MAM
Mobile accounts for 44% of media consumption by connected Indian consumers
MUMBAI: Havas Digital‘s mobile marketing network Mobext India carried out a study titled ‘Role of the Connected Device in the branding and buying cycle of a Consumer‘. The global study was carried out in association with independent mobile advertising network Inmobi and covered 10,000 respondents and seven markets. It explains how consumers use their connected device which in turn impacts shopping and media consumption habits. Mobext also carried out another study named ‘Asian Advertisers/Marketers attitude towards Mobile Marketing‘ across six Asian markets.
In India, the connected device study was run uniquely across mobile/smartphone, laptop and tablet users and examined the media consumption habits of more than 2800 respondents in India. The survey revealed that 80 per cent of respondents said the mobile/smartphone was their primary device while 13 per cent stated that the laptop/desktop primary device and 7 per cent mentioned the tablet. According to the study, the average connected Indian consumes nine hours of media daily with mobile representing 44 per cent of it.
The study also reflected on the time when each device‘s usage peaked in India. Results showed that while tablet usage peaked between 6 pm to midnight and is used at home, mobiles/smartphones and laptops are used between 9 am and 11 pm and are the primary access device from office.
Havas Media India and South Asia CEO Anita Nayyar said, “As Indian consumers are increasingly spending more time on their mobile devices and using them differently for different purposes, brands have more opportunities to interact meaningfully with their customers. Media planners can take advantage of their unique roles in the decision making process by optimizing the connected device path to purchase to create a holistic media/advertising strategy.”
Forty six per cent of the respondents listed mobile/smartphone as the preferred device for communication while 43 per cent said they used it for entertainment and 40 per cent for information. The study indicated the 32 per cent picked the mobile for shopping and 23 per cent used the laptop/desktop as the next choice.
The study also showed that connected devices increased awareness through their reach during the day. Forty three per cent users consumed mobile/smartphone for research while 44 per cent used laptops and 30 per cent used mobile for shopping. Tablet influence was found to be the highest in all purchase cycles except in shopping/buying where the laptop is preferred a trend expected to change considering global behaviour.
“It goes to show how connected devices, namely the mobile in India, will play a significant role in a purchase decision. With the market expected to grow at 50 per cent to 60 per cent annually over the next few years, India is a very important market in the Asia Pacific for Mobext and Havas Media and we plan to get aggressive on this front”, said Havas Media Asia Pacific CEO Vishnu Mohan.
According to the survey, connected devices also lent to creating a double screen effect, as tablets were the preferred device while watching TV, followed by mobiles/smartphones and laptops.
Mobext Asia Pacific head of mobile Arthur Policarpio explained, “In the UK and US, the tablet seems to be the device of choice. In India, it is an important emerging device as its penetration increases, especially for niche brands with direct reach to their customers. We‘ve seen that 42 per cent of users share it with their family and 41 per cent use it while watching TV; showing more eyeballs with the probability to buy.”
The study also revealed that device purchase cannibalized other media consumption habits as 21 per cent of smartphone users read a book in print less, while 22 per cent watched less TV and 16 per cent reduced time on the internet via a laptop. Thirty per cent of tablet purchasers read fewer books in print with 31 per cent watching lesser TV.
80 per cent of the activities done across all the devices in the prior month were on entertainment (video, music, games, etc), revealing entertainment, as an important sector for influencing a buy decision. In-store behaviour was also affected as 15.7 per cent of smartphone buyers and 16 per cent of tablet buyers visited a physical store less.
“It is not about Mobile but mobility which has created a paradigm shift in the way consumers access media, search for information and shop. These studies reflect our endeavor to understand this behavior, enabling us to create engaging, compelling and meaningful conversation both with brands and consumers”, added Mobext India and South Asia general manager Arnav Ghosh.
Insights from the ‘Asian Advertisers Attitude to Mobile Marketing‘ are as follows –
- The primary benefits of mobile marketing cited by marketers are the ability to target consumers by location or geo-targeting (84.5 per cent ) and personalised, one-to-one communications (63.1 per cent ).
- 33 per cent say mobile marketing is a cost-efficient channel while 57 per cent it is too early to tell
- A staggering 47.6 per cent of respondents say that mobile will be equally important as TV in the next 2 years. 44 per cent say that mobile will be more important than radio in the next 2 years.
- 60 per cent say they do not use a third-party organization (such as a mobile agency) to manage their mobile marketing efforts. And yet, respondents who use a third party agency report higher satisfaction with results of their mobile campaigns.
55 per cent say they plan on investing in mobile in the next 12 months.
Two hundred and sixty respondents across six Asian Markets – Indonesia, Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia were surveyed for this study.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
