Video streaming and over-the-top platforms, also known as OTT, are unsurprisingly gaining more relevance in homes. The change comes about as these apps, the popular ones in India include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and Sony Liv to name a few, are hosting live sports events and movie premieres. It should come as no surprise then, that Amazon says Indian households spent more than four hours per day binge-watching on their connected TVs using the company’s Fire TV streaming devices.
In a way, this is a slight increase compared with 2021, when the average viewing mark was less than four hours. While 2021 was more about the concept of smart TVs and video streaming still making a space for itself in Indian homes, Amazon’s data indicates 2022 was defined by the variety of content that Indians consumed over these platforms.
“Today viewers are more in control of what and where they watch their preferred content,” said Parag Gupta, director and country manager for Amazon Devices India.
He has his finger on the pulse – it is the convenience of time, space and device, which gives streaming apps an advantage over linear TV broadcasting. There, you must adhere to the broadcast time. A charm, perhaps in a different era. Not so much for this generation.
And these numbers are just on Amazon’s Fire TV devices. The much broader smart TV ecosystem also includes TVs that run Google’s Android TV platform, the newer Google TV software, Samsung’s Tizen OS based TVs, Apple’s tvOS platform for Apple TV 4K streamers as well as a bunch of consoles including Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation.
Amazon said homes in India mostly consumed content in 12 languages, of which Hindi was the most popular followed by Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Bengali as the popular regional languages.
There is always the question of cost of subscriptions, particularly when there are multiple platforms to sign up for. Those costs tend to add up. The viewing trends, again unsurprisingly, point to a 44% increase in streaming viewership on free content platforms. The most popular examples of these included Amazon’s own MiniTV spin-off from the larger Prime Video platform, Google’s YouTube, and MX Player.
Big sports events dominated the year, including the T20 cricket World Cup and the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup led to a 10X increase in JioCinema app streaming on Fire TV devices, the platform which streamed the football matches live, without any subscription charge.
At the end of the tournament in Qatar, JioCinema confirmed 110 million viewers streamed the matches just in India.
“This demonstrates the power of digital and the preference viewers and fans have shown to consume their favourite events, which will now see Paris Saint-Germain teammates and FIFA World Cup Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe and FIFA World Cup and Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi join forces in the Ligue1,” said Anil Jayaraj, CEO at Viacom18 Sports, at the time.
Disney+ Hotstar had earlier reported that as many as 18 million viewers tuned in on streaming, for the India vs Pakistan match in the T20 World Cup. That would be the highest for any sporting event, surpassing the 14 million concurrent streaming when the same teams met during the Asia Cup.
The popularity of sports in India is no surprise. Apple is taking gentle steps into the space, with the MLS Season Pass, for the football league in North America. The live streaming costs ₹1,299 per month, if you are a football fan interested in the league.
At a time when content, and indeed streaming platforms are aplenty, there is always the challenge of discovering new content. Smart TV platforms, including Amazon Fire TV, have the challenge of getting the recommendations and the algorithms that drive these recommendations, in perfect shape.
It was in the summer when Amazon began rolling out a completely new user interface for Fire TV devices. Given prime placement are the magnifying glass signifying search, a user’s own curations called My Stuff and there are recommendations below the tabs for apps you use the most.
Google, which is now prioritising the Google TV platform for smart TVs instead of Android TV, has rolled out the “For Your” tab on the smart TV interface. The big difference with Google TV, compared with the more restrained Android TV, is the unmissable focus on curating content suggestions on the home screen.
“Connected TV doesn’t just supplement linear TV. It substitutes it. With content that goes deeper than traditional media and explores topics that traditional media doesn’t have the bandwidth to cover,” Google said last year, when talking about consumer insights for the connected TV ecosystem.
Apple updated the Apple TV 4K streaming device (priced around ₹14,900) this year, while Google released a significantly updated version of the Chromecast media player (priced around ₹6,399), with Google TV as the base software to run OTT apps on.
Amazon now has the widest Fire TV line-up in India, with the addition of the latest generation Fire TV Cube and the Alexa Voice Pro remote joining the accessory bundle. There is also the Fire TV OS ready smart TVs, which target the more affordable price points – these TVs are made by Onida, Akai, Croma and Amazon Basics.
Streaming apps, on an individual level, are leaving no stone unturned. JioCinema is believed to be working on 4K resolution streaming for the upcoming IPL T20 cricket league which starts in April. Netflix has added Spatial Audio for Premium subscribers, which will use audio giant Sennheiser’s AMBEO 2-Channel Spatial Audio technology. This will be in addition to the Dolby Atmos audio, which is already available on a lot of Netflix content.