
In 2020, the app was also launched in Bangladesh, which has SVOD (one year—one screen INR 399,
a booming Over The Top (OTT) market and has a huge two screens INR 599)
Bengali-speaking population.4
Mode of Revenue
SVOD
Languages

The entire content is in Bengali and Addatimes calls itself ‘the

first Bengali web portal’.5

In the News

• Bengali OTT platform Addatimes was launched in

Bangladesh. The platform
targeted 5 million subscribers in Year 1 of its launch.6

• Director Srijit Mukherji's web series, Feluda Pherot, based

on Satyajit Ray's
fictional sleuth, released on Christmas. Tota
Roychowdhury played the new
Feluda in the web series written and directed by Srijit
Mukerji.7

• Addatimes' latest web series Sin got a thumbs-up from

viewers across the
world. Sin is an assertive blend of crime detection, raw
fantasy, and millennial
lifestyle.8

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.addatimes.Addatimes&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://localbusinessguruscom.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/25-ott-players-in-india-that-you-should-know/
3
https://in.bookmyshow.com/buzz/blog/Streaming/bengali-ott-platform
4
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/bengali-ott-platform-addatimes-launches-in-bangladesh-104894.html
5
https://www.addatimes.com/about
6
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/bengali-ott-platform-addatimes-launches-in-bangladesh-104894.html
7
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/director-srijit-mukherjis-web-series-feluda-pherot-based-on-satyajit-rays-fictional-sleuth-to-release-on-christmas-9043301.html
8
https://www.ibtimes.co.in/addatimes-latest-web-series-sin-gets-thumbs-viewers-across-world-820512

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 125

126 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
ShemarooMe is a one-stop destination for authentic Indian Launched
content, with access to over 3700+ titles of movies, TV February 2019
shows, songs, and 24x7 TV from various categories in many
regional languages. Owned by
Shemaroo Entertainment

Headquarter
Mumbai, India

Google Play Store Downloads

1M+1

Revenue Model
Freemium (plans range from monthly
to two-monthly, priced between
INR 49 and INR 899.2)
Content Delivery Network
Media Corp

Hours of Content
15000+ hours3

Mode of Revenue
Freemium

Regional Consumption
The app majorly targets audience residing in tier II and III
markets as well as rural India, after successfully targeting
the urban customer base.

App Availability
The app has its strong presence in more than 150 coun-
tries globally.4

1
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/news/shemaroo-launches-video-streaming-app-shemaroome-for-android-ios-and-web-1993166
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.saranyu.shemarooworld&hl=en (May 10, 2019)
3
https://www.shemaroome.com/plans
4
https://www.mediacorp.sg/en/corporate/mediacorp-in-the-news/media-releases/mediacorp-expands-library-of-indian-content-following-tie-ups-12658638
5
https://www.mumbailive.com/en/digital/shemaroome-launches-gujarati-chat-show-with-dhwani-gautam-44433
6
http://everythingexperiential.businessworld.in/article/ShemarooMe-celebrates-the-Golden-Era-of-Bollywood-at-a-star-studded-evening/24-07-2019-173867/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 127

Top Content5 Languages

1. Drishtibharam The content is available in Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, and Urdu.6

2. Pyaar on the Rocks In the News

3. Aur Ek Kahani • ShemarooMe, the OTT platform from the house of Shemaroo Entertainment
entered into a strategic partnership with Rehlat, one of the fastest-growing
4. Sector 12 Ka Kitty Club Online Travel Agency (OTA) in the Middle East.7

5. Baaten Suni Ansuni • During the lockdown, Shemaroo Entertainment worked with more than 30
temples to stream their artis live on their channels for free. The idea here was to
incentivise people to ‘Stay at Home and Pray at Home,’ and this really resonated
with their audience.8

• Shemaroo launched OTT service on Mediacorp’s meWATCH. The alliance further

strengthened Shemaroo’s foothold in the international market by targeting the
South Asian audience.9

• Graham Staines: Ek Ankahi Sachai - The Least of These, based on the brutal
murders of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, the
Sharman Joshi starrer has received widespread acclaim from all parts of the
world before making its digital debut on ShemarooMe Box Office.10

• ShemarooMe has associated with Jio to bring its content catalogue to JioFiber
users through the JioTV+ app. JioFiber users will now have access to
ShemarooMe's vast content library, including its premium content.11

• ShopClues entered into a strategic partnership with ShemarooMe.12

• Tata Sky announced collaboration with ShemarooMe. The partnership gave Tata
Sky Binge subscribers access to ShemarooMe’s vast content library of over
15,000+ hours of multi-genre, multi-regional content.13

• ShemarooMe partnered with Amazon Pay as a digital wallet partner.14

Innovations

• With Box Office, ShemarooMe brings the successful ‘TVoD’ model to Indian
consumers. The idea of TVoD (Transactional Video on Demand) is to let viewers
select movies they would like to stream from the available list and pay only for
the films they watch.15 For this venture ShemarooMe has partnered with Book
My Show.16

7
https://www.shemaroome.com/faq
8
https://www.televisionpost.com/shemaroome-to-premiere-52-movies-in-52-weeks-with-their-new-offering/
9
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.saranyu.shemarooworld&hl=en_IN

128 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 129
130 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Mubi is home to an ever-changing collection of incredible
SNIPPETS
hand-picked cinema. From cult classics and forgotten gems
Launched
to festival-fresh exclusives and modern masterpieces, from November 2019
the greatest ever directors to the best new artistes, Mubi
offers a variety of carefully hand-picked cinema for movie Owned by
buffs. The platform has curated specials and collections and Efe Çakarel
a community of over nine million movie-lovers. Headquarters
London

Google Play Store Downloads

1M+1

Unique Users
27K (March 2021)

Average Minutes/ Visitor

1.6 (March 2021)

Revenue Model
Freemium

Content Delivery Network

Bitgravity

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mubi

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 131

Key Measures Top Content3
The male TUVs outnumber female TUVs Among female viewers, there is equal
viewership in the 15-24 age group as well as 25-34 age group. However, among 1. The Traitor
male viewers, the highest number of viewers is in the 25-34 age group.
2. John & Jane

Consumer Demographics for Mubi (000) 3. City of God

Mubi Audience March 2021 4. Ham on Rye

Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000) 5. Citadel

15-24 5 15-24 4 6. Bhuvan Shome

25-34 7 25-34 4

All Males 19 All Females 10

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Mubi (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Total Mobile Total Digital Population

1200
1070

1000 1055

800 723

689
600 536 547

514
400 366 488

225 247
332
200
53 0 23 38 186 177 27
0 0 0 0 0
53 41 27 23 35 38 75
0 20 0 61 40 27
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUVs were recorded in the month of June 2020.

App Availability
MUBI has a presence in 190 countries and its library is guided and curated by local
cultures and cinema. The streaming service has over 10 million users across the
world.2

2
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/news/english/film-streaming-service-mubi-join-hands-with-airtels-xstream/articleshow/81204857.cms
3
https://www.indulgexpress.com/entertainment/cinema/2020/dec/17/from-city-of-god-to-citadel-6-must-watch-films-that-will-airon-mubi-in-january-2021-30298.html
4
https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/mubi-un
veils-huge-selection-of-local-language-cinema-coming-to-mubi-india-including-films-in-tamil-malayalam-and-bengali/articleshow/76507000.cms

132 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages

On Mubi, films are available in Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati,
and other Indian languages.4

In the News

• Times Prime partnered with Mubi for a three-month free subscription.5

• MUBI joined hands with Airtel's Xstream in February 2021.6

• Sahirr Sethhi’s short film Zoya hit the digital viewing platform Mubi in May 2020.7

• Ajitpal Singh's short film, Rammat Gammat, released on MUBI in March 2021.8

5
https://www.timesprime.com/categories/entertainment/mubi
6
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/news/english/film-streaming-service-mubi-join-hands-with-airtels-xstream/articleshow/81204857.cms
7
https://www.deccanherald.com/entertainment/short-film-zoya-now-playing-on-mubi-841082.html
8
https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/ajitpal-singhs-short-rammat-gammat-to-release-on-mubi/2049008

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 133

132 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original SNIPPETS
From the house of Malayala Manorama and from their
recent successful sojourn into broadcasting comes a Launched
service, ManoramaMax, which combines the offerings of September 2019
Manorama News and Mazhavil Manorama. ManoramaMax Owned by
offers all the latest videos of news, including live news and Malayala Manorama
all the curated programs of Manorama News. It has a
Headquarters
plethora of entertainment content like videos from fiction,
Kerala, India
reality, and other shows of Mazhavil Manorama. Viewers
can watch the current shows on Mazhavil Manorama prior Google Play Store Downloads
to it being shown on TV with the Premium membership 1M+1
plan.
Unique Users
0.6M (March 2021)

Reach
0.1% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/ Visitor

5.1 (March 2021)

Revenue Model
AVOD

Mode of Revenue
AVOD

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mmtv.manoramamax.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 133

Key Measures Top Content3
Viewership is higher among the female audience compared to the male audience.
Higher number of viewers is seen in the age group of 15-24 years in both genders. 1. Marimayam

2. Menaka
Consumer Demographics for ManoramaMAX (000)
3. Life Jor
ManoramaMAX Audience March 2021
4. Manjurukum Kaalam
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
5. Marutheeram Thedi
15-24 10 15-24 14

25-34 3 25-34 4

All Males 15 All Females 25

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors ManoramaMAX (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Total Mobile Total Digital Population

2500

2058
2000
2032

1517
1500
1479

1000
646
571 566
530 513
368 429
500 547
610
543 508 488
0 0 29 348 404
0 0 0 31 25 40 22 27 21 27 26 38
0 0 0 29

Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs for this platform are measured from the month of June 2020. The highest
TUVs were recorded in the month of November 2020, followed by September
2020.

Regional Consumption
TManorama Max majorly targets the Malayalam market, and therefore is highly
viewed in Kerala.2

2
https://www.manoramamax.com/details/5d5a22a623eec6001b48c8ad
3
https://wittycolumn.com/top-10-web-series-on-manoramamax/

134 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages

100% content is in Malayalam.

In the News

• Mazhavil Manorama's Udan Panam changed TV game show trends. The new
format allowed contestants to play the game show from within their homes via
video call, and win instant cash. Through the app, viewers could win instant
cashback and other prizes.4

• Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran5 got a good uptake with "Play along," a new
feature on the app, which has helped garner greater subscriber base for the
platform.6

4
https://www.exchange4media.com/industry-briefing-news/mazhavil-manoramas-udan-panam-to-change-tv-game-show-trends-105496.html
5
Malayalam version of Kaun Banega Crorepati
6
https://www.exchange4media.com/media-tv-news/our-tv-ott-grew-independently-none-gained-from-loss-of-the-other-pr-satheesh-mmtv-104435.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 135

136 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
About SNIPPETS
aha is an exclusive Telugu content platform with an
extensive range of movies and original web series. Viewers Launched
can get access to aha exclusives, aha world digital February 2020
premieres, aha originals and selected free movies. With Owned by
content curated specially for viewers with varied Aha Media & Broadcasting Pvt. Ltd1
preferences and choices, aha offers full-fledged
Headquarters
entertainment with its broad library of movies ranging from
Hyderabad, India
old blockbusters to originals.
Google Play Store Downloads
10M+2

Unique Users
18M3
Monthly Active Users
23L4
Revenue Model
SVOD (3 months- INR 149,
annual plans- INR 3995)

Mode of Revenue
SVOD

Regional Consumption
The app aims to cater to the Telugu-speaking market and
become the OTT giant in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
markets. There are 100 million Telugu-speaking audience, out
of which 50 million watch video content online.

The app also plans to bring other regional language content

except Hindi, to expand its regional market reach.6

1
https://www.aha.video/about-us
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ahaflix.tv&hl=en_IN&gl=US
3
https://www.afaqs.com/news/media/ott-platform-aha-paints-the-town-orange-with-the-best-in-100-telugu-content
4
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/telugu-ott-aha-is-betting-on-originals-to-gain-steam-in-the-video-streaming-space-6098001.html
5
https://www.aha.video/viewplans
6
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/telugu-ott-aha-is-betting-on-originals-to-gain-steam-in-the-video-streaming-space-6098001.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 137

Top Content7 Languages

1. Color Photo The content is tailored exclusively for the Telugu audience.8

2. Masti’s In the News

3. Bhanumati Ramakrishna • In February 2021, aha acquired exclusive streaming rights of Ravi Teja film
Krack.9
4. Kotha Poradu 17% 14%

• In November 2020, aha announced 52 original films and series for the year
5. Honeymoon 2021.10

9% 14%Sam Jam, in
• Samantha Akkineni signed up as host of a celebrity chat show,
November 2020. The guest celebrities included Chiranjeevi, Allu Arjun,
Tamannaah Bhatia, Rashmika Mandanna, and badminton player Saina Nehwal,
among others.11 11%
16%
• ACT Fibernet introduced facility to subscribe to Aha app on official website.12
19%
• During Diwali, Fire TV offered a discount on annual subscription plans of
aha—the streaming platform was available on Fire TV at INR 265.13

• aha apologized to actor Chiranjeevi’s fans. Actor Allu Arjun was referred to as
‘Megastar’ by aha app in its promotions, which angered the fans of Chiranjeevi,
who is popularly referred to as ‘Megastar’.14

• Allu Arjun will be producing a few web series as well as some interesting content
for the OTT space. An official announcement regarding this will be released
soon. Allu Arjun aka Bunny's e-production ventures will be released on his father
Allu Aravind's aha app.15

• In May 2020, Chhota Bheem and his friends made their debut on aha.16

• Tamannaah’s first Telugu web series 11th Hour premiered on aha in November
2020. The web series is based on the novel 8 Hours by Upendra Namburi.17

Innovations

• The streaming platform offers 'Pay per View' plan to the producers with 50-50
share basis. For every view, the revenue that gets generated will be shared in
half between the platform and the producer. Many small budget films will
benefit from this.18

• aha hired seasoned directors as ‘creative consultants’ to dish out the content
that can strike a chord with Telugu viewers. It has roped in star film-maker Vamsi
Paidipally, creative director Chandra Siddharth, new-age directors Nandini
Reddy and Vi Anand to select refreshing stories for web series and web films
using their vast experience in the film industry.19

7
https://www.mirchi9.com/movienews/top-10-telugu-web-series-movies-on-aha-video-2020/
8
https://www.aha.video/about-us
9
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/aha-acquires-exclusive-streaming-rights-of-ravi-teja-film-krack-110692.html
10
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/telugu-ott-aha-is-betting-on-originals-to-gain-steam-in-the-video-streaming-space-6098001.html
11
https://www.hindustantimes.com/tv/samantha-akkineni-to-host-a-celebrity-talk-show-on-aha-first-episode-to-premiere-on-nov-13/story-idfoTKaS6brCvrAPCRtuLM.html
12
https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/act-fibernet-introduces-facility-subscribe-zee5-sony-liv-aha-hungama-apps-official-website/
13
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/techook/fire-tv-stick-annual-subscription-plan-zee5-discovery-plus-docubay-6863273/
14
https://www.greatandhra.com/movies/news/aha-apologises-to-megastars-fans-109945
15
https://www.thehansindia.com/cinema/tollywood/allu-arjun-to-try-his-luck-in-production-655666
16
https://www.thehansindia.com/cinema/tollywood/chhota-bheem-and-his-friends-make-their-debut-on-aha-623536
17
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/tamannaah-s-first-telugu-web-series-11th-hour-premiere-aha-137314
18
https://www.thehansindia.com/cinema/tollywood/aha-mulls-out-pay-per-view-plan-with-producers-631534
19
https://www.thehansindia.com/cinema/tollywood/aha-hires-seasoned-directors-as-consultants-to-dish-out-hit-content-622553

138 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 139
142 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original Content
SNIPPETS
Started in 2008, BIGFlix entered the Indian market with the Launched
sole purpose of bringing entertainment straight to people's 20081
homes. The platform wanted to make movie watching as
convenient, portable, and affordable as possible. Owned by
Reliance Entertainment2
Going by this key thought, BIGFlix initiated DVD distribution Headquarters
service in India. However, over a period of time, it discontin- Mumbai, India
ued that service and put in all efforts into nurturing the
Google Play Store Downloads
movies-on-demand service. BIGFlix calls itself the user’s
0.5M+3
'Personal Blockbuster Theatre'. Movies are streamed
without any advertisements in between, and are of high Revenue Model
definition, with an option to unsubscribe at any time SVOD (monthly- INR 504)
Mode of Revenue
SVOD

App Availability
The app is available only in India and the US currently.5

Languages
The app is available in seven languages including English,
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, and Bengali.6

In the News
Pixar's Cars 3 returned with the iconic hot red racing car
Lightening McQueen (Owen Wilson) in a modern take of old
meets new. As the series returned for another thrilling race to
the finish line, it aired in June 2020 as part of the BIGFlix
property only on &flix and &flixHD.7

Innovations
The app also has a pay-per-view feature.8

1
https://www.bigflix.com/about
2
https://www.relianceentertainment.com/about-us/
3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigflix.Movies
4
https://www.bigflix.com/about
5
https://www.ultra.news/t-t/30901/anil-ambani-group-relaunches-bigflix-take-netflix-amazon-prime-video
6
https://www.bigflix.com/about
7
https://zeenews.india.com/television/pixars-cars-3-set-to-air-as-part-of-big-flix-on-flix-2292047.html
8
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/guide/best-streaming-service-india-ott-app-netflix-amazon-hotstar-live-sports-platforms-2329977

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 143

144 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Original
SNIPPETS
Discovery curates content across 40+ genres, including Launched
science, adventure, food, lifestyle and others, sourced from March 20201
brands such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, BBC, TLC,
Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, ID, Food Network, HGTV, Owned by
Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Motortrend, Discovery Inc
and VICE. Headquarters
Mumbai, India

Google Play Store Downloads

5M+2

Unique Users
0.3M (March 2021)

Reach
0.1% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
11.8 (March 2021)

Revenue Model
SVOD (yearly- INR 299)3

Content Delivery Network

Verizon Communications Inc.4
Hours of Content
4000 hours5
Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/discovery-launches-discovery-plus-new-streaming-service-for-india-11584355463152.html
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.discoveryplus.mobile.android
3
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/discovery-launches-discovery-plus-new-streaming-service-for-india-11584355463152.html
4
https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/discov
ery-announces-the-global-launch-of-discovery-the-definitive-streaming-service-for-the-best-real-life-entertainment-in-the-world-debuting-january-4-2021/
5
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/discovery-launches-discovery-plus-new-streaming-service-for-india-11584355463152.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 145

Key Measures App Availability7
Male users outnumber female users by four times. In the male category, the
maximum users are in the age group of 25-34 years. Discovery+ was launched in India back
in 2020, but the Discovery network
wants to take the platform to territories
all across the globe.
Consumer Demographics Discovery Plus (000)
The US rollout included territories like
Discovery Plus Audience March 2021 American Samoa, Guam, the Northern
Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000) US Virgin Islands.

6-14 12 25-34 54 Elsewhere, Discovery+ was made

available in the Netherlands, Spain,
15-24 35
Italy, and the Nordic countries. It will
25-34 122 also launch in Latin America, Brazil, and
All Males 254 All Females 62
some parts of Asia at a later date.

Source: ComScore Through a partnership with Starzplay,

Total Unique Visitors Discovery Plus (000)
Between April 2020 and March 2021
Desktop Total Mobile
Discovery+ content is also available in
18 countries from across the Middle
East and Northern Africa (MENA)
region through a branded area across
existing Starzplay platforms.
Total Digital Population

800
Top Content8
700
603
600 1. Secrets Of Sinauli
500 554
2. 2 Nations 1 Obsession.
400 343
323
300
227
264 3. Hell’s Kitchen.
200
107

100
0 0 0
71
71
107 96
96
68
68
89
89
82
82
105
86 4. Walking the Himalayas.
0 0 0 51
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21
5. A Haunting.

Source: ComScore 6. Tales of Valour.

The platform registered maximum TUVs in the month of October 2020. The reason
behind the sudden peak could be the Amazon Fire TV offer of 60% discount on the
app.6

6
http://www.businessworld.in/article/Amazon-Great-Indian-Festival-Top-Deals-On-Amazon-Echo-Fire-TV-And-Kindle-Devices-Revealed/16-10-2020-332172/
7
https://www.whattowatch.com/how-to/what-countries-is-discovery-plus-available-in
8
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertainment/from-secrets-of-sinauli-to-a-haunting-8-must-watch-shows-on-discovery-to-add-to-your-watchlist/

146 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages
The app in India is available in 5 languages. This includes
English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bangla.9

In the News

• Discovery+ partnered with Jio10 and Amazon Fire TV.11

• Discovery+ showcased MotoGP World Championship live

in India in August 2020.12

• Discovery+ premiered sports docuseries with FC Barcelona

in October 2020.13

• Discovery+ launched India special shows with Manoj

Bajpayee, Rana Daggubati. These shows featured popular
names like Manoj Bajpayee, Rana Daggubati, Neeraj
Pandey, and Randeep Hooda.14

• Australian legend Steve Waugh captured India’s passion for

cricket on Discovery+. Capturing Cricket: Steve Waugh in
India documented Waugh’s journey in India through nine
cities capturing cricket’s deep-rooted love. Narrated by
Harsha Bhogle, the documentary includes perspectives
from Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Adam Gilchrist,
among others.15

• Discovery+ introduced a genre devoted to kids content,

with the launch of a show from the Little Singham franchise,
modelled on the popular Bollywood film.16

• Starting December 15, 2020, the platform introduced six

new LIVE feeds of Discovery Network including Dkids,
HGTV, Food Network HD, Travel Channel HD, DMAX HD,
and Eurosport HD, along with existing feeds from marquee
channels like Discovery HD, Animal Planet HD, TLC HD,
Investigation Discovery HD, Discovery Science, and
Discovery Turbo.17

• Discovery+ started streaming top titles from BBC Studios.

Landmark BBC series like Planet Earth I & II and Blue Planet
I & II, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, are a part of the
platform’s history programming, along with other titles.18

Innovation

ZEUX Innovation partnered with Discovery India to deliver

country’s first real-life ent app.19

9
https://www.discoveryplus.in/faq?displayFooter=false&displayMenu=false&displayHeader=false
10
http://www.businessworld.in/article/Discovery-Launched-On-Jio-Set-Top-Box-For-JioFiber-Users/25-03-2021-384852/
11
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/discovery-plus-app-now-on-amazon-fire-tv-105426.html
12
https://www.zee5.com/zee5news/discovery-plus-to-showcase-motogp-world-championship-live-in-india
13
https://www.exchange4media.com/industry-briefing-news/discovery-plus-premieres-sports-docuseries-with-fc-barcelona-108514.html
14
https://www.indiatoday.in/binge-watch/story/discovery-launches-india-special-shows-with-manoj-bajpayee-rana-daggubati-1746277-2020-12-03
15
https://bestmediainfo.com/2021/03/australian-legend-steve-waugh-captures-india-s-passion-for-cricket-on-discovery/
16
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/discovery-introduces-kids-content-to-boost-genre-in-india-11614157883699.html
17
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/india-the-strongest-driver-of-subscription-growth-for-discovery-globally-issac-john-109460.html
18
https://www.cinemaexpress.com/stories/news/2020/oct/05/discovery-plus-to-stream-top-titles-from-bbc-studios-20608.html
19
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-busi
ness/zeux-innovation-partners-with-discovery-india-to-deliver-countrys-first-real-life-ent-app/articleshow/75434660.cms

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 147

148 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Amazon Prime Music is an integral part of the Prime mem-

SNIPPETS
bership services by Amazon.com. The exclusive member-
ship gives access to unlimited downloading, unlimited skips
and ad free streaming of 60 million+ songs. The song
reserves on the app are also available as part of well-segre- Launched
gated stations and playlists in various genres as well as March 2018
moods. Depending on the user’s tastes, one can select
Owned by
genres ranging from the usual rock, pop and alternative to
Amazon.com
jazz, classical, ghazals and Rabindra sangeet etc
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington, USA

Google Play Store Downloads

100 million+

Unique Users
11 million+ (April 2021)

Reach
2.5%

Average Minutes/ Visitor

13.9

Revenue Model
SVOD

Content Delivery Network

AWS

Content Library
Over 70 million songs + 9 million podcasts1

Mode of Revenue
Bundled with Amazon Prime subscription
at Rs. 129/month, Rs. 329/ three months
and Rs 999/year2

1
https://www.amazon.in/music/prime
2
https://www.amazon.in/music/prime

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 149

Key Measures
Prime Music is accessed three times more by men above the age of 35 years as
compared to women above 35 years. Similarly most men between the ages 25-34
years frequent the app while women of that age group are five times fewer.

Consumer Demographics for Amazon Prime Music (000)

Amazon Prime Music Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-2 2,313 15-24 1,698

25-34 2,408 25-34 504

35+ 3,649 35+ 1,308

All Males 8,370 All Females 3,510

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Amazon Prime Music (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

20000

16788

15000

12405
11880
11491
10429 10443 10238
10122 9712
10000
8672

7052 7354

5000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

There is a peak in exploration of the mobile app seen in July 2020 and December
2020 when Amazon Prime Music launched ‘Hyderabad gig’ and music videos as an
in-app feature.3

Prime Music India, apart from being prevalent in India, also gets mentions across its
diaspora in the US, Bangladesh, Malaysia, etc.

3
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/amazon-music-subscribers-can-now-watch-music-videos-but-there-is-a-catch-1745980-2020-12-02
4
https://music.amazon.in/
5
Meltwater Analytics, Top Hashtags

150 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Regional Consumption
Music on Amazon Prime India caters to English, Hindi, Tamil,
Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali, Odia, Marathi,
Punjabi, Assamese, Rajasthani, and Bhojpuri languages.4
Major consumption of music is seen in Tamil Nadu with
popular hashtags conversing on Putham Puthu Kalai and
Soorarai Potrru.5
Tesla cars will soon have voice-enabled support for Amazon
Music streaming, adding to the current option of Spotify as
in-car entertainment.14
Earlier this year, Chromecast on Google TV as well as
televisions supporting Android introduced Amazon Music
app, giving users a clean and adaptive Google UI experience
as they listened to their favourite tunes.15

Tollywood is known for its hit musicals, and Amazon Music in
collaboration with Sony Music Studios and Knack Studios took
it up a notch with ‘Hyderabad Gig’ in July 2020 bringing on
board well known artists who released their independent
music with Telugu Pop as the theme. “Listeners are constantly
seeking newer, undiscovered music to enjoy and Hyderabad
Gigs’ original compositions are sure to delight music lovers
with fresh Telugu songs especially created by composers like
Gopi Sundar, Ghibran, Justin Prabhakaran” —Sahas Malhotra,
Director, Amazon Prime Music.6
Amazon Prime Video has made investments in content for
more than 10 languages.7 The release of the music from these
productions will be available on Prime Music exclusively.
Focusing on Tier 2 cities, Amazon hopes to make an impact
with popular podcast topics on the lines of sports and album
releases for independent artists.8
Since June 2020, selected Jio Fibre Gold, Platinum, Diamond
and Titanium broadband plans began offering a free year of
Prime membership including access to Prime Music, where all
users had to do was sign into the app.16
Innovations
Amazon Prime Music has added a new “X-Ray” feature, similar
to the feature in Prime Video, which enables listeners to read
short trivia of what they listen to, sing along lyrics as well as
song credits.17
Amazon Music International has joined hands with Warner
Music Group and Universal Music Group to upgrade the
audio quality of thousands of songs to Ultra HD. The process
of remastering will create another layer of fineness, depth,
and vibrancy to the audio, converting it to 24 bit and 96 kHZ or
192 kHZ.18

In News

Globally, Amazon Music has crossed over 55 million

subscribers.9

Prime Music has finally added podcasts to its streaming

service, providing 9 million+ episodes for its paid members
featuring everything from TED talks to podcasts by Indian
hosts and creators like Cyrus Broacha, Jay Shetty, Sadhguru,
Robin Sharma, etc, international hosts Conan O Brian, Trevor
Noah with categories covering business, news, education
motivation, travel, health and lifestyle, comedy, etc.10 The
podcasts will have voice ads pre-embedded in them for
monetization purposes.11

The podcasts will have voice ads pre-embedded in them for

monetization purposes.12

In the global market, Amazon Prime has held on strongly as a

smart speaker distributor with 10.9 million Echo devices
shipped in 2019, giving it a 36.6% market share, crushing
Google Home smart speakers in the process.13

6
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2020/jul/04/hyderabad-gig-season-1-to-launch-6-telugu-pop-songs-2165060.html
7
https://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/amazon-prime-video-to-continue-investing-in-local-content/article33593308.ece
8
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/amazon-india-to-increase-investments-in-ott-space-push-prime-into-tier-ii-markets/article35056118.ece
9
https://musically.com/2020/01/22/amazon-now-has-more-than-55m-music-streaming-users/
10
https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/amazon-prime-mu
sic-introduces-podcasts-in-india-including-on-purpose-with-jay-shetty-ted-talks-daily-and-more-9528371.html
11
https://inc42.com/buzz/amazon-prime-music-looks-to-replicate-spotifys-growth-with-podcasts-launch-in-india/
12
https://www.cnbctv18.com/technology/new-digital-tax-impact-amazon-evaluates-registering-prime-video-music-in-india-6668581.htm
13
https://musically.com/2019/11/14/report-claims-amazon-has-soared-ahead-in-smart-speaker-race/
14
https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tesla-cars-to-soon-have-apple-amazon-music-support/articleshow/80008095.cms
15
https://www.news18.com/news/tech/amazon-music-app-now-available-on-google-tv-and-android-tv-3476492.html
16
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/jio-fiber-amazon-prime-free-annual-subscription-reliance-2245269
17
https://www.engadget.com/amazon-music-x-ray-164539864.html
18
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-music-partners-universal-music-group-and-warner-music

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 151

152 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Swedish-origin streaming service, Spotify, has completed a

SNIPPETS
little more than a year in India since its launch and has
successfully streamed in almost 2,300 countries10.
Globally, Spotify has a catalogue of 50 million+ songs and
700k+ podcasts, where the premium membership provides Launched
ad-free, high-definition quality audio that can also be down- February, 20191 (India)
loaded.
Founders
Daniel Ek, Martin Lorentzon2
Legal Name
Spotify Technology S.A.3

Headquarters
Stolkhome, Sweden4
Indian Head Office
Mumbai5
Google Play Store Downloads
1 billion+6
Unique Users
25.8 million+ (April 2021)

Reach
5.5%

Average Minutes/ Visitor

137.5

Monthly Active Users

365 million (Worldwide)7

Content library
70 million + (songs and podcasts)

Popularity Rankings
#1 in downloads (worldwide) as per Statista8
Revenue model
AVOD, SVOD

Content Delivery Network

Fastly9

Mode of Revenue
Rs. 66 (Student) and Rs 199 (Family) per
month, Rs. 719 (Individuals) half yearly

1
https://inc42.com/resources/hottest-music-streaming-apps-in-india-2020/
2
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/spotify#section-overview
3
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/spotify#section-overview
4
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/spotify#section-overview
5
https://www.spotify.com/in/about-us/contact/
6
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotify.music&hl=en_IN
7
https://www.imore.com/spotify-now-has-365-million-monthly-active-users
8
https://www.statista.com/statistics/691256/leading-google-play-music-worldwide-downloads/
9
https://engineering.atspotify.com/2020/02/24/how-spotify-aligned-cdn-services-for-a-lightning-fast-streaming-experience/
10
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-02-27/3-major-streaming-trends-from-spotifys-first-year-in-india/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 153

Key Measures Regional Consumption
The platform has 1.5 times more male users than female. The maximum number Choices for music on Spotify are
of users fall in the age group of 15–24 years, where male users are double the currently present in English, Hindi,
female users. Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Odia,
Bhojpuri, Urdu, and Gujarati.12
Consumer Demographics for Spotify (000)
Singer Diljit Dosanjh hosted a listening
Spotify Audience March 2021 party, a feature on Spotify allowing
guests to listen to music together no
Males, TUV Females, TUV
matter the distance,13 while releasing
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
his album G.O.A.T. live on the app.14
6 -14 599 6 -14 809
Punjabi, Telugu, and Tamil seem to be
15 -24 8,710 15 - 24 4,955
the most streamed regional languages
25 - 34 3,053 25 - 34 2,018 on Spotify; to capitalize on this, two
commercials in Tamil and Telugu with
35+ 3,457 35+ 2,232
actor Nagarjuna on TV were released
All Males 15,819 All Females 10,013 and so was sponsorship for a season of
Big Boss in Telugu.15
Source: ComScore
To focus on Punjabi-speaking regions,
there were digital ad campaigns16
involving Baadshah, Diljit Dosanjh, and
Total Unique Visitors Spotify (000)
Neha Kakkar, the latter being the top
Between April 2020 and March 2021
Punjabi artist and top female Hindi
Desktop Mobile App Mobile Total Digital Population artist on Spotify.17 A Punjabi pop music
microsite was also released in April
30000 2021 to engage with users.18
25833
24820
25000 23528 23339
21837
AP Dhillon’s Brown Munde has been
20000 18766 streamed 65,302,200 times on Spotify,
17862 18070 18059 18721
16239 16219 17350 16688 which the app claims has never
15550 14993 14687 16159
15000
14689 13083
occurred with either English or Hindi
12686 12019
11918 10963 12776
13733 12947
12449
13390
tracks before.19
9401
10000 8178 10706
7654 7697 7238 9344
6081 6157 6496

3690
4444
5192 5653
In February 2021, Spotify’s virtual
5000 2916 2965 3270
2755 2662
‘Stream On’ event announced that it
0 would be focusing more on getting
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21 Kannada, Bhojpuri, and Bengali music
on board.20
Source: ComScore

With a variety of subscription plans available to suit all lifestyles, Spotify has seen an
increase in user base, especially among those who have a fondness for
international music. Over 60% of the top ten albums streamed through the year
had music from international artists.11

11
https://www.ibef.org/news/audio-streaming-grows-40-in-india-in-2020
12
https://musically.com/2021/04/07/spotifys-six-point-strategy-for-cracking-india/
13
https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/28/21344926/spotify-premium-group-session-stream-together
14
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital/opinion-seven-strategies-from-brands-leading-the-conversation/77647240
15
https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-tech/arti
cle/how-spotify-will-use-marketing-and-communication-to-bring-in-its-next-phase-of-growth-in-india/articleshow/81553003.cms
16
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/music/punjabi-music-neha-kakkar-diljit-dosanjh-spotify-playlists-6332379/
17
https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/music/neha-kakkars-2020-wrapped-on-spotify-sees-the-singer-top-multiple-playlists-check-out.html
18
https://musically.com/2021/04/07/spotifys-six-point-strategy-for-cracking-india/
19
https://musically.com/2021/04/07/spotifys-six-point-strategy-for-cracking-india/
20
https://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2021/feb/23/spotify-to-expand-sound-up-to-add-12-more-languages-in-india-2267793.html

154 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News
An interesting Twitter campaign started by Spotify India
#playthis was one of the top 5 trending hashtags globally in
June 2020. The campaign, ideated by 22feet Tribal Worldwide,
gave users a chance to discover music and playlists by
tweeting a mix of emojis based on their mood with the
hashtag—#playthis—and almost instantly receive a
recommendation associated with the emojis. The campaign
led Twitter engagement of 39k and 243k conversations over a
period of 24 hours.21
The first lockdown in India marked a key lifestyle change for
people—with a marked increase in screen time resulting in
listenership on Spotify’s web version and the tab/mobile
applications growing by 37% and 55% respectively.22
Independent music listenership on Spotify India has
increased by 90% with users wanting to stream happier
music.23 As per Spotify’s editorial head Sneha Singh, with
Bollywood taking a backseat in the number of songs
produced in movies, the indie music scene has the best
growth, with the team easily being able to curate 50 playlists,
which was far tougher before.24
Among Indian independent artists being streamed abroad,
Prateek Kuhad, The F16s, Ritviz, Lost Stories, and Nucleya are
the most popular.25
Spotify, with its monthly active users standing at 365 million,30
credits its considerable growth to the Indian market, Europe,
and the US.31 Its total YOY revenue for 2020 amounted to
$2.61 billion, growing 17% in the last quarter of 2020 with 158
million paid subscribers.32
Entering the live audio segment, Spotify has bought over
Clubhouse rival, sports-focused audio app, Locker Room, on a
$50 million deal.33
In May 2020, Spotify signed an agreement with Indian music
label giant Saregama to add its library of more than 100,000
songs in 25 different languages to the streaming app.34
Innovations
From smart watches to smart speakers, Spotify is now
available to stream on Apple Watch without the need to own
an iPhone35 and also on Amazon’s Echo devices.36
Spotify HiFi is a high-end membership plan providing users
with CD quality, lossless audio at a premium price on their
current devices.37
Another feature introduced on the app is ‘Spotify clips’, which
is a version of Instagram stories, exclusively created by artists
to connect with their fans.38

Spotify has seen a new affinity towards podcasts in 2020—a

fact corroborated by its YouGov survey in November 2020.
More than half the respondents “felt closer” to the
personalities when hearing them speak on podcasts. Indians
also looked forward to listening to one podcast a week with
novel content that is both informative and inspirational.26

A 1,100% growth was seen with Hindi podcasts hosted on

podcast creation tool Anchor,27 with Ranveer Allahbadia, Jay
Shetty, and Dhruv Rathee joining Spotify Wrapped’s Top 5
most streamed shows.28

Spotify’s ‘Sound Up’ initiative manages underrepresented

podcasters while its ‘Spotify for Artists - SFA’ initiative has seen
10,000 independent artists claim profiles. Sarathy Korwar,
Antariksh, Sand Dunes are few among the many who’ve
reached global audiences, thanks to ‘SFA’.29

21
https://www.afaqs.com/companies/spotify-indias-playthis-twitter-campaign-by-22feet-tribal-worldwide-trends-at-5-worldwide
22
https://www.ibef.org/news/audio-streaming-grows-40-in-india-in-2020
23
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/spotify-sees-indie-playlist-grow-90-in-2020-11614063963545.html
24
https://musically.com/2021/04/07/spotifys-six-point-strategy-for-cracking-india/
25
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/audio-streaming-grows-40-in-india-in-2020-11608022882735.html
26
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-12-08/new-insights-reveal-podcast-patterns-in-india/
27
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-12-08/new-insights-reveal-podcast-patterns-in-india/
28
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/spotify-wrapped-2020-here-s-what-indians-listened-to-the-most-this-year-71606796108054.html
29
https://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2021/feb/23/spotify-to-expand-sound-up-to-add-12-more-languages-in-india-2267793.html
30
https://www.imore.com/spotify-now-has-365-million-monthly-active-users
31
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/india-serves-spotify-as-notable-source-of-growth-in-monthly-active-users-in-q4-2020/2189563/
32
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/spotify-q1-2021-results-earnings-profit-revenue-mau-paid-subscribers-podcasts-india-2424208
33
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/spotify-buys-locker-room-apps-maker-betty-labs-in-live-audio-push-7252248/
34
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/11/spotify-saregama-india/
35
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/apple-watch-users-can-directly-stream-songs-podcasts-on-spotify-1738197-2020-11-05
36
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/entertainment/news/spotify-amazon-alexa-support-india-announced-echo-devices-fire-tv-2252599
37
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/spotify-hifi-subscription-to-bring-lossless-cd-quality-audio-later-this-year-1772047-2021-02-23
38
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/spotify-clips-are-like-instagram-stories-for-artists-1772095-2021-02-23

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 155

156 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Gaana was founded with a visionary outlook in 2010 when
music streaming was entirely a foreign concept. The
application since then has grown to deliver 45 million+ SNIPPETS
songs (with daily additions), 30+ Radio Mirchi stations,
expert curated playlists, high-definition audio quality, Launched
podcasts, and music videos, all available in 16 regional April 20101
languages. Owned by
Times Internet2
Headquarters
Noida, Uttar Pradesh3

Google Play Store Downloads

100 million +4
Unique Users
40 million+ (April 2021)

Reach
8.6%

Average Minutes/visitor
12.9

Monthly Active Users

185 million+5

Revenue Model
AVOD, SVOD

CDN
Akamai6
Song library
45 million7
Mode of Revenue
Rs. 99/Month Rs. 149/3 month
and Rs. 399/Year for Gaana+

1
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/gaana-becomes-first-music-app-to-reach-150-million-active-users/articleshow/73908060.cms
2
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/gaana-becomes-first-music-app-to-reach-150-million-active-users/articleshow/73908060.cms
3
https://www.linkedin.com/company/gammagaana/about/
4
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de
tails?id=com.gaana&hl=en_IN&shortlink=4b20d8d8&pid=Gaana%20Website&c=Android&is_retargeting=true&af_dp=gaana%3A%2F%2Fshare%2Fview%2Fhome
5
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/media/gaana-reaches-185-million-monthly-active-users/77431338
6
https://w3techs.com/sites/info/gaana.com
7
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gaana&hl=en_IN&gl=US

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 157

Key Measures Gaana’s study on music consumption
The most traffic seen on the app is from men and women of the 15-24 age during the first lockdown indicated
group. However, the total number of unique male visitors is almost 1.5 times that the most popular listening choices
more than total unique female visitors. amongst people were “Bollywood,
Punjabi Pop, Indipop, Telugu Film
Music, and Regional Pop songs”
Consumer Demographics for Gaana (000) —statedPrashan Agarwal, CEO,
Gaana.10 With a plateau in Bollywood
Gaana Audience March 2021 music production during the
pandemic, more and more singles
Males, TUV Females, TUV sought out popularity on streaming
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
platforms from independent artists
6 -14 90 6 -14 92 like, B Praak, Prateek Kuhad, Diljit
Dosanjh, etc. Gaana’s CEO also stated
15 -24 8,986 15 - 24 6,029 that with streaming platforms gaining
25 - 34 7,996 25 - 34 3,888 recognition in tier 1, 2, and 3 cities,
regional music saw a meaningful rise
35+ 7,908 35+ 5,259 of 30x times as compared to
All Males 24,980 All Females 15,267 Bollywood, which only saw a 5x growth
in the past three years.11

Source: ComScore
Gaana supports 3.3 billion streams in
which regional music consumption
holds a significant 35% contribution.12
Total Unique Visitors Gaana (000) Bollywood music listenership
Between April 2020 and March 2021 contrarily dropped from 70% to 50%.13
Desktop Mobile App Mobile

50000
45055 45000
42224 42748 41258 41767
41499
39886 40247
40000 42967 43325 34927
40411 35538 40996 35021
39709 39709 39921
38162 38480

33695 33471
30000 32914

20000

10000

1771 1384 1262 1619 1614 1483 1537 1371 1631 1526 1390 1568
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The maximum TUV is recorded in the month of April 2020. The users of the
platform are almost uniform throughout the year. There is a very meagre change
between the TUVs of April 2020 and March 2021. The least TUVs are seen in the
month of July 2020.

Regional Consumption
Music on Gaana is available in English, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada,
Telugu, Punjabi, Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, Bangla, Odia, Assamese, Marathi, Gujarati, and
Rajasthani.8

There are about a 100 original podcasts released by Gaana, including a few Tamil
and Telugu podcasts apart from Hindi and English with genres discussing crime,
news, storytelling, poetry, comedy, etc.9

8
https://gaana.com/
9
https://gaana.com/podcast/viewall/gaana-podcast-originals
10
https://www.exchange4media.com/media-others-news/13-rise-in-music-consumption-across-india-during-lockdown-gaana-study-104453.html
11
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/audio-streaming-platforms-lean-on-independent-artistes-in-absence-of-film-music-11601275854840.html
12
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/media/gaana-reaches-185-million-monthly-active-users/77431338
13
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/audio-streaming-platforms-lean-on-independent-artistes-in-absence-of-film-music-11601275854840.html

158 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News
Gaana has seen the most success with their strategies of
concentrating on smaller Tier 2 and 3 regions and has plans
over the next five years to focus and bring in traffic from Tier
4 regions.14 It also noticed a 13% increase in music
consumption all over India with a rise in the listening patterns
of devotional and romantic playlists.15
A study on the listening patterns of more than 150 million
Indians showed that Arijit Singh, Tanishk Bagchi, Neha Kakkar,
Pritam, and Badshah were the most listened to in the Indian
artists’ circle. On the other hand, music by Ed Sheeran, Billie
Eilish, Alan Walker stood out among global icons.16
One of the trending hashtags—#BTS—mirrors the 350%
growth in listenership of Korean pop (K-pop) music exclusively
on Gaana. Indie artists and music beyond movies received
immense recognition through the year with a growth of 65%
of the Top 100 Hindi charts encompassing the former.17
The government’s ban on Chinese apps paved the way for
many streaming players to introduce a short form video
application for users to indulge in an attempt to substitute the
previously comfortable Tik Tok. Gaana’s Hotshots saw more
than 3 lakh content creators enlisting themselves and some
popular artists and influencers, including Neha Kakkar,
Darshan Raval, Riyaz Aly, Avneet Kaur, etc.23 The introduction
of Hotshots and podcasts apart from music streaming has
given Gaana a projected user base of 500 million in the next
three years.24
Gaana is the first music streaming application to incorporate
a UPI Autopay feature to smoothen out the auto debit
mandate procedure that would renew its subscriptions as per
the user’s choice of intervals depending on whether it is
weekly, monthly, yearly basis, etc.25

On a less successful note, Gaana was unable to renew their

licensing contract with Tips Music Industries owing to high
royalty fees resulting in Tips withdrawing their entire library of
work from Gaana’s servers.18

TuneCore, a New York-based music distribution service joined

a two-way partnership with Gaana in October 2020. All of
TuneCore’s artists will be available for Gaana’s subscribers to
explore and in turn Indian artists will find a way to be
distributed out to TuneCore’s partnered 150 digital stores
around the world.19

Gaana raised approximately $41 million dollars as debt from

Tencent20 to support its incremental growth, thus hiking
Tencent’s share in Gaana by 34.4% while Times Internet
Group and Esop Pool’s shares boils down to 60.18% and
5.38% respectively. As per Entracker, this puts Gaana’s net
worth at approximately $530 million as of September 2020.21

Innovations

Gaana is now compatible with Amazon Alexa, making it

convenient for Echo users to request their favourite podcasts,
playlists, and singles to be played on demand.22

14
https://www.fortuneindia.com/technology/spotify-the-sound-of-streaming/105483
15
https://www.exchange4media.com/media-others-news/13-rise-in-music-consumption-across-india-during-lockdown-gaana-study-104453.html
16
https://www.exchange4media.com/media-others-news/13-rise-in-music-consumption-across-india-during-lockdown-gaana-study-104453.html
17
https://www.ibef.org/news/audio-streaming-grows-40-in-india-in-2020
18
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/streaming-fallout-in-india-tencent-backed-gaana-refuses-to-pay-record-label-tips-high-royalties-so-tips-pulls-its-catalog/
19
https://www.aninews.in/news/business/business/tunecore-partners-with-gaana-to-maximize-distribution-in-india20201012143555/
20
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/streaming/9594320/tencent-increases-stake-in-indian-streaming-giant-gaana-with-40-million-in-new-debt-funding/
21
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tencent-acquires-a-bigger-slice-of-indian-spotify-rival-gaana-upping-its-stake-to-more-than-a-third/
22
https://www.livemint.com/technology/apps/alexa-can-now-play-songs-from-spotify-on-echo-speakers-in-india-11593156258067.html
23
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/gaana-bets-big-on-hotshots-sees-surge-in-subscription-base/article32387512.ece
24
https://musically.com/2020/07/23/gaana-hopes-to-reach-500m-users-in-next-three-years/
25
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/gaana-becomes-first-player-in-me-industry-to-integrate-with-upi-autopay-111281.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 159

160 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Airtel Wynk is Bharti Airtel’s entry to the music OTT
competition in India. Launched in the year 2014, the app
boasts of 4 million+ songs with both a free and premium
subscription option. For listeners consuming the free
SNIPPETS
version, the quality is lower, ridden with ads, and there is no Launched
option of download. Airtel Wynk monetizes instead with a September 2, 20141
premium plan allowing subscribers, at the following
Owned by
standard rates per month, to listen to uninterrupted (ad
Bharti Airtel
free) tracks at 320kbps and with the option of download for
offline consumption7. Headquarters
Gurgaon, Haryana

Google Play Store Downloads

100 Million+2

Unique Users
50 million + (March 2021)

Reach
10.7%

Average Minutes/visitor
16.9

Monthly Active Users

72.53

Revenue Model
AVOD, SVOD

Content Delivery Network

NAGRA Security Services Platform4
3%
4% Song Library
12% 7% 15 million5

7%
Mode of Revenue
Rs 49/monthly6

5%

1%
20%
5%

7%

15% 14%

1
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/airtel-launches-wynk-music-service-for-phones-206856-2014-09-02
2
Google Play Store
3
https://musically.com/2021/05/18/indian-streaming-ser
vice-wynk-music-has-72-5m-monthly-users/#:~:text=Wynk%20Music%20had%2072.5%20million,India%2C%20citing%20App%20Annie%20data.
4
https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2020-04-29/airtel-xstream-app-exceeds-1-5-billion-multi-drm-licenses-served-from-the-nagra-security-services-platform
5
https://wynk.in/corporate/music.html
6
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/airtel-launches-new-prepaid-packs-with-wynk-premium-subscription-71611205931476.html
7
https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/spotify-launched-in-india-airtel-wynk-and-jio-saavn-comparison/

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 161

Key Measures Regional Consumption
Wynk Music finds a majority of its audience amongst young men between the Wynk Music has language presence in
ages of 15-24 years and ages 35 and above. Most female audiences for Wynk English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Music fall in the age group of 15-24 years, but their number is significantly fewer Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali, Bhojpuri,
compared to their male counterparts. Haryanvi, Punjabi, Marathi, Rajasthani,
Assamese, and Gujarati.8

Consumer Demographics for Wynk (000) Punjabi seems to be the most popular
language heard over Wynk with more
Wynk Audience March 2021 than 120 curated playlists with the top
artist list frequented by B Praak, Jass
Males, TUV Females, TUV Manak, Maninder Buttar, etc.9
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

6 -14 53 6 -14 14 Marathi playlists follow the lead with

Bengali, Tamil, and Telugu music.
15 -24 12,326 15 - 24 7,648

25 - 34 9,460 25 - 34 5,231

35+ 10,132 35+ 5,330

All Males 31,971 All Females 18,222

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Wynk (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile App Mobile Total Digital Population

60000

49268 49434 49203 50193

50000
48832 48498 49509
48477
40430 40681 46937
38364 44585 45071
40000 39951 40272 42682
32457 32250 37904
31231 31783 36999 38003
28657 35414
30000 31886 31877 30840 31319
28221 30649
28998 28815 29175
26615
20000

10000
489 316 287 281 383 380 395 348 666 497 602 573
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Wynk Music has seen a steady rise this year with Airtel’s bundled subscription
opportunities.

8
https://wynk.in/music
9
https://wynk.in/music/package/popular-punjabi-hits/bb_1512370496100

162 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News

Wynk Music currently holds a 15% market share, same as

Spotify as per the OTT Audience Measurement Insights
report10 and major competitor Amazon had plans of investing
in approximately a 5% stake in Bharti Airtel as of mid-202011.

Arijit Singh is succeeding as the No. 1 artist across all major

music streaming platforms.12

Bharti Airtel has added two new data plans that provide its
telecom users an added free subscription to Wynk Music.13

Individuals calling Airtel users can enjoy listening to

‘Hellotunes’ set by the latter from a choice of more than 6
million songs reflecting their mood.14

Wynk Music finally has an addition of podcasts to its

application, allowing subscribers to listen to high quality,
ad-free audio podcasts.15 Genres like sports, comedy, news,
etc, are suggested to the user based on their preferences with
the option of easily resuming from where they paused. Sony
Music on Wynk will soon be bringing alive Chakmak
Kathaayein, audio stories from the popular children’s
magazine Chakmak, that teach children family values and love
towards nature.16

Innovations

Wynk Stage in mid-2020 launched #WynkConcerts allowing

artists to share a live space to connect with and perform for
their followers as well as new audiences.17 Wynk was
successfully able to conduct live Navratri18, Diwali,19 and New
Year concerts20 with artists like Benny Dayal, Amit Trivedi,
Sachin-Jigar, Mika Singh, Tony Kakkar, Euphoria, Sanam, etc,
making appearances where fans could post song requests
and react in real-time through their user experience.

10
https://inc42.com/buzz/gaana-claims-top-spot-in-india-with-150-mn-users-30-market-share/
11
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/amazon-in-talks-to-invest-2-billion-in-bharti-airtel-sources/articleshow/76194403.cms?from=mdr
12
https://www.iwmbuzz.com/music/celebrities-music/wynk-music-jio-saavn-apple-music-spotify-arijit-singh-becomes-no-1-artist-followed-platforms/2021/01/05
13
https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/airtel-launches-rs-78-rs-248-data-add-on-packs-with-wynk-premium-subscription-9226191.html
14
https://telecomtalk.info/airtel-wynk-music-launches-free-hello-tunes/285113/
15
https://telecomtalk.info/wynk-music-introduces-podcasts/344007/
16
https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/stories-from-childrens-magazine-chakmak-to-be-available-in-audio-format/2051272
17
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/in-other-news/140520/soon-you-can-watch-live-concerts-on-airtel-wynk-music-app.html
18
https://nenow.in/business/wynk-music-announces-navratri-nights-online-concert-series.html
19
https://www.indiatvnews.com/technology/news-wynk-music-to-celebrate-diwali-with-live-music-performances-662942
20
https://indiaeducationdiary.in/join-tony-kakkar-euphoria-sanam-dj-ali-merchant-and-nikhita-gandhi-as-they-perform-live-on-wynk-stage-from-dec-24-27/

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 163

164 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About
JioSaavn is yet another Indian music OTT gem providing
users all across the globe access to 55 million songs4 , SNIPPETS
podcasts, radio stations, curated playlists, and customized
ringtones5 in 166 different regional languages. The Launched
December 2018 (Jio Music + Saavn Merger)
application holds a 24% share7 amongst all music OTTs.
JioSaavn continues to grow with 900+ label partnerships, Owned by
the more popular ones being T series, Saregama, Tips, Eros, Reliance Industries Limited1
etc.8
Headquarters
Mumbai2

Google Play Store Downloads

100 million+

Unique Users
50 million+

Reach
10.7%

Average Minutes/visitor
16.1

Monthly Active Users

100 million+3

Revenue Model
Bundled free for Jio Prime subscribers

Subscription
Rs. 99/Month, Rs. 399/Year

1
https://www.medianama.com/2018/12/223-jiosaavn-merger/
2
https://www.medianama.com/2018/12/223-jiosaavn-merger/
3
https://entrackr.com/2019/09/jio-saavn-se
cures-rs-240-35-cr-reliance-industries/#:~:text=Currently%2C%20JioSaavn%20has%20over%20100,Punjabi%20and%20Gujarati%20among%20others.
4
https://www.jiosaavn.com/corporate
5
https://apps.apple.com/in/app/jiosaavn-music-podcasts/id441813332
6
English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Odiya, Assamese.
7
OTT Audience Measurement & Insights 2020,
https://images.assettype.com/afaqs/2020-02/6861b53f-deb4-459b-9190-c56402223577/Audio_OTT_Audience_Measurement.pdf
8
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/saavn

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 165

Key Measures Regional Consumption
The maximum number of consumers for JioSaavn app are young men and JioSaavn is available in English, Hindi,
women in the respective age groups of 15 to 24 years. Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada,
Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali,
Rajasthani, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Punjabi,
Consumer Demographics Jio Saavn (000) and Assamese9

Jio Saavn Audience March 2021 August 2020 saw JioSaavn take up a
unique venture in acclaiming regional
Males, TUV Females, TUV
entertainment in the form of music,
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
podcasts, and a mini documentary on
6 -14 28 6 -14 14 YouTube. The ‘We are India’ playlist
contains a series of playlists in several
15 -24 13,907 15 - 24 8,170
regional languages featuring
25 - 34 12,722 25 - 34 5,779 independent, non-film, and film music.
A couple of the themes seen across
35+ 5,514 35+ 4,078
these playlists were ‘Freedom to be’,
All Males 32,171 All Females 18,042 ‘Artist led,’ etc.10

Source: ComScore JioSaavn introduced JioSaavn Yourcast,

encouraging independent podcasters
to sign up with the former, providing a
Total Unique Visitors Jio Saavn (000) business ecosystem that would also
Between April 2020 and March 2021 give them a route to reach 100 million
JioSaavn users.11 The ‘We are India’
Desktop Mobile App Mobile Total Digital Population campaign also showcased popular
regional podcasts like Mind Voice with
150000
RJ Balaji in Tamil, The Telugu Cinema
126710 127514
119869 125405 Project in Telugu, Baalgatha Gujarati,
120000 126074 126942
119326
124864 Urdunama, Mu Odia Mo Odisha in
Oriya, etc.12 JioSaavn claims that the
90000
73685
most popular podcasts after Hindi and
68390 English were Punjabi, Telugu, and
73224
60000
61256 61699 62667 49705 52742 51375
53617
46925
44011 30209 Tamil.13
55376 45665 53834
54518 45222 44659 52994 48813 50214
49201 53377
44795 44151 48338
30000
49662
As a part of JioSaavn’s ‘We are India’
campaign, a YouTube special,
447 264 233 247 341 421 343 421 521 374 393 460
0 mini-documentary series explored
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21
musical stories in Punjabi, Malayalam,
Nyishi, Tamil, and Kannada, with artists
Source: ComScore
Harshdeep Kaur, Job Kurian, Taba
Chake, Siri, and GV Prakash.14
The maximum TUV is recorded in the month of May 2020. The number of TUVs
show a sudden fall after the month of August 2020, where they reduce to
almost 2.5 times. There is a stark difference in the TUVs of between April 2020
and March 2021. The least TUVs are seen in the month of November 2020.

9
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jio.media.jiobeats&hl=en_IN&gl=US
10
https://www.thestatesman.com/entertainment/music/jiosaavn-launches-india-multi-platform-brand-campaign-celebrating-excellence-regional-music-1502914525.html
11
https://inc42.com/buzz/jiosaavn-targets-indie-podcasts-creators-with-yourcast-platform/
12
https://www.thestatesman.com/entertainment/music/jiosaavn-launches-india-multi-platform-brand-campaign-celebrating-excellence-regional-music-1502914525.html
13
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/podcasting-a-wider-net/2153976/
14
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/jiosaavn-celebrates-excellence-in-regional-music-through-we-are-india-campaign/2045717/

166 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News
Independent artists and podcasters have had a successful
rise in listenership during the lockdown. JioSaavn claims to
have seen a stark increase in the footing of non-film music
with 25 out of Top 30 weekly hits being from artists like Nikhil
D’Souza, Diljit Dosanjh, B Praak, Prateek Kuhaad, etc.15
An interesting branding venture saw JioSaavn’s logo present
on Nestle’s KitKat packaging, encouraging users to take a
“short musical break”. The latter sent out 25 million pieces
with this branding with lucky users getting an opportunity to
win a month’s subscription to free, uninterrupted music on
JioSaavn.16
JioSaavn has brought on board American podcast service,
‘Spreaker,’ giving rise to a two-way opportunity for Indian
users to access globally recognized podcasts as well as giving
Spreaker a new audience in South-Asia.17
Swedish-origin ‘Acast,’ a podcast distribution and
monetization platform, in a deal with JioSaavn will be providing
the latter with content from its platform as well as deliver
monetization techniques like subscription paywall and
dynamic ads to podcasters.18
JioSaavn launched a playbook ‘Connecting From A Safe
Distance: The Digital Audio Playbook For A New Reality,’
containing listenership data on song trends, playlists, podcast
preferences, etc. This was released in an aim to educate
brands on how they can make users relate to a marketing
message and therefore improve on a superior audio
advertising.26 This was after JioSaavn offered Rs. 70,000 worth
of audio ad credits to bring on brands new to audio
advertising.27
Netrange smart televisions will now host JioSaavn app, giving
its music streaming a global reach.28
JioSaavn launched a ‘Pro rewards’ system on its dashboard
encouraging paid subscribers to redeem deals with its
partner services like Sarva Yoga, Care.fit, 1MG, etc.29
In partnership with JioSaavn, Ford released its compact utility
vehicle Freestyle Flair Edition. JioSaavn created a special
channel named ‘Freestyle’ that curated music best suited for
drives.30

The ‘Artist Originals’ initiative by JioSaavn launched an

accelerator program named ‘AO Labs’ in September 2020.19
The program aims to boost recognition for unsigned artists
via a demo selection, by systemizing its distribution, analytics,
payments, and marketing.20

Tracks from ‘Artist Originals’ are now available on

Seattle-based SyncFloor’s library for content creators on
SyncFloor to search and license music for their individual
projects.21

Since 2019, JioSaavn saw 85 new brands becoming part of its

platform, declaring a 17.8%  YOY growth in advertising
revenue.22 Media and Entertainment recorded a whopping
265.8% increase in comparison to 2019 and Gaming saw a
235.6% increase entering the top 5 spenders of 2020 list.23

Innovations
JioSaavn entered a strategic partnership embedding Triller,24
an AI music video app within the former. Music videos on
JioSaavn will be linked to Triller, which global artists like
Eminem, Cardi B, Alicia Keys, etc, have used to produce some
of their work. This news follows the introduction of JioSaavn
Shorties, a 15-second on-loop video accompanying certain
tracks. Martin Garrix, Siddhu Moosewala, and Armaan have
already appeared on Shorties.25

15
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/audio-streaming-platforms-lean-on-independent-artistes-in-absence-of-film-music-11601275854840.html
16
https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/10/jiosaavn-partners-with-nestle-kitkat-for-a-multi-channel-activation/
17
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/jiosaavn-to-host-podcasts-from-american-company-spreaker-11591793799205.html
18
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/07/acast-partners-with-jiosaavn-one-of-indias-largest-streaming-audio-services/
19
https://www.mumbailive.com/en/music-dance/jiosaavn-platform-artist-originals-launches-an-accelerator-program-amplify-55414
20
https://musically.com/2020/09/15/jiosaavns-amplify-offers-direct-distribution-to-emerging-artists/
21
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/jiosaavns-artist-originals-partners-with-licensing-startup-syncfloor/
22
https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-tech/news/jiosaavn-records-17-8-yoy-increase-in-ad-revenue/articleshow/78019646.cms
23
https://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/marketing/mam/over-120-brands-choose-jiosaavn-to-reach-consumers-this-summer-200909
24
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/reliances-jiosaavn-to-host-videos-of-tiktok-rival-on-its-platform/article32438879.ece
25
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/jiosaavn-update-new-ui-living-search-ai-based-recommendations-shorties-2239322
26
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/jiosaavn-for-brands-launches-digital-audio-playbook-for-marketers/article32209734.ece
27
https://www.exchange4media.com/marketing-news/jiosaavn-for-brands-launches-starter-pack-for-marketers-offers-rs-70000-audio-ad-credits-105237.html
28
https://www.access-company.com/en/news_event/archives/2020/netrange-smart-tv-enables-jiosaavn-to-broaden-global-user-base-for-its-indian-music-service/
29
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/jiosaavns-paying-subscriber-base-has-quadrupled-since-early-2019/
30
https://www.indiatvnews.com/business/news-ford-freestyle-flair-edition-jiosaavn-google-marketing-strategy-compact-utility-vehicle-cuv-646177

REPORT 2021 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS 167

168 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About
Apple Music is “a single, intuitive app that combines the
best ways to enjoy music.”7 Membership to Apple Music
SNIPPETS
entitles the user to ad-free 60 million + high definition
Launched
quality songs, radio channels (Radio City8 and Beats19), June 20151
synced lyrics, free downloads, music videos, and daily
personalized recommendations, Apple promises an Owned by
enriching user experience throughout;10 high-definition, Apple Inc.2
ad-free audio streaming across 6 devices; and unlimited Headquarters
downloads. Cupertino, California, U.S.A.3

Google Play Store Downloads

50 million+4
Unique Users
3 lakhs+ (April 2021)

Reach
0.1%

Average Minutes/ Visitor

4.0

Monthly Active Users

NA

Revenue Model
Subscription-based

Content Delivery Network

Personal CDN5
Song Library
Over 75 million6
Mode of Revenue
Rs.49/month (Students), Rs.99/month
(Individuals). Rs.149/month (Families)

1
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2015/06/08Introducing-Apple-Music-All-The-Ways-You-Love-Music-All-in-One-Place-/
2
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2015/06/08Introducing-Apple-Music-All-The-Ways-You-Love-Music-All-in-One-Place-/
3
https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/this-video-gives-a-rare-look-inside-apples-5-billion-spaceship-headquarters/articleshow/72130713.cms
4
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.android.music&hl=en_IN
5
https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-appears-to-have-built-its-own-content-delivery-network/
6
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.android.music
7
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2015/06/08Introducing-Apple-Music-All-The-Ways-You-Love-Music-All-in-One-Place-/
8
https://www.medianama.com/2017/09/223-apple-music-gets-radio-city-91-1fm-onboard/
9
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/meet-zane-lowe-apple-music-s-unlikely-tastemaker-story-WaRcajCnGyzpzCvuWoMMOP.html
10
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-music/id1108187390

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 169

Key Measures Regional Consumption
Most app traffic appears among the youth of ages 15-24 years as compared to the Tracks on Apple Music are available in
remaining male age groups. Hindi, English, Malayalam, Bengali,
Bhojpuri, Tamil, Kannada, Assamese,
Telugu, Marathi, Rajasthani, and
Consumer Demographics for Apple Music (000) Punjabi.

Apple Music Audience March 2021 There are compiled works of more
than 20 artists listed each in Marathi,
Males, TUV Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam
Age Group (000)
languages on Apple Music owing to the
6 -14 presence of app usage in those
respective states.
15 - 24 274

25 - 34 25 There are interesting additions of the

independent music scene in India
35+
curated within playlists named, ‘The
All Males 300 New India’ (Hip hop and Rap), ’Breaking
Indian Independent‘, ’Indian
Source: ComScore
Independent Hits,’ to name a few.12
Apple Music, with its ‘Stream Local’13
initiative, has also introduced a
collection of regional folk music from all
Total Unique Visitors Apple Music (000) over the country. Some known names
Between April 2020 and March 2021
in the Indian folk playlist are Raghu
Mobile App Dixit, Swarathma, Papon etc.14 Barring
these renowned artists, there are also
1000 943 interesting artists listed, introducing
listeners to Baul music by Oikyotaan
800 and Himalayan folk music by Bipul
Chettri, among others.
600
463 Currently popular new singles on Apple
404
400 Music listed under ‘Best New Songs’,
294 300
feature the latest hit ‘Enjoy Enjaami’
214 208
200
179 —Dhee, Arivu, Santhosh Narayanan,
‘Aaram’- Brodha V, Prateek Kuhad’s
0
0
0 0 0 ’Kasoor’, ‘Madhubala’ by Amit Trivedi,
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21 etc.

Source: ComScore

December 2020 marked a massive success story for Indian hip hop music when
Divine was featured on the Times Square Billboard after his hit album Punya Paap
trended on Apple Music’s charts across all genres.11

11
https://telanganatoday.com/divine-is-first-indian-rapper-on-new-yorks-times-square-billboard
12
https://music.apple.com/in/room/1069680178
13
https://www.news18.com/news/tech/apple-music-stream-local-launched-in-india-to-support-local-music-artists-2574407.html
14
https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/indian-folk/pl.dd799eec8d18418b8b5bcc9323722bf6

170 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News Innovations

In 2020, Apple Music recorded 72 million paid users across Apple Music brought out Dolby Atmos standard and lossless
the globe15 and generated a revenue of $4.1 billion, which quality in a vast number of its songs this year at its spatial
made up 7.6% of Apple’s revenue across all verticals.16 audio event. It currently has over 20 million songs available in
lossless quality but plans by the end of 2021 is to roll out the
Earlier this year, Apple Music launched ‘Behind the Songs’, a feature in its entire catalogue, which will give listeners a deep
feature on the platform to bring to notice songwriters, and immersive music experience.23
producers, sessions musicians and everybody involved
behind the scenes on a piece of music.17 Apple Music is now compatible with Google Assisted smart
home speakers, so android users can link their Apple Music
Apple Music’s annual announcement of the ‘Best of 2020’ account in the Google Home app and request their speaker to
listed the top 10 artists in India ranking Arijit Singh as the play their favourite tracks.24
highest. Among the 10 names, mostly international, Sidhu
Moosewala and Diljit Dosanjh took up the 8th and 9th spots.18 Barring Apple TV, Samsung’s televisions will be the first to
integrate Apple Music application as a service on their smart
Apple invested $50 million in United Masters, a company TVs, giving access to all their songs, playlists, and live radio.25
managing and aiding independent music artists with their
presence in the music industry. This investment could lead to In March 2021, Warner Music, Rothco, and Apple Music
potential integrations with Apple Music after their own entered into a partnership to create ‘Saylists’. These are
venture Apple Music connect, which allowed fans to interact non-exhaustive playlists governed by algorithms recognizing
with artists, wasn’t long lasting.19 repetitive sounds in songs to help children with speech
disorders listen and recite as a form of speech therapy.26
‘Verzuz,’ a livestreaming rap battle show created by Swizz
Beats and Timbaland during the pandemic, partnered with
Apple Music to host and produce their episodes that would
see singers, producers, and songwriters riff off in song
battles.20

With the global pandemic affecting many artists’ incomes,

Apple Music formed a $50 million fund that would help pay
artists that have an arrangement with the platform for
distribution.21

Apple Music offered a four-month free trial for new

subscribers exclusively on iOS Tik Tok.22

15
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/apple-music-statistics/
16
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/apple-music-statistics/
17
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-launches-behind-the-songs-portal-to-highlight-songwriters-and-producers/
18
https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/best-of-2020-apple-musics-year-end-top-artists-and-tracks-announced-922946.html
19
https://9to5mac.com/2021/03/31/apple-music-independent-investment/
20
https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/verzuz-partners-with-apple-music-1031271/
21
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-launches-50m-advance-fund-for-independent-labels-hit-by-covid-19-impact/
22
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/12/18/tiktok-apple-music-trial/
23
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/apple-mu
sic-subscribers-can-now-listen-to-dolby-atmos-spatial-audio-and-lossless-songs-at-no-extra-cost-1812434-2021-06-08
24
https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/best-of-2020-apple-musics-year-end-top-artists-and-tracks-announced-922946.html
25
https://news.samsung.com/global/starting-today-samsung-brings-apple-music-to-its-smart-tvs
26
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/apple-music-saylists-will-help-children-with-speech-sound-disorders-71616696550002.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 171

172 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
 SNIPPETS
Launched
March 20131
Owned by
Hungama Digital Media

Headquarters
Mumbai, Maharashtra

Google Play Store Downloads

10 million+2

Unique Users
1.9 million+ (April 2021)

Reach
0.4%

Average Minutes/ Visitor

9

Revenue Model
AVOD, SVOD

Hours of Content
10 million+ songs + music videos3

Mode of Revenue
Rs.99/month, Rs 269/3 months, Rs.499/year4

1
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/hungama-launches-music-streaming-mobile-app-345577
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hungama.myplay.activity&hl=en_IN
3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hungama.myplay.activity
4
https://www.hungama.com/plans/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 173

Key Measures Regional Consumption
Men over the age of 35 frequented the Hungama Music mobile app while most Music on Hungama is available in
visits made by women were in the age group of 15 to 24 years. English, Hindi and regional languages
like Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri,
Rajasthani, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi,
Consumer Demographics for Hungama Music (000) Haryanvi, Odia, Kannada, Malayalam,
Tamil, and Telugu.
Hungama Music Audience March 2021
For regional music lovers, Hungama
Males, TUV Females, TUV Music has “Top 40” playlists and Top
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
Albums for every language. These
15 - 24 220 15 - 24 440 libraries include independent releases,
curated works by renowned artists,
25 - 34 356 25 - 34 372 and movie soundtracks.
35+ 560 35+
Apart from the current collection of
All Males 1,136 All Females 812 podcasts, thanks to a tie-up with
HubHopper, Hungama Music plans to
Source: ComScore release 30 new original podcasts6
produced in 6 languages —Hindi,
English, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi7
Total Unique Visitors Hungama Music (000) —over this year.
Between April 2020 and March 2021
Hungama Music in 2020 launched a
Mobile App
region-focused show ‘Music Bus’.
2500
The show features trending artists like
2367
2311 2296
Revanth, Indian Ocean, Harrdy Sandhu,
2247 2259
2185 Jassie Gill, Jeet Gannguli and Javed Ali
travelling across 6 cities in India
2000 1948
1887 exploring the culture and music of the
1812 1807
community. The show also brings on
board local artists to contribute to this
1500 1454 enriching musical experience.8
1352

1000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Visitor activity on Hungama Music app has been steady throughout the year. A
major reason behind this for most Indians is that Hungama Music is the default
music app on Xiaomi phones, which happen to be among the best-selling budget
phones in the country.5

5
https://www.mi.com/in/service/hungama/
6
https://www.afaqs.com/companies/hungama-music-forays-into-original-podcasts
7
https://www.afaqs.com/companies/hungama-music-forays-into-original-podcasts
8
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2020/jul/09/singer-revanth-joins-the-regional-music-bus-by-hungama-2167241.html

174 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News

Hungama Music Artist Aloud’s #StayAtHome

#StayEntertained initiative in May 2020 held an online concert
featuring music, comedy and poetry over YouTube and
Facebook featuring 75+ artists, including Usha Uthup, Toshi
Raina, and Shaan.9

The Artist Aloud initiative in association with Khazana saw a

one-of-a-kind ghazal talent hunt judged by Pankaj Udhas,
Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Rekha Bhardwaj, and Sudeep Banerji
inviting participants to upload their auditions online.10

Hungama Music has entered a deal with other leading OTT

producers, where the former will be incorporated into the
OTT streamers.11
Huawei’s App Gallery will now feature Hungama Music app
after the Google Play Store ban.12

After Hungama Music’s successful integration with Alexa,

Google-assisted smart speakers’ app too has been made
compatible to play tracks on command.13
Hungama Music is one of the first music streaming OTTs to
have signed a licensing deal with the Indian Performing Right
Society Ltd, ensuring original composers are paid their fair
share for their work.14

In November 2020, Tata Sky, in lieu of their partnership with

Hungama Music, started offering Tata Sky music and Music+
subscribers a free pro subscription to the entire catalogue of
the Hungama Music app.15

Innovations

Earlier this year, Hungama Music partnered with Dolby for its
cutting edge innovation Dolby Atmos, which exemplifies
sound quality and experience for the listener listening to
tracks on Hungama Music. “Our work with Dolby is yet
another step towards offering Indian users a premium and
high-quality music streaming experience.” —Siddhartha Roy,
Chief Operating Officer, Hungama Digital Media.16

9
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/tochi-raina-ricky-kej-and-usha-uthup-in-hungamas-online-concert-line-up/article31669978.ece
10
http://everythingexperiential.businessworld.in/article/Hunga
ma-Artist-Aloud-and-Khazana-announce-the-3rd-edition-of-Khazana-Artist-Aloud-Talent-Hun/19-06-2020-289047/
11
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/hungama-digital-media-fy20-net-loss-widens-due-to-increased-content-cost-110551.html
12
https://www.gizmochina.com/2020/04/22/huawei-inks-deal-with-hungama-to-brings-its-apps-on-appgallery/
13
https://www.news18.com/news/tech/nest-speakers-can-now-play-hungama-music-songs-via-voice-commands-as-google-assistant-gets-app-support-3139103.html
14
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/iprs-signs-licensing-deal-with-hungama-music/article32842183.ece
15
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/tata-sky-partners-with-hungama-music/2138232/
16
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/hungama-music-partners-with-dolby-laboratories-for-enhanced-streaming-quality-11616821861489.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 175

176 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Candy Crush Saga is an addictive single player casual game
that is an immense visual treat almost like a tactile
feedback. The game features a board with all kinds of
colourful candy pieces that need to be matched and Founded
eliminated from the board in a given timeframe. As the 2012
levels progress, the journey takes the player into variations
Owned by
of the board featuring special candies with added bonuses.
King
Since its inception, various forms of ‘match three’ puzzles
from King and other developers like Candy Crush Soda Headquarters
Saga, Candy Crush Jelly Saga, and Candy Crush Friends Stockholm, Sweden
Saga have made their entry on Google Play Store. Google Play Store Downloads
1 Billion+

Unique Users
34 million+ (April 2021)

Reach
7.3% (April 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
233.6 minutes (April 2021)

Popularity Rankings
#4 in Top Gaming app in MAU
and #9 in Revenue (App Annie

Monthly Active Users

273 million1

Revenue model
Freemium

Mode of revenue
In app purchases

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.king.candycrushsaga&hl=en_IN

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 177

Key Measures
Men and women above the age of 35 thoroughly enjoy breezing through this
simple game. There also seems to be a significant interest in the app among
men in the age group of 25 to 34 years.

Consumer Demographics for Candy Crush Saga (000)

Candy Crush Saga Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 5,119 15 - 24 3,245

25-34 6,021 25 - 34 4,972

35+ 7,727 35+ 7,296

All Males 18,868 All Females 15,513

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Candy Crush Saga (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

35000 34380
33559 33493
33072 33248

31274
31057
30580 30754

30000 29715
29268 29127

25000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Candy crush has seen a significant growth in mobile app users since November
2020.

178 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News

Candy Crush Saga has had more than 12 million installs since
the game was launched, and according to Sensor Tower, has
had more than $200 million in people’s lifetime revenue.2 By
the year 2020, the game was on the verge of grossing close to
$1 billion solely from the sale of digital goods or in-app
purchases.3

In the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the gaming industry

initiated a #PlayApartTogether movement and Candy Crush
Saga offered a bonus free lives week for people to play to their
heart’s content without any negative reinforcement.4 The
Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, under the
UK government, got into partnerships with mobile apps such
as Candy Crush Saga, Dirt Rally, etc, during the Covid-19
lockdown. An in-game advertisement message ‘Stay Home,
Save Lives’ was displayed across the game screen in order to
encourage players to keep safe and be responsible.5

Candy Crush began with 65 levels when the developers

started out in 2012 and has grown since to 8000 levels,
drawing in people that even identified as “non-gamers”.6

Candy Crush developers, King, have signed a partnership with

NetEase so as to enter the Chinese gaming market after the
National Press and Publication Administration in China gave
their consent for 41 games to be released.7

Innovations

The developers of Candy Crush Saga, King, are exploring

endless running game theme with their release of Crash
Bandicoot over iOS and Android. Temple Run and Subway
surfers are comparable games where the player has to swipe
left or right to avoid obstacles.

The Christmas holiday season of 2020 gave rise to 3 mini

games from Candy Crush.   Sweet Winter Memories, Yeti’s
Sleigh Ride, and Gift Delivery allow users three attempts every
day to crack the daily new level with fun bonus candies and
boosters as rewards.8

2
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/200-million-and-counting-the-money-people-have-spent-on-candy-crush/articleshow/78410482.cms
3
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-people-are-still-obsessed-with-candy-crush-saga-11603288963
4
https://www.news18.com/news/tech/candy-crush-saga-has-unlimited-lives-as-a-free-surprise-for-you-this-week-2561023.html
5
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-04-06-in-game-messages-warn-players-stay-home-save-lives
6
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/interview/75167/king-president-hu
mam-sakhnini-on-candy-crush-longevity-diversity-and-utilising-activision-ip-to-bring-crash-bandicoot-to-mobile/
7
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/75208/roblox-given-the-go-ahead-to-enter-china/
8
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/candy-crush-saga-holiday-mini-games-190625181.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 179

180 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
8 Ball Pool is an online and mobile-based, billiard-themed
pool simulation sports game maintained and operated by
Miniclip. The digital replica of the sport has a cue stick, 16
balls, 15 objects and 1 cue ball and can be played as a Launched
singles or a doubles game.1 8 Ball Pool is the largest multi- 2010
player game of its genre, netting thousands of players daily.
Owned by
Miniclip

Headquarters
Switzerland, Portugal, Italy and England

Google Play Store Downloads

500 Million+

Unique Users
7 Million +(April 2021)

Reach
1.5% (April 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
136.7 minutes (April 2021)

Revenue Model
AVOD, Freemium

Mode of Revenue
In app purchases

1
https://youthincmag.com/top-4-mobile-games-loved-by-the-youth

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 181

Key Measures of the Platform
The key consumers across all age groups are male players. There are twice as
many male players, compared to female users of the app.

Consumer Demographics for 8 Ball Pool (000)

8 Ball Pool Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 2,172 15 - 24 1,203

25-34 1,317 25 - 34 732

35+ 1,508 35+ 164

All Males 4,997 All Females 2,099

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors 8 Ball Pool (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

12000

11007

10000 9753

8342
7944
8000 7575 7729 7611
7165 7096
6781 6723
6243
6000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUVs are recorded in the month of April 2020, whereas the least are in
the month of January 2021.

News

As of 2021, 115 pool matches have been played and people have spent almost 24
billion hours on the game. Every month 15 billion minutes of the game are played
and 20 million monthly cue shots are recorded.2

Innovations

The game completed ten successful years in July 2020. To commemorate the
journey, the developers created a special, first-ever animated cue named ‘Bismuth,’
which is an ever-evolving mineral. Players will also see changes in the cue every
time they upgrade it.3

2
https://www.gamespress.com/Miniclips-8-Ball-Pool-marks-decade-since-launch-as-monthly-match-count
3
https://www.gamespress.com/Miniclips-8-Ball-Pool-marks-decade-since-launch-as-monthly-match-count

182 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 183
184 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, conceptualized by
Brendan Greene, began as an action-packed survival game
on a console.8 Inspired by the narrative of the Japanese
film, Battle Royale, PUBG can be experienced as an ‘open Founded
world’ scenario, where a 100 players are dropped in and March 20171
pushed to scavenge for weapons and essentials, kill,
Owned by
sabotage, team up but ultimately only one can be the
Bluhole, Tencent Games2
victorious player.9 The multiplayer gameplay format lets an
individual play live against other real users unlike most Developed by
computer-generated game opponents. PUBG Corporation3

Headquarters
Bundang-gu, Gyeonggido, South Korea4
Google Play Store Downloads
1 billion+5
Unique Users
20 million+

Reach
4.4%

Average Minutes/visitor
135.4

Popularity Rankings
Top #2 in both MAU and Revenue6

Content Delivery Network

Tencent Cloud7
Revenue Model
Paid and free for PC and Mobile respectively

Mode of revenue
In app purchases

1
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/the-biggest-game-of-2017-is-finally-finished-and-will-launch-on-december-20/articleshow/61986935.cms
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tencent.ig&hl=en_IN
3
https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/others/article/is-pubg-a-chinese-game-heres-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-famous-games-ownership-and-origin/609434
4
https://www.owler.com/company/bluehole
5
https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/pubg-mobile-crosses-1-billion-downloads-outside-china-537054.html
6
(FICCI, 2021)
7
https://intl.cloud.tencent.com/customer/detail/24
8
https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/others/article/is-pubg-a-chinese-game-heres-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-famous-games-ownership-and-origin/609434
9
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/history-of-battle-royale-games/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 185

Key Measures of the Platform
Pub G has found a significant userbase across all age groups among both men
and women.

Consumer Demographics for PUBG (000)

PUBG Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 6,178 15 - 24 5,352

25-34 6,010 25 - 34 4,994

35+ 6,088 35+ 5,163

All Males 18,276 All Females 15,509

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors PUBG (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile Mobile App

40000
39297 39014
37874
35000
34071
30000 32547

27975
25000
23954
20000
19450 20367
18425 19171
17596
15000

10000

5000 3561 3248

1405 1137 953 920 809 800 1397 1636 1588 1027
0 428 365 242 218 212 262 176 174 228 266 228 265

Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Though PUBG’s loyal fan base has found alternatives to Play Store for app
downloads, the usage has dwindled since the Chinese app ban. From 65 million
Daily Active Users in March 2020, the number went down by more than half, by
December 2020, due to the ban.10

12
https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/pubg-mobile-launch-date-india
13
https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/pubg-mobile-leads-in-game-app-spending-on-mobile-on-christmas-day-in-2019-7852771.html
14
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/gaming/pubg-mobile-adds-new-gameplay-management-system-heres-what-it-does-5728749/
15
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/pubg-mobile-the-walking-dead-skins-in-game-items-more-2110172

186 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News

Border clashes and politics took a serious turn in August

2020, leading to a revision in the IT Act, and a permanent ban
on more than 100 Chinese apps11 in lieu of data leak and
privacy concerns.12 This led to PUBG, which had more than 40
million monthly active users purely in India, severing ties with
Tencent as their official game publisher within the Indian
subcontinent.13

As per Sensor Tower, PUBG mobile app revenue for Q1 of the

current year closed with $709 million. By June 2020, PUBG
had been downloaded 730 million times.14

For PUBG Mobile’s ESports Global Championships 2021,

Oppo Mobiles will be the official smartphone partner for the
second time since 2019. Focusing on the Middle East and
Africa, with an impressive growth rate of 25% in online
gaming, Oppo Reno 5 and 5F, which have been fine-tuned for
a smooth gaming experience, will be the chosen models.15

PUBG made $2.7 billion in 2020 according to Sensor Tower

and this excluded any revenue from third party Android app
stores. Since the inception of the game, January 2021 saw
players spending $259 million, recording their third biggest
month ever.16
KraftonInc will be joining hands with Microsoft Azure for its
cloud computing services for PC, mobile and console
gameplay products, and also enlisting their services for
maintaining stringent data privacy and security.17
PUBG Lite, a low-end version of the game for smartphones
with lesser RAM, officially shut down in April 2021 all over the
world.18

Innovations

PUBG’s annual PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020 took

place in January 2021 with 16 international teams on board
competing for 4 days for a prize money of $1.2 million.
Though the mobile game is banned in India, Indians could
watch the live streaming on Facebook, YouTube, PUBG Mobile
Esports and Twitch channel. For the 2021 championships, the
prize money has been upped to a whopping $6 million.19

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 187

188 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Subway Surfers is an individually played, casual arcade
game developed by Sybo, who created the storyline, the
design, layout, characters, and everything visual; Kiloo
developed the interface and the backend of the game, and Founded
the two split the revenue in half as it came.5 The seemingly May 20121
never-ending theme of the game is based on a central
Developed by
character—a skateboard surfer—in a train subway, escap-
Kiloo and Sybo2
ing an angry guard and dog as the player dodges obstacles
and collects coins that can be used for boosts in the game.6 Headquarters
Denmark

Google Play Store Downloads

1 billion+3

Unique Users
11 million+ (April 2021)

Reach
2.4%

Average Minutes/visitor
35.7

Popularity Rankings
#6 Top Gaming App by MAU and #7
by Most Downloaded (App Annie)4
Revenue model
AVOD

Mode of Revenue
In app purchases

1
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/subway-surfers-first-game-in-history-to-run-past-one-billion-downloads-on-google-play-300614758.html
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kiloo.subwaysurf&hl=en_IN
3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kiloo.subwaysurf&hl=en_IN
4
(FICCI, 2021)
5
https://venturebeat.com/2013/03/06/subway-surfers-creator-explains-why-co-development-is-key-in-mobile-games/
6
https://sybogames.com/subway-surfers/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 189

Key Measures of the Platform
The simplicity of the ‘hypercasual’ game, Subway Surfers, makes it easy for both
men and women across almost all ages to enjoy the game and become part of
their key consumerbase.

Consumer Demographics for Subway Surfers (000)

Subway Surfers Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 1,860 15 - 24 1,267

25-34 2,209 25 - 34 1,526

35+ 1,819 35+ 2,437

All Males 5,888 All Females 5,230

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Subway Surfers (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

20000

16339

14742 14427
15000
13293 13216 13449
12054
11320 11274 11117
10564
9672
10000

5000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUVs are recorded in the month of April 2020, whereas the least
are in the month of February 2021.

190 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News

In October 2020, Subway Surfers saw 19.8 million downloads

in the world with 27% of these downloads coming from India.7
Earlier in January 2021, the world tour update took Subway
Surfer players on a ‘Journey to the East’.8 In the latest
development of destination in the game, players can choose
the characters of either Rin or Alexandre to run through the
streets of Paris.9
A deal struck between Sybo Games and OneTeam, brand
accelerators for NFL Players Association, brought in 6 NFL
Players as Subway Surfer characters complete with likeness,
jerseys, and names in the setting of an American football
event. The update was made available for 6 weeks from
September 2020 onwards.10
Subway Surfers ended 2020 recording 227 million
downloads11 and pushing their lifetime download numbers
beyond 3 billion.12 As per Sensor Tower’s Mobile Game
Taxonomy Report, hypercasual games took up 31% of app
installs in 2020, with Subway Surfers being an integral
contributor.13
Post Sybo Games’ successful debut in the U.S. and Canada
with the lifestyle brand, Subsurf, which has struck a new
licensing deal with Sakar International,14 a range of wheeled
goods and protective gear with Subway Surfer branding will
be entering European markets and will also be distributed
through channels in North Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and
the Middle East.15

7
https://entrackr.com/2020/11/india-dominates-global-downloads-for-gaming-apps-in-october/
8
https://twitter.com/sybogames/status/1354089252716490754
9
https://subwaysurfers.com/
10
https://www.licenseglobal.com/festival-licensing/nfl-stars-take-run-subway-surfers
11
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/among-us-was-most-downloaded-mobile-game-in-2020/article33549334.ece
12
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/74170/subway-surfers-three-billion-downloads/
13
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/other-gadgets/hypercasual-games-most-popular-mobile-gaming-genre-in-2020-report/article33994965.ece
14
https://www.anbmedia.com/news/licensing-news/2021/07/subway-surfers-expands-worldwide-rights-to-sakar/
15
https://www.toynews-online.biz/2021/07/12/subway-surfers-scooters-skateboards-and-hoverboards-to-roll-into-europe-through-sakar-international/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 191

192 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
The game is set in a fantasy-themed persistent world where
the player is the chief of a village. Clash of Clans tasks
players with building their own village using the resources
gained from attacking other players through the game's Founded
fighting features. The main resources are gold, elixir, and 2012 (iOS) 2013 (Android)
dark elixir. Players can conjoin to create clans, groups of up
Owned by
to fifty people, who can then participate in Clan Wars
Supercell
together, donate, and receive troops, and chat with each
other. Headquarters
Helsinki, Finland

Google Play Store Downloads

500 million+

Unique Users
9.5 Million + (April 2021)

Reach
2% (April 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
264.8 minutes (April 2021)

Popularity Rankings
#5 in Top 10 gaming apps
by revenue (App Annie)

Content Delivery Network

Amazon Web Services

Revenue model
Freemium

Mode of Revenue
In-App Purchases

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 193

Key Measures In News
The platform has more male users than the female users. This game mostly targets
the male users thus, they occupy the maximum pie. In case of male users the Clash of Clans stands at the top 5th
maximum users fall in the age group of 15-24 years whereas in maximum female position based on consumer spends
users are more than 35 years of age. according to App Annie. In 2020 alone,
Clash of Clans made more than $483.3
million through consumers making
Consumer Demographics for Clash of Clans (000) in-app purchases.1

Clash of Clans Audience March 2021 The creators of Clash of Clans were
sued for the infringement of 4 patents
Males, TUV Females, TUV by a rival gaming company, GreeInc,
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
and were penalised for $8.5 million.2
15-24 4,477 15 - 24 628
An online gaming tournament was
25-34 2,256 25 - 34 540 organized by Skyesports, a
35+ 698 35+ 903 Chennai-based esports company,
spanning over 6 months in 2020 with a
All Males 7,430 All Females 2,071 total prize money of Rs. 8 lakh. The
tournament was for mainstream
Source: ComScore
mobile esports titles like Clash of Clans
and Brawlstars.3
The event was livestreamed over
Total Unique Visitors Clash of Clans (000)
Skyesports’ YouTube channel, with
Between April 2020 and March 2021
major teams supporting Clash of
Mobile App Clans.4

15000 Clash of Clans has their own World

13487 Championships, which invites gamers
14032
from across the world to play against
12000
each other for a whopping prize money
12359
of $1,000,000.5
11337 11368
9803
10396
Airtel paired up with Nodwin Gaming to
9501
9000
8306 promote Airtel India Esports Tour,
8682
8433 covering games like PubG, Clash of
7458 Clans, Fifa etc.6
6000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21 Innovations
Source: ComScore
Supercell, the company behind
mega-hit mobile game, Clash of Clans,
released a short animation named Lost
The highest TUVs are recorded in the month of December 2020, whereas the least
and Crowned, with detailed 3D
TUVs are recorded in the month of May 2020.
graphics so as to expand their game’s
universe in a fictional setup.7

1
https://www.statista.com/statistics/557510/clash-of-clans-and-clash-royale-sales-revenue/
2
https://www.reuters.com/article/ip-patent-gaming-idUSL1N2GF2AX
3
https://thebridge.in/esports/esports-indias-skyesports-gaming-host-6-months-clash-of-clans-and-brawlstarsrs/
4
https://thebridge.in/esports/esports-indias-skyesports-gaming-host-6-months-clash-of-clans-and-brawlstarsrs/
5
https://clashofclans.com/blog/news/clash-of-clans-world-championship-2020.html
6
https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/airtels-new-e-sports-platform-to-cover-gaming-titles-of-pubg-mobile-csgo-clash-of-clans-fifa-among-others
7
https://www.slashgear.com/clash-of-clans-gets-official-story-expansion-with-lost-crowned-short-13637836/

194 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 195
196 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Doodle Army 2, popularly known as Mini Militia, is a fun and
addictive shooter game created in a 2-dimensional comic
format. The multiplayer action game takes place in a jungle
with hidden enemies and provides the gamer with a multi- Founded
tude of weapon options and jetpack boots to swiftly move April 20111
around and survive.5
Developed by
Appsomniacs LLC2
Features Publisher
- Single and multiplayer (local and online) modes Miniclip.com3
- 20 world maps to explore and survive with friends locally
Headquarters
or strangers around the world alike
Pacific Northwest, U.S.A.4
- Train offline in the survival mode with the Sarge
- In-app purchases for boosting health, online ammunition Google Play Store Downloads
or accuracy 100 million+
- Rocket boots to propel you upwards for a prolonged time
Unique Users
- Enhanced sound effects and animations for blood 4.8+ million (April 2020)
splatter, bullets, grenades, and weapons like AK47,
Desert Eagle, Machetes etc.6 Reach
1.0% (April 2020)
With the ban on Chinese apps including PubG, Doodle Average Minutes/visitor
Army 2: Mini Militia gained prominence for its similar 83.9 (April 2020)
shoot-and-kill theme with single and multiplayer options7
Revenue model
while the smaller installation size aids in a lag-free experi-
AVOD, Freemium
ence even on lower midrange smartphones.8
Mode of Revenue
In app purchases

1
https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/which-country-made-mini-militia-tracing-game-s-origin
2
https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/which-country-made-mini-militia-tracing-game-s-origin
3
https://sensortower.com/android/US/miniclip-com/app/mini-militia-doodle-army-2/com.appsomniacs.da2/overview
4
http://www.appsomniacs.com/Home/About
5
https://www.miniclip.com/games/mini-militia/en/
6
http://www.appsomniacs.com/games/DoodleArmy2
7
https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-auto/tech-news/top-pubg-mobile-alternatives-you-can-play-on-android-and-ios#read-more
8
https://www.minimilitia.mobi/download-mini-militia-v7-87/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 197

Key Measures of the Platform
Young adults between the ages 15 and 24 dominate the key consumer base for
Doodle Army 2, while female gamers of ages 25 to 34 appear to play the game
the most.

Consumer Demographics for Doodle Army 2 (000)

Doodle Army 2 Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 2,634 15 - 24 107

25-34 1,067 25 - 34 295

35+ 637 35+ 121

All Males 4,339 All Females 522

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Doodle Army 2 (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

8000

7368

7000

6136 6224
5929 5901
6000
5549

5000 4861
4613 4693
4441
4167
4048
4000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUVs are recorded in the month of April 2020, whereas the least
are in the month of October 2020.

198 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 199
200 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
The digitized version of the well known board game, Ludo

SNIPPETS
King is a well-tuned game providing clear and precise
instructions even to newbies. It was while playing a game of
Snakes and Ladders on his phone that Vikash Jaiswal, the
developer of the game, got the idea of taking Ludo King Launched
online.5 The simple idea and the effective first-mover 2016
advantage6 resulted in Ludo King being named the ‘Best
Owned by
Casual’ game of 2018.7 The game invites users to play
Gametion Technologies Pvt Ltd
single-handedly against the computer as well as locally with
friends or with strangers online. Ludo King keeps the user Headquarters
interface as close as possible to the commonly found board Mumbai, India
game. Players tap the screen to roll the dice. And the Google Play Store Downloads
winner is the player who brings their coins “home” after 500 Million+1
strategizing to move their coins as fast as possible across
the ‘board’.8 Unique Users
33 million + (April 2021)

Reach
7.2%

Average Minutes/visitor
80.4

Monthly Active Users

140 million2

Popularity Rankings
#1Top Gaming App by MAU and
Most downloaded, 2020 (App Annie)3
Content Delivery Network
AWS4
Revenue model
Free

Mode of Revenue
In app purchases

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ludo.king&hl=en_IN
2
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/business/ludo-king-eyes-5-10x-jump-in-in-app-transactions-this-year-195565
3
(FICCI, 2021)
4
https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/gametion/
5
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/features/ludo-king-creator-vikash-jaiswal-total-users-downloads-india-success-2232634
6
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/features/ludo-king-creator-vikash-jaiswal-total-users-downloads-india-success-2232634
7
https://yourstory.com/2020/05/app-ludo-king-sensational-rise-casual-board-games-lockdown?utm_pageloadtype=scroll
8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ludo.king

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 201

Key Measures Innovations

The developers introduced a ‘mask

Total Unique Visitors Ludo king (000) mode’ in the game, which mimicked
Between April 2020 and March 2021 the current global situation—if the
player’s pawn crosses a position where
Desktop Mobile App the virus is present, the pawn gets
‘infected’ and sent to quarantine.19
120000
Another hit in-app purchase update to
100000 109247 keep users engaged was the voice chat
feature, where you could talk to your
93816
80000 friends during the game and send
Ludo King festival-themed e-greeting
71286
60000
60146
cards.
51155 Ludo King is planning on upgrading
40000
43884 their in-app features and gameplay to
34132 33646
20000
30801
27801 26425
engage new user base and adding a
105 0 0 0 0 0 0
Quick Play feature that lets you finish a
92 0 0 0 0
0
game in 5 minutes.20
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21
Ludo King also added an online
Source: ComScore
multiplayer version for up to 5-6
players where the entire family can
participate.21
Bloomberg Intelligence’s technology equity research analyst Matthew Kanterman
feels that with the ease of the lockdown restrictions and people’s choice of screen
time getting divided between streaming, gaming, and communication, Ludo King’s
app traffic may no longer hold the same influence it did earlier.9 The app is most
frequented by men and women between 18 and 34 years of age, who make up
70% of the total visitor traffic.10

Ludo King’s interface is available in 14 languages and is prevalent among 30

countries,11 with USA and Brazil being among the top users after India.

In News

Ludo King garnered $20 million last year12 when it became a hit go-to game for
people during the lockdown, and the developers, Gametion, ranked first among
the Top 10 India Headquartered Games Publishers.13 It was the first app developed
in India that crossed 500 million downloads.14
With their Daily Active Users count clocking in at 32 million,15 Ludo King saw a
growth of 400% in 2020.16
The app recorded 320 million gameplays last year and is expecting a 5-10x growth
through in-app transactions with the help of its new features.17
As per Ormax Brand Trust Survey 2021, Ludo King is the second most trusted
brand name (65%) after YouTube amongst 6 to 14-year-old consumers.18

9
https://theprint.in/features/ludo-may-no-longer-be-king-in-a-post-lockdown-india/447757/
10
https://www.afaqs.com/news/mktg/ludo-king-grew-400-in-2020-vikash-jaiswal-gametion-technologies
11
https://www.animationxpress.com/games/ludo-king-adds-two-new-features-quick-ludo-and-five-to-six-player-modes/
12
https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/ludo-king-s-parent-company-clocks-20-million-in-revenue-in-2020-11610112124290.html
13
https://blog.gametion.com/2021/02/gametion-ranks-on-the-1st-position-in-the-top-10-india-headquartered-games-publishers/
14
https://yourstory.com/2020/12/online-gaming-2020-ludo-king-pubg-ban-growth-funding/amp
15
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/ludo-king-surpasses-500-million-downloads-worldwide-adds-new-features/article33535620.ece
16
https://www.afaqs.com/news/mktg/ludo-king-grew-400-in-2020-vikash-jaiswal-gametion-technologies
17
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/business/ludo-king-eyes-5-10x-jump-in-in-app-transactions-this-year-195565
18
https://www.exchange4media.com/marketing-news/youtube-ludo-king-are-most-trusted-media-brands-among-indian-kids-ormax-survey-2021-110835.html
19
https://blog.gametion.com/2020/10/ludo-king-brings-mask-mode-to-educate-masses-on-health-safety-while-entertaining-them/
20
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/business/ludo-king-eyes-5-10x-jump-in-in-app-transactions-this-year-195565
21
https://www.animationxpress.com/games/ludo-king-adds-two-new-features-quick-ludo-and-five-to-six-player-modes/

202 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 203
204 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Clash Royale released by Supercell is a multiplayer strate-
gy-based game featuring characters from the original Clash
of Clans.2 The genre of the game involves card trading,
battle arena, and tower defense.3 Two or more players in a Founded
tower rush-themed game compete against each other to March 20161
destroy the opponent’s tower.4 The game was a success in
Owned by
the very first year, generating a revenue of $1 billion. 5
Supercell

Headquarters
Helsinki, Finland

Google Play Store Downloads

1 billion+

Unique Users
2.3 Million + (April 2021)

Reach
0.5% (April 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
107.6 minutes (April 2021)

Content Delivery Network

Amazon Web Services

Revenue Model
Freemium

Mode of revenue
In-App Purchases

1
https://thesportsrush.com/when-was-clash-royale-released-a-rich-history/
2
https://clashroyale.com/blog/news/about-the-game
3
https://www.pocketgamer.com/articles/068993/supercells-mix-of-tcg-and-moba-clash-royale-set-for-global-release-in-march/
4
https://web.archive.org/web/20180813072842/https://toucharcade.com/2016/03/02/clash-royale-review/
5
https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/15/supercells-clash-royale-reaps-1-billion-in-its-first-year/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 205

Key Measures Reliance’s Jio Games teamed up with
Clash Royale seems to have very low engagement from females across all age Supercell to host a 27-day esports
groups as compared to men. Male users above the age of 35 are the most tournament for Clash Royale with the
frequent users of the app. winner gaining the 'India Ka Gaming
Champion' title.9

Clash Royale has crossed $3 billion in

Consumer Demographics for Clash Royale (000)
lifetime revenue as per Sensor Tower.10
Clash Royale Audience March 2021
A patent infringement lawsuit filed by
Males, TUV Females, TUV Japanese firm Gree cost Supercell $92
Age Group (000) Age Group (000) million after the latter lost due to the
usage of patent-protected technology
15-24 570
in Clash Royale and Clash of Clans.11
25-34 466 25 - 34 50

35+ 961 35+ 331

All Males 1,996 All Females 381

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Clash Royale (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

3500
3409

3000 3028
2982
2829 2826
2777

2500 2589

2376 2378
2256

2000
1843

1640

1500
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Clash Royale sees the highest TUVs in the April 2020. Surprisingly, in the duration
of two months in June 2020 the TUVs fall to the least number.

In News

In 2020, Clash Royale made $209 million in in-app purchases.6

Paytm First Games announced their entry into esports in 2020 with the first Clash
Royale tournament spanning over 3 days and prizes worth Rs. 4 lakh.7

YouTube Gaming announced a day-long tournament called ‘Celebration of Mobile

Gaming’ that included Clash Royale for a prize money of $50,000 that could be
donated to a charity of choice.8

6
https://www.statista.com/statistics/557510/clash-of-clans-and-clash-royale-sales-revenue/
7
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/sports/paytm-first-games-teams-up-with-supercell-to-launch-clash-royale-in-india/article31286915.ece
8
https://dotesports.com/mobile/news/youtube-gaming-unveils-mobile-gaming-tournament-with-50000-prize-pool
9
https://www.news18.com/news/tech/reliance-jio-partners-with-supercell-for-india-ka-gaming-champion-clash-royale-tournament-3120563.html
10
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/interview/75689/how-supercell-continues-to-grow-multi-billion-dollar-hit-clash-royale-five-years-on/
11
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-05-10-supercell-ordered-to-pay-gree-usd92m-in-lawsuit

206 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 207
208 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Coin Master is a single-player, casual strategy game, where
a player has to build his Viking village as well as raid and
attack other villages and coin masters and loot coins.
Players also spin slot machines to earn coins that help build Launched
and upgrade their village. November 20101
Owned by
Moon Active2
Headquarters
Tel Aviv, Israel3

Google Play Store Downloads

100 Million+4
Unique Users
1.7 Million + (April 2021)

Reach
0.4% (April 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
99.8 minutes (April 2021)

Popularity Rankings
#3 in Top 10 gaming apps by revenue and
#3 by Consumer spends in India (App Annie)
Revenue Model
Freemium

Mode of revenue
In-app Purchases

1
https://sensortower.com/ios/us/moon-active/app/coin-master/406889139/overview
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moonactive.coinmaster&hl=en_IN&gl=US
3
https://il.linkedin.com/company/moon-active
4
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moonactive.coinmaster&hl=en_IN&gl=US

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 209

Key Measures Innovations
The key consumers of Coin Master are men above the age of 25 years while
young women between ages 15-24 years have shown the most activity on the During the pandemic, the company
app. behind Coin Master had an active
presence on social media, and ran ads,
gameplay videos, etc, on multiple
platforms, including YouTube that
Consumer Demographics for Coin Master (000)
pushed game adoption in the US.10
Coin Master Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 232 15-24 455

25-34 497 25 - 34 176

35+ 404 35+

All Males 1,133 All Females 631

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Coin Master (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

3500

3102
3000
3025

2500
2473

2137 2186
2000 2136

1785 1764
1653
1500 1577

1251 1227
1000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

In News

Coin Master was installed 30.7 million times in India and crossed lifetime revenue
of $4 billion worldwide.5

Israeli gaming company Moon Active Ltd., which developed Coin Master, acquired
gaming company Melsoft that developed successful games like My Café and Family
Island.6

In a report on iOS games by Finbold, Coin Master ranks among the top five apps
generating a daily revenue of $1.80 million.7

In 2020, 53.3% of Coin Master’s revenue was generated by USA.8

Though Coin Master isn’t traditionally a casino game, as per App Annie’s data on
Top 10 Casino games by consumer spend, Coin Master holds the first rank owing
to its hybrid wheel spin feature.9
5
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/75879/coin-master-is-a-winner-with-2-billion-in-lifetime-revenue/
6
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3883530,00.html
7
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/top-10-games-on-ios-make-over-13-million-each-day-report/articleshow/76522424.cms
8
https://venturebeat.com/2020/12/17/what-5-billion-dollar-games-tell-us-about-mobile-in-2020/
9
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/data-and-research/75695/app-annie-coin-master-reigns-supreme-casino-mobile-gaming/
10
https://venturebeat.com/2020/12/17/what-5-billion-dollar-games-tell-us-about-mobile-in-2020/

210 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 211
212 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
WhatsApp (WhatsApp is a pun on the phrase ‘What's Up’) to
stay in touch with friends and family, anytime and
anywhere. WhatsApp is free (Data charges may apply) and
offers simple, secure, reliable messaging and calling, and is Launched1
available on phones all over the world.9 2010 (in India)2

Owned by
Jan Koum and Brian Acton,
later joined Facebook3

Headquarters
California, USA4
Google Play Store Downloads
5B+5
Unique Users
403M+ (March 2021)

Reach
86.1% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
534.5 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

422M6

Revenue Model
Free7
Content Delivery Network
Akamai8
Mode of Revenue
Free

1
The data is only India-centric
2
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/whatsapp-may-soon-touch-500-million-users-in-india-despite-new-privacy-policy-claims-report-1758344-2021-01-12
3
https://www.whatsapp.com/about/
4
https://www.whatsapp.com/contact/
5
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp&hl=en_IN&gl=US
6
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/whatsapp-may-soon-touch-500-million-users-in-india-despite-new-privacy-policy-claims-report-1758344-2021-01-12
7
https://www.whatsapp.com/about/
8
http://dl.ifip.org/db/conf/networking/networking2015/1570062089.pdf
9
https://www.whatsapp.com/about/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 213

 Key Measures
Male users on WhatsApp are 1.5 times higher than female users. Among male
and female users, the age group of 35+ years constitutes the highest chunk,
with 37% male users and 40% female users respectively.

Consumer Demographics for WhatsApp (000)

WhatsApp Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 77,880 15 - 24 51,751

25-34 75,220 25 - 34 45,271

35+ 88,028 35+ 64,889

All Males 241,129 All Females 161,912

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors WhatsApp (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop Mobile App

500000

409741 409248 403951 403040

400000
355429 357817 359578 357423 356886 350825 350701 349589

300000

200000

88702 89701
100000 75874 81465 76030 77323 82386 77805
64978 66959 66056 67816

0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The users show an upward trend between April 2020 and March 2021. The highest
users are registered in the month of December 2020, whereas among the desktop
users, the highest are in August 2020.

App Availability
With more than 2 billion users across 180 countries, WhatsApp is the most
popular messaging app in the world and the messaging market leader in all but
25 of the world's countries—outperforming competitors Facebook Messenger
and WeChat.10

10
https://www.conversocial.com/blog/what-countries-are-the-biggest-whatsapp-users

214 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News

• WhatsApp saw a 40% increase in usage at the height of

the coronavirus pandemic.11

• WhatsApp published a new FAQ page on its website

outlining its stance on user privacy in response to
widespread backlash over an upcoming privacy policy
update.12

• Whatsapp announced that any message that has been

forwarded five or more times will now face a new limit
that will prevent a user from forwarding it to more than
one chat (contact) at a time.13

• Whatsapp group call limit was increased—it now

supports up to 8 people.14

• Whatsapp launched a new feature, which lets users post

ephemeral messages that disappear after seven days.15

• Whatsapp added voice and video call feature to desktop

app.16

Innovations

WhatsApp was the most commonly used medium by schools

to send learning materials during lockdown, followed by
phone calls and visits, shows survey. The Annual Status of
Education Report (ASER) 2020 Rural, facilitated by
education-focussed non-governmental organisation
Pratham, showed that this was true for both government
schools and private schools.17

11
https://www.indiatvnews.com/technology/news-whatsapp-usage-surges-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-602266
12
https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/12/22226792/whatsapp-privacy-policy-response-signal-telegram-controversy-clarification
13
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/07/whatsapp-rolls-out-new-lim
it-on-message-forwards/?guccounter=1&guce_refer
rer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH
fJrPJxodu20oGbyVJ0gTARXCQpb5-K2RAL0UMQw9p-ni3zdvIwNlwQrTSpYN
BZVVweXyz_QtUiZHhnVIDfhZ_tPNaeuiW0BAxxh08HEM-3urQERFsFS5VVfPcuzUWOxGtk3ViFfVpjP5HAdn3NXmbyAFBn0XoezuarZirQUKAc
14
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/whatsapp-group-call-limit-increased-8-people-rollout-begins-next-week-2218040
15
https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/whatsapp-now-lets-you-post-disappearing-messages-which-go-away-after-7-days/
16
https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/04/whatsapp-rolls-out-voice-and-video-call-support-to-desktop-app/
17
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/whatsapp-was-most-com
monly-used-medium-by-schools-to-send-learning-materials-during-lockdown-shows-survey-6030471.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 215

216 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
The world's most popular social networking website,
Facebook enables users to connect with friends and family
by sharing status updates, personal photos and other
items of interest.5 Launched
2006 (India)

Owned by
Mark Zuckerberg

Headquarters
California, USA1

Google Play Store Downloads

5B+2
Unique Users
340M (March 2021)

Reach
72.8% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
359.2 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

325M3

Revenue Model
Free

Content Delivery Network

Facebook Content Distribution
Network (FBCDN)4

1
https://headquartersoffice.com/facebook/
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.katana&hl=en_IN&gl=US
3
https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/11/youtube-and-whatsapp-inch-closer-to-half-a-billion-users-in-india/
4
https://research.fb.com/blog/2016/04/the-evolution-of-advanced-caching-in-the-facebook-cdn/
5
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/description-facebook-63730.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 217

Key Measures
The male users outnumber the female users by 65%. The age group of 35+ has
highest number of users on Facebook. The age group of 15-24 and 35+ makes
up the majority of Facebook users, in both male and female categories.

Consumer Demographics for Facebook (000)

Facebook Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

6-14 755 6-14 225

15-24 71,607 15-24 41,502

25-34 66,445 25 - 34 36,626

35+ 73,471 35+ 50,022

All Males 212,278 All Females 128,374

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Facebook (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App Desktop

400000

354079
348368
350000 339715 340652
332407 333175 330025
325256 323679
308744 306007 303732
300000

250000
233585 233687 228719 229761

203637 202670 203274

197962 203710 200241 203350 198356
200000

150000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs on both desktop and mobile app are highest in the month of January
2021. Though there are no major fluctuations, the TUVs have risen by only 4% from
April 2020 to January 2021.

App Availability
It is the leading social network in 153 out of 167 countries analyzed (92% of the
planet).6

6
https://vincos.it/world-map-of-social-networks/

218 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages • Messenger Kids by Facebook made its debut in India.
Facebook is a biggest platform for user-generated content. Designed specifically for kids under 13, the messaging
It offers content in almost all languages. app was originally launched in the US back in December
2017.13
In the News
• Facebook launched ‘Lock Profile’ feature in India to hide
• In April 2020, social media giant Facebook invested $5.7 posts from non-friends. Locking your profile enables you
billion for a 9.99 per cent stake in the RIL-owned mobile to apply multiple existing privacy settings plus several
telecom company. The deal, which made Facebook the new features to your Facebook profile.14
largest minority shareholder in Jio, comes after the
Centre cleared WhatsApp's digital payment service, • In June 2020, Facebook announced a global licensing
which will compete with the likes of Google Pay and deal with Saregama under which the Indian music
Paytm.7 company's entire catalogue will be available on the social
media platform and its video sharing app, Instagram.15
• Facebook announced a digital content partnership with
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) for the Indian
national cricket team’s tour of Australia. Kickstarted on
November 27, 2020, the partnership involved exclusive
video-on-demand match content being showcased on
Facebook Watch, across three ODIs, three T20Is, and
four Tests.8

• Following the lockdown, Facebook partnered with CBSE

to offer online programmes in its education push in
India. Facebook-CBSE partnership is led by Facebook for
Education, a global initiative by the social media giant to
build diverse learning communities.9

• Facebook plans to launch News in India and pay local

publishers for content. As part of this, Facebook will pay
local news publishers to make their "content" available
under 'Facebook News'—a product (and tab within
Facebook) aimed at helping news media drive better
monetisation.10

• Facebook announced new privacy and security features

to Messenger.11

• Facebook is greatly expanding its video chat offerings to

keep up with rising demand. Messenger Rooms are
Facebook’s answer to Zoom and Houseparty for the
pandemic.12

7
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/facebook-buys-9-99-per-cent-in-reliance-jio-facebook-jio-partnership-will-make-india-leading-digital-2215993
8
https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/facebook-and-sony-pictures-partner-to-bring-content-from-india-tour-of-australia-11606562277354.html
9
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/facebook-partners-with-cbse-to-offer-online-programmes-in-its-education-push-in-india-5510441.html
10
https://yourstory.com/2020/08/facebook-news-launch-india-pay-local-publishers-content/amp
11
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/facebook-announces-new-privacy-and-security-features-to-messenger/articleshow/77121259.cms
12
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/24/21233468/facebook-messenger-rooms-live-instagram-live-igtv-video-chat
13
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/facebook-messenger-kids-india-launch-chat-app-parental-controls-new-features-2216280
14
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/facebook-launches-lock-profile-feature-india-hide-posts-non-friends-125025
15
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/facebook-saregama-ink-global-licensing-deal-11591159125284.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 219

220 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Twitter is a 'microblogging' system that allows you to send
and receive short posts called tweets. Tweets can be up to
280 characters3 long and can include links to relevant
websites and resources. Twitter users follow other users. If Launched
you follow someone you can see their tweets in your 2006
Twitter 'timeline'.4
Owned by
Twitter

Headquarters
San Francisco, USA

Google Play Store Downloads

1B+1

Monthly Active Users

19M2
Revenue Model
Free

Content Delivery Network

Twitter Network

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twitter.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/twitter-clone-koo-endorsed-by-govt-trends-amid-standoff/articleshow/80788815.cms
3
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0280-3#:~:text=The%20doubling%20of%20the%20character,space%20to%20express%20their%20thoughts.
4
https://www.ukri.org/councils/esrc/impact-toolkit-for-economic-and-social-sciences/how-to-use-social-media/choosing-what-social-media-you-use/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 221

Twitter India Highlights5

Most Retweeted Tweet- Popular Tamil Actor Vijay posted the Most Liked Tweet-
picture. The tweet is simply a picture of the actor with fans in
the background. It received more than 1.6 lakh retweets. The tweet features a picture of Virat Kohli and Anushka
Sharma flaunting her baby bump. The tweet has received
more than 6.4lakh likes.

Most Tweeted Meme-

It was #Binod

5
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/viral-news/from-most-liked-to-most-retweeted-thishappened-on-twitter-in-the-year-2020/articleshow/79647423.cms

222 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

App Availability

Twitter is available everywhere across the globe, except

China, Iran, and North Korea.6

Languages
Twitter has redesigned its website to help users
personalise content in seven Indian languages, Hindi,
Gujarati, Marathi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada.7

In the News

• In July 2020, the government issued a notice to Twitter

over the hacking of the accounts of its high-profile users
and “any possible impact” of the breach in India. The
notice was sent by CERT-In, the country’s nodal cyber
security agency.8

• Twitter introduced fact-checks. This was done to check

the authenticity of COVID posts majorly.9

• Twitter expanded strategic partnership with Google

Cloud to improve data insights and enhance
productivity.10

• Twitter clone, Parler, becomes most-downloaded app in

a single day in the US.11

• Twitter rolls out Stories, aka ‘Fleets,’ to all users; will also
test a Clubhouse rival.12

• Twitter India has started using a new voice messaging

feature for direct messages (DMs) on the social media
platform. Users can now send voice DMs that are 140
seconds long at maximum. The test feature has been
made available for both Android and iOS users.
Currently, the new feature is being rolled out in select
few countries including India, Brazil, and Japan.13

6
https://blog.hidemyass.com/en/countries-block-twitter-no-longer-ban-twitter
7
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/rejigged-twitter-web-to-let-you-say-it-in-7-indian-languages/articleshow/70237806.cms
8
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/disclose-impact-of-global-hack-on-india-centre-tells-twitter/articleshow/77045140.cms
9
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-factcheck-idUSKBN2360U0
10
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/twitter-expands-strategic-partnership-with-google-cloud-to-improve-data-insights-and-enhance-productivity-301222704.html
11
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/twit
ter-clone-parler-becomes-most-downloaded-app-in-a-single-day-in-the-us-features-and-more/articleshow/79281915.cms
12
https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/17/twitter-rolls-out-stories-aka-fleets-to-all-users-will-also-test-a-clubhouse-rival/
13
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/twitter-testing-voice-dm-feature-india-how-to-send-7191940/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 223

224 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Instagram (from Facebook) allows the users to create and
share photos, stories, and videos with friends and followers
all over the world. Insta Reels offers a new way to create
and discover entertaining short videos. It also gives users Launched
on Instagram the option to watch, like, comment, and share October 20101
Reels videos in a dedicated space in Explore.
Owned by
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger (Founders)2
Facebook (2012)3

Headquarters
California, USA4
Google Play Store Downloads
1B+5
Unique Users
194M (March 2021)

Reach
41.5% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
465.1 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

165M6

Revenue Model
Free

Content Delivery Network

Cloudflare7

1
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102615/story-instagram-rise-1-photo0sharing-app.asp
2
https://www.instagram.com/about/us/
3
https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/mark-zuckerberg-bought-instagram-as-it-was-a-threat-to-facebook-120073000324_1.html
4
https://craft.co/instagram/locations
5
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instagram.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US
6
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/07/facebook-expands-insta
gram-reels-to-india/#:~:text=Instagram%20had%20about%20165%20million,industry%20executive%20shared%20with%20TechCrunch.
7
https://www.g2.com/categories/content-delivery-network-cdn

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 225

Key Measures
Male users on Instagram are 1.8 times higher than the female users. The age
group of 15-24 years constitutes more than 45% of the pie in both the genders.

Consumer Demographics for Instagram (000)

Instagram Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 55,208 15-24 33,918

25-34 37,014 25 - 34 21,587

35+ 26,503 35+ 19,881

All Males 118,726 All Females 75,386

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Instagram (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

200000 197459
193010 193572 194112

161992
159243 159276

150037
150000 147320
142936 143497 143780

100000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs show a constant upward trend in the mobile app users. The highest TUVs
are in the month of December 2020. The TUVs have increased 1.4 times in
comparison to April 2020.

App Availability
The app is available in 170 countries across the globe.8

8
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/10/22321394/instagram-relaunch-lite-app-release-update-reels-android

226 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Instagram launches reels to compete against Tiktok9

• In May 2020, Instagram introduced new features to

control cyberbullying.10

• Instagram announced in December 2020 that it is testing

'Instagram Lite' app, designed for Indian users. The
Instagram Lite app is less than 2MB in size, and is meant
for users with low internet connectivity.11

• Instagram has announced new features to offer teens a

safer environment on the social media platform. The new
safety features for teens will not let adults message
them.12

• Instagram partnered with Netflix on a new self-care

series for young adults. The new partnership will see the
stars of some of Netflix’s most popular programs among
young adult viewers talking about mental health and
self-care amid the pandemic.13

• Instagram partners with Swiggy, Zomato to help

restaurants with food order discovery. Under this
initiative, businesses can share Instagram’s food order
sticker on their stories and users can tap on them to
place their orders through the Swiggy and Zomato
websites.14

• Instagram partnered with Kareena Kapoor Khan to

support small businesses. This partnership is a part of
Instagram’s recent ‘Love Runs Deep’ campaign, that aims
to redefine the way brands can authentically tell their
stories while engaging with influencers.15

• Instagram will let influencers make money off ads on

IGTV content, following in the footsteps of YouTube's
revenue-sharing model.16

9
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/5/21354117/instagram-reels-tiktok-vine-short-videos-stories-explore-music-effects-filters
10
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/instagram-features-fight-cyberbullying-6407721/
11
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/instagram-tests-lite-in-india/article33344174.ece
12
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/instagram-announces-new-features-for-teens-to-offer-safer-environment-7232074/
13
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-is-partnering-with-netflix-on-a-new-self-care-series-for-young-ad/575756/
14
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/instagram-partners-swiggy-zomato-to-help-restaurants-with-food-order-discovery-11591256394516.html
15
https://www.financialexpress.com/brandwagon/instagram-partners-with-kareena-kapoor-khan-to-support-small-businesses/2122499/
16
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/insta
gram-will-let-influencers-make-money-off-ads-on-igtv-content-following-in-the-footsteps-of-youtubes-revenue-sharing-model/articleshow/76050059.cms

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 227

228 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
LinkedIn leads a diversified business with revenues from
membership subscriptions, advertising sales, and recruit-
ment solutions.7 LinkedIn is the most trusted network,
enabling users to instantly and easily build connections and Launched
find the right career opportunities. Users can find a job by 2009 (India)1
going through millions of business connections and oppor-
Owned by
tunities. It works on the rule of “Find jobs in India and
Microsoft (December 2016)2
around the world that are right for you, in any industry”.8
Headquarters
California, US

Google Play Store Downloads

500M+3

Unique Users
55M (March 2021)

Reach
11.8% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
30.2 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

62M+4

Revenue Model
Free; Premium ranging
from RS1400-RS1700/month5
Content Delivery Network
Edge SRE6
Mode of Revenue
Premium

1
https://news.linkedin.com/2011/06/linkedin-reaches-10-mil
lion-members-in-india#:~:text=LinkedIn%20started%20its%20India%20operations,leverage%20LinkedIn%20for%20career%20development.
2
https://about.linkedin.com/?trk=homepage-basic_directory_aboutUrl
3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linkedin.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US
4
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/linkedins-india-user-base-up-24-in-a-year-to-62-million/articleshow/72360947.cms
5
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/curious-case-linkedin-premi
um-somil-agrawal?articleId=6610438053108514816#:~:text=Each%20of%20them%20come%20with,1600%2D1700%2Fmonth!!
6
https://engineering.linkedin.com/blog/2018/01/enabling-dual-stack-on-linkedin-cdns
7
https://about.linkedin.com/?trk=homepage-basic_directory_aboutUrl
8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linkedin.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 229

Key Measures
Male users outnumber female users on LinkedIn by 1.6 times. In both the
genders the age group of 15-24 years has the highest number of users. The
reason behind this is in India, youngsters graduate at 20-21 years of age, and
being a job search and business connection app, LinkedIn is very useful to job
seekers in this age group.

Consumer Demographics for LinkedIn

LinkedIn Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

6-14 116 6-14 52

15-24 13,464 15-24 8,288

25-34 11,374 25 - 34 5,096

35+ 9,692 35+ 7,148

All Males 34,645 All Females 20,584

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors LinkedIn (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App Desktop

100000 98141
91041 89615 90292
87457

80000

60000 54127 53585 55229

50486
47564
44218 45083

40000
29675 28881 28581 30020
23374 23480 21686
17702 17749 19054 19616 18253
20000

0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn sees a downward trend in the
desktop users, whereas there is an upward growth in mobile app users. Desktop
users in the month of August 2020 are the highest, as appraisal season gets over
in July, and therefore a lot of people start their job search in August. In the case of
the mobile app, there has been an almost 69% increase in the number of users.

App Availability
LinkedIn is available in 200 countries worldwide. The US tops the list of LinkedIn
users, followed by India.9

9
https://www.socialtalent.com/blog/recruitment/number-linkedin-members-country

230 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages
The app doesn’t have Indian languages.

In the News

• LinkedIn joins the race to launch a Clubhouse rival. The

social network for professionals has confirmed that it is
working on ‘bringing audio’ to other parts of LinkedIn as
it races to launch its rival version of Clubhouse.10

• In July 2020, LinkedIn planned to cut about 960 jobs

worldwide after being hit by firms recruiting fewer staff
amid the Covid-19 pandemic.11

• LinkedIn launched ‘Stories’ feature in India in October

2020. The feature lets users share their everyday
professional moments on their profile for 24 hours.12

• In September 2020, NSDC partnered with LinkedIn to

offer free ‘future-ready’ online courses to Indian youth.
With an aim to enable a future-ready digital workforce,
the collaboration will offer free learning resources
aligned with 10 in-demand jobs identified using data
from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph.13

10
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/linkedin-joins-the-race-to-launch-a-clubhouse-rival/articleshow/81776619.cms
11
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53484764
12
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/linkedin-launches-stories-feature-in-india/article32780728.ece
13
https://indianexpress.com/article/education/nsdc-partners-with-linkedin-to-offer-free-future-ready-online-courses-to-indian-youth-6587716/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 231

232 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging
app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat
Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that
pictures and messages are usually only available for a short Launched
time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. 20111
The app has evolved from originally focusing on
Owned by
person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring
Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy,
users' ‘Stories’ of 24 hours of chronological content, along and Reggie Brown2
with ‘Discover’, letting brands show ad-supported
short-form content. It also allows users to keep photos in Headquarters
the "my eyes only," which lets them keep their photos in a Santa Monica, California, USA
password-protected space. It has also reportedly incorpo- Google Play Store Downloads
rated limited use of end-to-end encryption, with plans to 1B+3
broaden its use in the future.
Unique Users
85M+ (March 2021)

Reach
18.2% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
60.4 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

60M4

Revenue Model
Free5
Content Delivery Network
Amazon Web Services (AWS)6

1
https://zeenews.india.com/technology/snapchat-crosses-60-million-users-milestone-in-india-2342068.html
2
https://zeenews.india.com/technology/snapchat-crosses-60-million-users-milestone-in-india-2342068.html
3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snapchat.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US
4
https://zeenews.india.com/technology/snapchat-crosses-60-million-users-milestone-in-india-2342068.html
5
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-snapchat
6
https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/snap-reinvent/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 233

Key Measures
There is a meagre difference in the male users and female users, though male
users are higher in number. As the app is used by the younger generation the
most, the majority of users fall in the age group of 15-24 years.

Consumer Demographics for Snapchat (000)

Snapchat Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 22,921 15-24 21,330

25-34 10,508 25 - 34 9,102

35+ 10,065 35+ 11,195

All Males 43,494 All Females 41,627

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Snapchat (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

100000

83340 85121
80978 82544
80000

63470
60461
60000 55491

48130 48671

40385 42686
38448
40000

20000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs of the Mobile App show a constant upward trend between April 2020
and March 2021. The TUVs have increased more than two times—the highest
TUVs were in the month of March 2021.

App Availability
Snapchat is available across the world except in Middle Eastern countries that
have blocked Voice over Internet Protocol services (VoIP) and messaging
apps/websites after a concern was raised that these media will eat into the
profits of the countries’ telecom companies.7

7
https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2018/10/popular-social-media-sites-that-were-or-are-blocked-in-other-countries.html

234 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages
Snapchat currently supports Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and
Punjabi languages on its photo-sharing app.8

In the News

• In November 2020, Snapchat launched Spotlight to take

on Instagram Reels, TikTok. Spotlight is not a standalone
app like TikTok; it is available on the Snapchat app, just
like Instagram Reels.9

• Snapchat added new AR features to camera in April

2019, launched Snap Games, and allowed users to post
Stories directly to other apps. Snapchat announced
some new features with a revamped AR camera, games
on the platform with Snap Games and integration with
other third-party apps at its first ‘Snap Partner Summit.10

• Snap Inc. plans to extend its India localization strategy so

as to grow its base in several other countries. The social
media company is doubling down on the Indian market
by rolling out localized versions of its offerings. This
includes rebuilding of Snapchat's Android app with
support for nine Indian languages and an India-specific
version of its content discovery platform, Discover, that
now has over 85 local channels.11

• Snapchat is 'altering people's perception of beauty

worldwide' and has the potential to trigger body
dysmorphic disorder, says JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, a
bimonthly medical journal published by the American
Medical Association.12

• At Snap Partner Summit 2020, Snapchat brought a host

of new features for its users and also developers out
there. The social media platform got a new Camera Kit,
Snap Minis, Happening Now, Scan, Local Lenses, Action
Bar, Story Replies, well-being features and more. Most of
these features are available for the users in the US and
will come to other markets soon. It also brought some
new features for gamers, such as Bitmoji for Games, and
also released Snap Originals.13

• In May 2018, Snapchat set up its first sales and support

team in India in partnership with ad tech firm Tyroo, a
Smile Group company.14

• In June 2020, Snapchat unveiled its AR glasses named

Spectacles.15

10
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/snapchat-adds-new-ar-features-to-camera-launches-snap-games-and-takes-stories-to-other-apps-5657993/
11
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/snapchat-india-snap-plans-to-take-its-india-localisation-strategy-to-the-world/articleshow/81188086.cms
12
https://www.livemint.com/Technology/XoASF4Et0ruFDMKEWZnyFM/Snapchat-filters-trigger-craze-for-plastic-surgery-among-17.html
13
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/snapchat-new-upcoming-features-6456536/
14
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/snapchat-in-pact-with-tyroo-for-sales-support-in-india/article24026657.ece
15
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/snapchats-ar-glasses-to-come-to-india-this-week/articleshow/76689505.cms

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 235

236 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and
security. It is superfast, simple, and free. Unlike WhatsApp,
Telegram is a cloud-based messenger with seamless sync.
Telegram can be used on all devices at the same time—the Launched
messages sync seamlessly across any number of your August 20131
phones, tablets, or computers.7
Owned by
Pavel and Nikolai Durov2
Telegram is one of the 10 most downloaded apps in the
world. Headquarters
Dubai3

Google Play Store Downloads

500M+4
Unique Users
166M (March 2021)

Reach
35.7% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
97.5 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

500M5

Revenue Model
Free6

1
https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/is-telegram-safe-to-use-know-all-about-the-instant-messaging-app-1828149-2021-07-14
2
https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/is-telegram-safe-to-use-know-all-about-the-instant-messaging-app-1828149-2021-07-14
3
https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-is-telegram-what-do-i-do-here
4
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.telegram.messenger&hl=en_IN&gl=US
5
https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-is-telegram-what-do-i-do-here
6
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/how-to/what-is-tele
gram-a-quick-guide-to-the-fast-and-secure-messaging-plat
form/articleshow/81673955.cms#:~:text=Tele
gram%20is%20a%20popular%20cross,for%20large%20group%20
chat%20features.&text=Telegram%20was%20founded%20by%20Russian,service%20is%20free%20to%20use.
7
https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-is-telegram-what-do-i-do-here

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 237

Key Measures
The male users outnumbers female users by almost two times. In the male
users, the age group of 15-24 years has the highest users, which is 40% of the
total male users, whereas in the female users, the age group of 15-24 years has
the highest users numbering almost 42% of the total users.

Consumer Demographics for Telegram (000)

Telegram Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 43,971 15-24 23,726

25-34 37,052 25 - 34 17,498

35+ 28,986 35+ 15,653

All Males 110,009 All Females 56,877

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Telegram (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

200000

166886
164852 163146
157559

150000

133350 133584
129104

117714 116103
114801
111896
103286
100000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The TUVs have constantly increased between March 2020 and April 2021. Users
have increased almost by 61%. Annoyed with WhatsApp's latest privacy policies,
millions of users downloaded Telegram app, pushing up the overall installs of the
app.

App Availability
The Telegram app is available to download in 155 countries (out of 175 coun-
tries). Android users in all 155 of these countries are able to install Telegram
from the Play Store. In the Windows Store, the Telegram app is available in 52
countries (out of 109 countries where Windows Store currently operates).8

8
https://backlinko.com/telegram-users

238 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Instant messaging apps Signal and Telegram have

racked up almost 4 million downloads in India since
WhatsApp changed its terms and conditions.9

• Telegram messaging app will launch pay-for services in

2021. "Telegram will begin to generate revenue, starting
next year," Pavel Durov said in a statement.10

• In August 2020, Telegram added video calling feature to

its app.11

Innovations

• Telegram supports file attachments up to 2 GB in size.

This is one area where Telegram has virtually all other 
messaging apps beat. Only Skype comes even remotely
close, limiting you to 300 MB files. Most apps are much
more limiting— WhatsApp is just 16 MB, for example.12

• Telegram has raised over $1 billion through bond sales

to multiple investors, the messaging app's founder Pavel
Durov said in March 2021. The funding round included a
combined $150 million investment by Mubadala
Investment Co and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, which is
part-owned by the Abu Dhabi state fund.13

9
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/signal-telegram-downloads-in-india-up-by-nearly-4-mn-since-whatsapp-tos-change-11610428229429.html
10
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/telegram-messaging-app-to-launch-pay-for-services-in-2021-6264311.html
11
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/telegram-has-added-video-calling-feature-to-its-app/articleshow/77590713.cms
12
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/how-to/what-is-telegram-a-quick-guide-to-the-fast-and-secure-messaging-platform/articleshow/81673955.cms
13
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/abu-dhabi-funds-invest-150-million-in-messaging-app-telegram/articleshow/81648571.cms

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 239

240 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Pinterest is a platform where the users can discover
lifestyle inspiration, articles on trending and recommended
topics in the app. The app has a feature where users can
invite friends to collaborate on the next group trip, party, or Launched
DIY project, share wedding tips, beauty inspiration, design 2012 (In India)
concepts and unusual ideas for their big day. Pinterest is a
Owned by
one-stop solution where users can scroll through
Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp
thousands of trending images, read travel inspiration or
find new recipes and creative food ideas for their next Headquarters
dinner party. San Francisco

Google Play Store Downloads

500M+1

Unique Users
22M (March 2021)

Reach
4.8% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
45.9 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

15M2

Revenue Model
Free to use (registration required)3
Content Delivery Network
Fastly4

1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pinterest&hl=en_IN&gl=US
2
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/brands-struggle-with-pinterest-in-the-absence-of-promoted-pins/1706990/
3
https://policy.pinterest.com/en/terms-of-service
4
https://www.dnaindia.com/technology/report-several-websites-including-reddit-pinterest-twitch-down-after-cdn-provider-suffers-outage-2894166

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 241

Key Measures
Unlike other platforms, Pinterest has higher female users than male. In both
the genders, the users in the age group of 15-24 years constitute the highest
pie with almost 50% users.

When it comes to their advertising audience, the gender breakdown looks a

little different. As of January 2021, Pinterest’s self-service advertising tools
identified the female audience at 77.1%, the male audience at 14.5%, and the
remainder as unspecified.5

Consumer Demographics for Pintrest (000)

Pinterest Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 3,855 15-24 6,846

25-34 2,547 25 - 34 3,139

35+ 2,221 35+ 3,878

All Males 8,623 All Females 13,863

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Pinterest (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

25000

22486
22134 21912
21488

19885
20000 18938
18678

16903
16439 16501
15544

15000
13689

10000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The graph of mobile app users shows an upward trend between April 2020 and
March 2021. Users in this time period have increased by at least 30%.

Languages
The app can be accessed in English and other foreign languages.6

5
https://blog.hootsuite.com/pinterest-statistics-for-business/
6
https://about.pinterest.com/en

242 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In the News

• Pinterest announced the expansion of Idea Pins to more

countries. Idea Pins make it easy for creators to publish
high quality, long-lasting, saveable content directly to
Pinterest.7

• Pinterest banned weight loss ads to protect users'

mental health, and termed its decision a move against
body shaming. Pinterest had previously banned ads for
weight loss pills as well as procedures such as
liposuction, along with imagery or language mocking
body types.8

7
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/pinterest-announces-expansion-of-idea-pins-to-more-countries-113925.html
8
https://www.firstpost.com/living/pinterest-bans-weight-loss-ads-to-protect-users-mental-health-terms-decision-a-move-against-body-shaming-9774841.html

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 243

244 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
BYJU'S is India's largest ed-tech company and the creator of
India's most loved school learning app. Launched in 2015,
BYJU'S offers highly personalised and effective learning
programs for classes 1 - 12 (K-12), and aspirants of compet- Launched
itive exams like JEE, IAS, etc. BYJU'S has become one of the August 2015
most preferred education platforms across the globe.
Owned by
Byju Raveendran

Headquarters
Bangalore, Karnataka

Google Play Store Downloads

50M+1

Unique Users
41.23M (March 2021)

Reach
8.8% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
4

Monthly Active Users

1.9 M2

Revenue Model
TVOD, SVOD (differs as per the course selected)

Content Delivery Network

Amazon Web Services

Hours of Content
1000+ hours3
Mode of Revenue
TVOD, SVOD

1
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rkidpODFX9cPOfkiwvUhDhyk-GOAxd90UJVsKlcf8Q8/edit#gid=1091621356
2
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/26/indian-edtech-giant-byjus-in-talks-to-acquire-doubtnut-for-more-than-125m/
3
https://students.byjus.com/mobiles/sign_in?redi
rect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fstudents.byjus.com%2Foauth%2Fauthor
ize%3Fcli
ent_id%3D1f267a0cb39bfe566e0218659508cb1949be4bdea023351a989a1b80b7d0c460%26redirect_uri%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Flearn.byjus.com%252Fcallbac
k%253FpagePath%253D%25252Fpremium-school%25252Fdashboard%253F
mx_Source_of_Lead%253Dbyjus-web%2526utm_cam
paign%253Dlogin-button%2526utm_medium%253Dwebsite%2526utm_
source%253Dwebsite%2526mx_Page_Category%253DHome%26response_t
ype%3Dtoken%26scope%3Dprofile%2Bmanage_doubts%26mx_
Source_of_Lead%3Dbyjus-web%26utm_medium%3Dwebsite%26utm_
source%3Dwebsite%26utm_campaign%3Dlogin-button%26mx_Page_Cate
gory%3DHome%26referrer%3Dmx_Source_of_Lead%3Dbyjus-web%2526ut
m_medium%3Dwebsite%2526utm_source%253Dwebsite%2526utm_cam
paign%253Dlogin-button%2526mx_Page_Category%3DHome&refer
rer=mx_Source_of_Lead%3Dbyjus-web%26utm_medium%3Dwebsite%26ut
m_source%3Dwebsite%26utm_campaign%3Dlogin-button%26mx_Page_Category%3DHome&utm_campaign=login-button&utm_medium=website&utm_source=website

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 245

Key Measures
The male viewers are 1.41 times more than the female viewers. Among the
male viewers, almost half of the total viewers are in the age group of 15–24
years . Similarly, among the female viewers, those in the 15–24 years age group
are the highest. In both male and female viewers, individuals in the 6-14 years
age group occupy the least part of the pie.

Consumer Demographics for Byju’s (000)

Byju’s Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

6-14 268 6-14 382

15-24 11,255 15-24 8,179

25-34 6,026 25 - 34 3,071

35+ 6,672 35+ 5,430

All Males 24,221 All Females 17,061

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Byju’s (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop

50000

44964
40000 41282
35876 39484
32530 35695
34685
30000 27673
27949
22106

20000 18845

18527

10000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

Only the TUV data of desktop is available. There is 46% increase in the TUV
between April 2020 and March 2021. The highest TUVs are in the month of
December 2020.

App Availability
1701+ cities access quality education in India. These include viewers from the
smallest towns to the biggest metros.4

4
https://byjus.com/byjus-the-learning-app/

246 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages
BYJU’S programs are available in English and have subtitles
in regional languages—including Malayalam, Kannada,
Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, and Tamil.5

In News

• Byju’s is the only Indian app that has been ranked

among the world's top 10 most downloaded education
apps on Google Play Store during the lockdown.6

• In February 2021, ICC announced BYJU'S as global

partner until 2023. The three-year agreement will see
BYJU'S partner all ICC events over the period, including
the forthcoming men's T20 World Cup in India and the
women's World Cup in New Zealand.7

• Byju's is set to acquire edtech rival Toppr for $150

million. Toppr provides online learning materials to
students in grades 5 through 12, and its backers include
SAIF Partners and Helion Ventures.8

• The Indian edtech giant is in talks to acquire Doubtnut

for more than $125M. The move will expand its reach in
smaller cities and towns in the world’s second-largest
internet market.9

• National Skill Development Corp (NSDC) joins hands with

BYJU's to train and upskill teachers. As part of the Skill
India Mission, the National Skill Development
Corporation (NSDC) has joined hands with major edtech
company BYJU's to support teacher training and
upskilling.10

• Byju’s added free live classes for students amidst

COVID-19 lockdown.11

5
https://byjus.com/faq/
6
https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/byju-s-among-world-s-top-10-education-apps-downloaded-during-lockdown-11591350820860.html
7
https://www.indiatvnews.com/sports/cricket/icc-announces-byjus-as-global-partner-until-2023-683478
8
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/byju-s-set-to-acquire-edtech-rival-toppr-for-150-million-report-121021501078_1.html
9
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/26/indian-edtech-giant-byjus-in-talks-to-acquire-doubtnut-for-more-than-125m/
10
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/national-skill-dev-corp-nsdc-joins-hands-with-byju-s-to-train-and-upskill-teachers-1748387-2020-12-10
11
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/byjus-adds-free-live-classes-for-students-amidst-covid-19-lockdown/articleshow/74971274.cms

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 247

248 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
Vedantu is India's leading online tutoring company, which
enables students to learn LIVE with some of India's best-cu-
rated teachers. Vedantu`s USP is its quality of teachers. It
has some 500+ teachers who have taught more than 1 Launched
Million hours to 40,000+ students spread across 1,000+ October, 2014
cities from 30+ countries. Vedantu is founded by four IITian
Owned by
friends who were themselves teachers with over 13 years
Vamsi Krishna1
of teaching experience and having taught over 10,000
students.7 Headquarters
Bangalore, India2

Google Play Store Downloads

10M+3
Unique Users
19.6 M (March 2021)

Reach
4.2% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
6 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

25 M4

Revenue Model
SVOD (the subscription varies
for different courses)

Content Delivery Network

Amazon Web Services cloudfront5
Hours of Content
1M hours6
Mode of Revenue
SVOD

1
https://www.vedantu.com/v/about-us
2
https://www.thehindu.com/features/education/choose-your-teacher-on-this-online-portal/article7619396.ece
3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vedantu.app
4
https://inc42.com/buzz/vedantu-acquires-doubt-solving-app-instasolv-to-complement-k-12-learning/
5
https://engineering.vedantu.com/how-we-built-our-own-in-house-video-streaming-platform/
6
https://www.vedantu.com/v/about-us
7
https://www.vedantu.com/v/about-us

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 249

Key Measures
The male viewers outnumber the female viewers. Both genders have the
highest viewers in the age group of 15–24 years. The age group of 15–24 years
occupies 50% of the pie in male and female viewers.

Consumer Demographics for Vedantu (000)

Vedantu Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

6-14 96 6-14 125

15-24 5,544 15-24 3,672

25-34 1,709 25 - 34 1,120

35+ 4,255 35+ 3,085

All Males 11,604 All Females 8,002

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Vedantu (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop

20000
19606

16634
15000 15497
14957

11873 13381 13469

11585
10000 10698
9603 9505
9069

5000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The highest TUVs are registered in the month of March 2021. There is 65% rise in
the TUVs between the month of April 2020 and March 2021.

App Availability
Vedantu classes rank as the best LIVE and Online Tutoring Website in the top
ten cities of India–Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Patna, Kolka-
ta, Pune, Chandigarh, and Jaipur. In the Middle East and Singapore, Vedantu is
among the most recommended educational sites for an online home tutor at
very low tuition fees.8

8
https://www.vedantu.com/

250 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

In News

• Vedantu ropes in Aamir Khan as brand ambassador.9

• Vedantu co-founder launched edtech platform Uable.

Most edtech startups primarily focus on school
curriculum for students and online entrance exam
preparation for college students. Uable, however, looks
to complement the school curriculum.10

• In February 2021, Vedantu acquires Instasolv, a

doubt-solving app.11

• Airtel Digital TV, Vedantu team up to offer students

'affordable' access to quality education. Vedantu
Masterclasses DTH channels will air on Airtel Digital TV at
Rs 4 per day to offer interactive learnings to Class 6 to 12
students, according to a release.12

• Edtech Startup 'Vedantu' donates 150 smartphones to

government school students in Telangana.13

Innovations

Vedantu, a pioneer in LIVE interactive online tutoring is

helping India take new strides through the launch of an
exciting new initiative in the e-learning space—WAVE (a
revolutionary new LIVE learning platform). This platform
was created after years of deep research and
experimentation in the field of LIVE Online Teaching and
Learning. WAVE uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML
(Machine Learning) to personalize teaching and learning for
each child and is designed to make LIVE classes extremely
engaging and fun.14

Vedantu took a step towards making online learning safe

and secure for its students studying from home by
introducing #childsafetyfirst initiative.15

9
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/vedantu-ropes-in-aamir-khan-as-brand-ambassador/articleshow/78367614.cms
10
https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/vedantu-co-founder-launches-edtech-platform-uable-11600593965245.html
11
https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/vedan
tu-acquires-instasolv-a-doubt-solving-app-the-latest-in-buzzing-edtech-acquisitions-in-india/articleshow/81151506.cms
12
https://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2020/nov/23/airtel-digital-tv-vedantu-team-up-to-offer-students-affordable-access-to-quality-education-2227046.html
13
https://thelogicalindian.com/responsiblebusiness/vedantu-donates-150-smartphones-to-government-school-students-in-telangana-24576
14
https://www.highereducationdigest.com/vedantu-launches-wave-indias-first-online-live-interactive-learning-platform/
15
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/edtech-company-vedantu-introduces-child-safety-policy/articleshow/79866632.cms

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 251

252 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
About

SNIPPETS
After the merger of Vodafone and Idea in September 2018,
the bundled video streaming services of both the telcom
companies was merged in September 2020. It was
launched as “VI Movies and TV”.7 Vi Movies and TV has a Launched
massive repository of content from the best of the apps September 20201
and popular partners like Viacom18, Voot Select, Lionsgate
Owned by
Play, Shemaroo Me, Sun NXT, Hungama, Discovery, Yupp
Vodafone Idea Limited2
TV, and more.
Headquarters
Mumbai, India3

Google Play Store Downloads

10M+4
Unique Users
4.7M (March 2021)

Reach
1% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
120.1 (March 2021)

Revenue Model
Bundled with VI, TVOD

Content Delivery Network

Cisco5

Hours of Content
50K+ hours6

1
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/vodafone-idea-merger-vi-branding-revealed-livestream-4g-1-billion-users-2291587
2
https://www.myvi.in/about-us/home
3
https://www.myvi.in/help-support/vi-customer-care-number
4
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vodafone.vodafoneplay&hl=en_IN&gl=US
5
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/vodafone-idea-deploys-ciscos-multi-cloud-network-to-boost-customer-experience/68718386
6
https://vimoviesandtv.in/About
7
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/vodafone-idea-merger-vi-branding-revealed-livestream-4g-1-billion-users-2291587

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 253

Key Measures
The male viewers are higher than the female viewers. There is no major differ-
ence in the number of viewers of different age categories in male, though the
age group of 15-24 years has more viewers. Among the female viewers, the 35+
years age group consists of 60% of total female viewers.

Consumer Demographics for VI (000)

VI Audience March 2021

Males, TUV Females, TUV

Age Group (000) Age Group (000)

15-24 939 15-24 353

25-34 806 25 - 34 504

35+ 784 35+ 1,328

All Males 2,529 All Females 2,185

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors VI (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Mobile App

8000

7466
7000 6818

6000

5571
5369 5356
5000
4919
4859 4932
4714
4370
4000 3999

3013
3000
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The month of September 2020 sees the highest viewers, the reason can be the
relaunch of Vodafone Play to VI movies and TV.

Top Content
The Vi movies and TV app is a catch up TV service. It allows users to get access
to over 9,500 movies in 13 different languages, over 300 live TV channels,
original web series and international TV shows.8

8
https://kalingatv.com/technology/subscribers-can-now-rent-films-for-48-hours-on-vi-movies-and-tv-app/

254 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages

Viewers can navigate through the app and view content in

9 languages—Hindi, English, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali,
Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.9

In News

• In February 2021, Vi launched movie rental service in

collaboration with Hungama. Vi offers over 380 movie
titles through its new partnership.10

• In January 2021, Vi inked a strategic partnership with

Voot Select to bring exclusive premium content to its
customers. Vi users got access to the content library of
VOOT Select comprising international content, originals,
movies, network shows, and 54 linear channels.11

• Vi rolled out live TV channels on the web version of its Vi

Movies and TV service. Vi allowed users to add 25 profiles
to its app. The telco will also give users access to live TV
channels on the web version of its Vi Movies and TV
service.12

Innovations

Vodafone-Idea partners with Firework TV, will show short

videos on its Play app. Firework, one of the world's leading
story publishing platforms, has partnered with Vi to
introduce its 30-second short stories format in India.13

9
https://vimoviesandtv.in/About
10
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/vi-vodafone-idea-hungama-digital-pay-per-view-movie-rental-premium-video-on-demand-service-2376101
11
https://www.vodafoneidea.com/content/dam/vodafone-microsite/
docs/pdf/pressrelease/Press_Release_Vi_inks_a_strategic_partnership_with_VootSelect_to_bring_exclusive_premium_content_to_its_customers.pdf
12
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/vi-rolls-out-live-tv-channels-on-web-version-of-its-vi-movies-and-tv-service-adds-25-profiles-to-app-1770226-2021-02-17
13
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/vodafone-idea-partners-with-firework-tv-will-show-short-videos-on-its-play-app/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 255

256 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021
Content
Airtel Xstream app is a video streaming service with a
variety of different content. In addition to live TV, one can
SNIPPETS
stream movies, TV shows, and originals from various OTT
Launched
platforms via the app. The content of the Xstream app is September 20201
available for both Airtel and non-Airtel users. Previously
known as Airtel TV, the Xstream app is available on Android Owned by
and iOS-powered devices for free via the respective app Bharti Airtel
marketplace. The telco is also expanding the app support Headquarters
for other devices such as smart TVs and streaming devices. New Delhi, India

Google Play Store Downloads

1M+2

Unique Users
3.1M (March 2021)

Reach
0.7% (March 2021)

Average Minutes/visitor
10.7 (March 2021)

Monthly Active Users

160M3

Revenue Model
bundled with Airtel
(monthly- INR 49, yearly- INR 499)4
Content Delivery Network
NAGRA Security Services Platform

Mode of Revenue
Bundled

1
https://www.airtel.in/press-release/09-2020/airtel-chang
es-entertainment-forever-launches-the-airtel-xstream-bundle#:~:text=The%20Airtel%20Xstream%20bundle%20is,customers%20starting%20September%207%2C%202020.
2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.accedo.airtel.wynk&hl=en_IN&gl=US
3
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/airtel-acquires-10-stake-in-mumbai-based-edtech-startup-lattu-media-120061701056_1.html
4
https://www.91mobiles.com/hub/airtel-xstream-app-what-is-it-how-to-use-features-and-more-questions-answered/
5
https://www.91mobiles.com/hub/airtel-xstream-app-what-is-it-how-to-use-features-and-more-questions-answered/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 257

Key Measures Top Content
The male TUVs outnumbers the female TUVs. The male audience is 30% higher The app allows users to stream 350+
than the female audience. In the male TUVs the highest audience is in the age live TV, movies, shows, and premium
group of 15-24, whereas females of 35+ age occupy the highest part in the TUV content, including originals from
pie. platforms such as ErosNow, Hunga-
ma Play, Lionsgate Play, Shema-
rooMe, and Zee5, among others.8
Consumer Demographics Airtel Xtreme (000)
The top shows are:9
Airtel Xtreme Audience March 2021
1. Mrs. Jasoos
Males, TUV Females, TUV
Age Group (000) Age Group (000)
2. Tum Se Na Ho Paayega
6-14 38 6-14 13

15-24 781 15-24 299

3. K Se Krime

25 - 34 671 25 - 34 337 4. Cartoon

35+ 378 35+ 662
5. Six
All Males 1,869 All Females 1,311

Source: ComScore

Total Unique Visitors Airtel Xtreme (000)

Between April 2020 and March 2021

Desktop

3500
3190

3000 3180

2500 2399
2561 2567
2050
2000
1699
1844 1901
1500
1414
1251
1000

500
496
0
Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21

Source: ComScore

The desktop app TUVs were highest in the month of April 2020, which was the
result of the COVID 19 lockdown. The number of viewers had increased 50% than
the usual.6 Though the least TUVs are seen in the next month, which is May 2020.

App Availability
The app is limited to India as it comes bundled with the sim card.7

6
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/airtel-says-covid-19-lockdown-has-made-people-go-nostalgic-6388982/
7
https://thevpn.guru/unblock-airteltv-outside-india/#:~:text=Airtel%20TV%20requires%20an%20internet,want%20anywhere%20in%20the%20world.
8
https://www.91mobiles.com/hub/airtel-xstream-app-what-is-it-how-to-use-features-and-more-questions-answered/
9
https://wittycolumn.com/top-10-web-series-on-airtel-xstream/

258 INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021

Languages present in

The app offers content in English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati,

Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu
languages.10

In News

• Airtel Xstream makes premium kids content free

including movies, Live TV, and learning shows. Airtel says
that the move has been taken to keep children engaged
while parents can manage work from home during the
ongoing COVID-19 nationwide lockdown.11

• South Indian digital media and music company Divo has

announced a content-sharing partnership with Airtel
Xstream, offering its entire Tamil movie catalog,
including exclusive premiers, on the Airtel Xstream
app.12

• Airtel Xstream, in September 2020, announced a

partnership with Voot13 and Lionsgate Play.14 The
subscribers can access the access the vast content
library of both platforms.

• Airtel Xstream partnered with Epic On in March 2021.15

• Xstream live-streamed the traditional Rath Yatra at

Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri from 1 July 2020,
allowing all mobile and broadband customers of the
telecom operator to watch the proceedings for free.16

• ShortsTV launched its first video-on-demand service on

Airtel Xstream in February 2021.17

10
https://www.airtelxstream.in/language
11
https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/article/airtel-xstream-makes-premium-kids-content-free-including-movies-live-tv-and-learning-shows/575384
12
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/airtel-xstream-partners-with-divo-movies-11614588164903.html
13
https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/apps/airtel-xstream-now-features-voot-premium-contents.html
14
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/airtel-partners-lionsgate-play-to-offer-premium-content-to-airtel-xstream-users/78397280
15
https://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/epic-on-now-streaming-on-airtel-xstream-platform-210304
16
https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/airtel-xstream-to-live-stream-puri-s-rath-yatra-from-1-july-11593507497974.html
17
https://bestmediainfo.com/2021/02/shortstv-launches-its-first-video-on-demand-service-on-airtel-xstream/

INDIAN OTT PLATFORMS REPORT 2021 259

Research Team
Leslin Bastain (MICA)
Mansi Shah (MICA)
Hilda Harmony (MICA)
Sherine Stanly (Consultant)

Industry Mapping & Trend Analysis

Dr. Darshan Ashwin Trivedi,
Editor Indian OTT Platforms Report and
Adjunct Faculty, MICA, The School of Ideas.

Report Editing & Data Visualization

Chirag Dagli
Founder & Director Indian OTT Platforms Report, 2021
Communication Crafts A MICA CMES property

In association with
Design, Iteration & Compilation by
Jagat Vyas (Communication Crafts)
Design & Visualization

Jayesh Davda (Communication Crafts)

Design & Visualization

Frenny Vyas (Communication Crafts)

Co-ordination & Data Support