OTTs with telco connections gain traction

New Delhi: Online video services bundled with mobile and broadband connections are attracting ever more Indians, according to the latest Ficci EY media and entertainment industry report. Those who watch online videos using such bundles will make up nearly half, or 399 million of all online video viewers by 2023, up from 284 million now, the report added.

India has 803 million viewers of online videos as of 2020, which include streaming services and videos on free platforms like YouTube.

The report identified five categories of online video viewers India: Digital-only (who consume content on digital platforms and do not access television), tactical digital (who consume pay TV and at least one paid streaming service), bundled digital (who consume pay TV and generally only telco-bundled content), mass consumers (who consume pay TV and occasionally consume some streaming content, usually free) and free consumers who do not pay for content at all.

Premium consumers, comprising digital only and tactical digital will cross 100 million by 2023, the report showed while the fastest growing segment will be the bundled digital consumer audience. The free consumer base will also grow as there are still 50 million homes today which do not have access to television.

“People in India only pay for value since they have easy access to pirated content,” Karan Taurani, research analyst at Elara Capital Ltd said, adding that 70-80% of the audience base of broadcaster-led streaming services comes from telcos. Going forward too, be it audio or video, people will look for telco aggregators like Reliance Jio that bundle multiple benefits, Taurani added.

Apart from regular data packs, video streaming platforms are now eyeing partnerships with telecom companies that have begun to offer premium OTT service bundles and broadband packages to build on the family audience base.