iWorld
Branded content drives Viu
MUMBAI: Within two years of launch, over-the-top (OTT) service Viu has created a unique value proposition of fresh and localised regional and local premium TV shows, movies and originals for its consumers every day.
While digital shows are becoming increasingly popular among the masses, brand marketers are exploring innovative ways in which they can garner interest for their brand by strategically incorporating branded content. In 2017, a number of brands jumped on to the AFP bandwagon, making it a wonderful year for branded content.
Viu India head monetisation & distribution Sameer Gogate said, “Our constant focus is to ensure that there is a strong story, and content becomes the hero along with seamless integration of the brand. We have been able to make content a surrogate for advertising, and we believe this model is here to stay. McDowells No.1 Yaari and Nicotex presents I Can You Can were win-win AFP partnerships which saw the delivery of great original content by integrating the essence of the partner brands in a creative and frictionless way. It reinforced our belief in AFP being a viable revenue stream as part of our overall monetisation model. I think it sets the tone for us to explore more such successful branded content partnerships in the coming year.”
Viu India country manager Vishal Maheshwari said, “Our strategy is deeply anchored in technology and consumer insights. Research affirms that regional content on OTT will command close to 30 per cent of the overall share in the years to come. Indian language internet users will drive the next phase of internet adoption in India. This new generation of users will come on board from tier 2 and tier 3 cities and with this potential increase in consumer base, there will be an immense demand for intriguing regional content. With Viu, we have always been about global expertise and local execution and that’s why we are focused on entertaining this new generation with content in languages with which they are familiar.”
Year 2017 was full of colors for Viu. It launched the first bilingual digital show in Hindi and Telugu – Social. It started with cricket comedy chat shows like What the Duck and Virender Sehwag’s micro-original Viru ke Funde, which has now evolved to a roster of nearly 12 premium shows and more in the pipeline (a combination of long form and short form). It tied up with Vikram Bhatt for multiple long form shows in Hindi such as Gehraiyaan and Spotlight. Spotlight 2 and Memories are also in the pipeline, which have roped in best talents for the show. In association with Annapurna Studios, the platform launched two long form shows titled Pill-A and Pelli Gola. Viu is catering to the growing demand for regional content by creating intriguing and contemporary digital shows such as No 1 Yaari and Munching with Mahathalli.
A key strength of Viu’s global strategy is to form strong partnerships, whether they be Samsung, Micromax, Vikram Bhatt’s Loneranger Productions or Annapurna Studios. Content house Shemaroo Entertainment has inked a licensing deal with Viu. Through this deal, a handpicked catalogue of Shemaroo’s full length Hindi movies can be accessed by its subscribers.
Viu’s primary focus for the year 2018 is ramping up content library by three times. The OTT platform is planning to foray in the Tamil market by associating with content creators. Similar to the expansion plans in India, Viu will also be expanding its content base internationally. It is planning to launch multiple bilingual shows as the next step and additionally looking to explore other regions as well. This year, Viu will be launching Spotlight 2, Memories, Trysexual (yet to be titled), Kaushiki, Unafraid and many more small and big format web series.
Today Viu reaches more than 26 million total monthly active users across markets with 3,000 hours of compelling original content in Asia.
As of October 2017, its India downloads were 9.5 million. Its monthly active users graph goes up to six million and the global average hours per user for the month was 14 hours whereas in India the average hours per user was 34.5 hours. However, the reach of Viu is wide globally, which reached to 150 million video views, whereas total video views in India was 18 million.
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eNews
India uses ChatGPT for technical tasks nearly 4 times the world average: OpenAI
From classrooms to code, India’s AI use is increasingly skill-driven and youth-led.
MUMBAI: If code is the new currency, India is already minting it by the million prompts. In the world’s largest democracy, artificial intelligence is no longer a distant abstraction or a boardroom buzzword. It is a daily companion, drafting emails in Hyderabad, debugging code in Bengaluru, polishing essays in Delhi, and fielding life advice in towns far beyond the metros. Fresh data from OpenAI’s “Signals” initiative offers a rare, granular glimpse into how India is using ChatGPT, and the numbers suggest the country is not just adopting AI; it is actively shaping its use.
India is one of the largest markets globally for ChatGPT’s weekly active users and ranks among the top five countries for API usage. With OpenAI’s global consumer base exceeding 800 million users, most of them on free tiers, the dataset captures adoption patterns that go far beyond enterprise subscriptions.
Indian users, notably, are punching above their weight when it comes to advanced capabilities. Among ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, usage of the data analysis tool is roughly four times above the global median. Use of Codex, OpenAI’s coding platform, is about three times above the median. Indians are nearly three times more likely than the global median to ask coding-related questions and almost twice as likely to seek help on education and learning.
This matters because it signals something economists call a shrinking “capability overhang”, which is the gap between what AI tools can do and how fully users exploit them. In India, that gap appears to be narrowing rapidly.
The geography of this coding intensity tracks the country’s technology hubs. Telangana, which is home to Hyderabad, ranks first in usage of OpenAI’s coding capabilities. Karnataka, home to Bengaluru, follows in second place, while Tamil Nadu comes third. In other words, the prompt traffic mirrors the tech corridors.
Nearly two-thirds of consumer ChatGPT messages in India are now non-work related, while slightly over one-third are tied to work. That marks a significant shift. In earlier phases of adoption, work was the dominant use case. It was only in early 2025 that non-work messages overtook professional use, and the divergence widened throughout the year.
Even so, India remains slightly above the global average in work-related usage. Around 35 per cent of consumer messages in India relate to work, compared with roughly 30 per cent globally.
At work, the emphasis is squarely task-oriented. Around 45 per cent of work-related conversations fall into “doing” behaviours such as drafting documents, transforming text, and completing tasks, compared with a much smaller share in non-work contexts. Technical help and writing dominate. In offices across the country, ChatGPT functions as a digital co-pilot that debugs code, polishes presentations, and unblocks stalled workflows.
Outside work, the tone shifts. Over 35 per cent of non-work messages revolve around practical guidance, which includes everyday advice and how-to queries. Roughly 20 per cent relate to seeking information. Nearly one-fifth involve writing tasks such as drafting or editing. Self-expression and learning loom large. In personal life, Indians appear to use AI less as an executor and more as an explainer, sounding board, and study partner.
India’s demographic dividend is clearly reflected in its AI habits.
Users aged 18 to 24 now account for just under half of all ChatGPT messages sent in the country. They surpassed the 25 to 34 age group in mid-2024 and have held the lead ever since. Globally, the 18 to 24 cohort accounts for about one-third of messages; in India, the share is markedly higher.
Combined, users aged 18 to 34 generate roughly 80 per cent of total consumer ChatGPT messages in India. Given that around 40 per cent of India’s population is under 25, the youth skew is unsurprising, but its implications are profound. Education-related queries, early-career problem-solving, and skills development are likely to dominate near-term AI impacts.
Usage patterns also differ by age. The 18 to 24 cohort accounts for a near majority of messages seeking practical guidance, technical help, and self-expression. Meanwhile, the 24 to 34 group sends a slightly higher share of multimedia and technical help queries relative to its overall share of usage.
If AI norms are being written in real time, it is young Indians who are holding the pen.
OpenAI does not collect gender data, but inferred patterns based on typically masculine and feminine first names reveal a measurable gap in India. A little under 60 per cent of users have typically masculine names, and just over 40 per cent have typically feminine names. This skew is more pronounced than the global average.
Worldwide, users with typically feminine names now account for slightly more than half of all messages. This shift occurred only in the summer of 2025, when feminine-name usage overtook masculine-name usage globally. In India, the gap persists, although it has been narrowing over the past year.
There are also topical differences. Users with typically feminine names are more likely to send messages related to self-expression, practical guidance, and writing. Those with typically masculine names lean more towards seeking information and technical help.
The data does not capture motivations, but it does highlight where inclusion efforts and digital literacy initiatives could focus if AI is to broaden opportunity rather than deepen divides.
The consumer story aligns with India’s broader AI momentum. The country ranks second globally in AI skills penetration and has one of the fastest-growing AI talent pools. It accounts for 9.2 per cent of global AI publications in computer science as of 2023, which represents a substantial contribution to research output.
At the same time, investment in AI data centres and digital public infrastructure is expanding, promising to knit together datasets and resources at scale. Enterprise adoption is also robust, which suggests that consumer experimentation is unfolding alongside institutional integration.
OpenAI’s “Signals” project is built with aggregated, privacy-preserving data and released with a time lag. It aims to provide a durable measurement layer for the AI era. The idea is not to track individuals, but to surface patterns such as where adoption is accelerating, who is using the tools, and what they are actually doing.
In a country as vast and varied as India, such evidence is more than academic. It shapes decisions about workforce training, small business support, education policy, and safeguards.
For now, the numbers paint a picture of a nation that is not merely consuming AI, but conversing with it in an energetic, experimental, and increasingly skilful manner. In India, the future of work and learning is not being downloaded. It is being drafted, debugged, and rewritten in real time.
