iWorld
Unravelling The Digital Video Consumer-Looking Through The Viewer Lens
MUMBAI: Eros Now, a premier Indian OTT entertainment platform with more than 155 million registered users and KPMG in India, a multinational professional services network, showcased an in-depth report on India’s OTT market at FICCI FAST TRACK INDIA 2019 in Mumbai. The study projects that India will have more than 500 million online video subscribers by FY 2023 making it the second biggest market in the world only after China. As per the study, 87% of users in India consume their content on mobile phones and spend an average time of about 70 minutes per day on OTT platforms.
The varied and innovative offerings blended with superlative services will let OTT platforms cater to the growing market. Eros Now, which is known for its extensive movie library apart from offering originals, digital movie premieres and short-format content ‘Quickie’, has been a leading OTT platform satiating increasing consumer demands across device forms like Smart TVs, tabs and so on.
The KPMG and Eros Now study highlights interesting facets for the Indian OTT market:
Love for films: Indians continue to love their movies and movie related content; 30% of the respondents prefer watching movies on OTT platforms.
Original content as a differentiator – Original and exclusive Indian content is one of the biggest drivers in the OTT space. Quality Indian narratives are traveling beyond the South Asian audiences around the world. The massive base of digital content consumers prefers new stories that this country must tell.
Online video transcending geographies – Distribution ecosystem is set to become stronger. Role of value chain partners like OEM, DTH, ISPs and Telcos is likely to grow as creators look at multiple avenues to reach the end consumer.
Innovations in pricing to boost subscriptions – New user profiles indicate that companies have to focus on smaller towns and rural markets as a sustainable business model would need to be anchored by small town viewers and eventually subscribers.
Fostering multi-format consumption and engagement – Short-format video content, movie premieres, documentaries, original music and other formats enable OTT players to engage diverse sets of online video consumers. Today, audiences look forward to enjoying varied content formats on digital platforms.
In order to cater to consumer demands, Eros Now plans to invest to create new original shows for their platform. It has also introduced ‘TV Se Pehle’, wherein movies premiere on the platform prior to their satellite broadcast and started to offer original short-format content. Soon, Eros Now plans to launch over 50 short form original series under its ‘Eros Now Quickies' category. The premium Indian OTT player’s several strategic brand associations has enabled the app to be available in smaller towns of the country and in over 135 countries across the globe.
Commenting on the key trends and insights Rishika Lulla Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Eros Digital, said, “India is one of the fastest growing entertainment and media market globally and is expected to keep that momentum. As data and digital infrastructure has become exceedingly accessible even in small cities of India, the market for OTT has widened enormously. At Eros Now, we strive to constantly engage the existing consumers and expand our reach by offering new and innovative services.”
Girish Menon, Partner & Head Media & Entertainment, KPMG in India, said, “The online video consumer in India has evolved in a significant way in the last couple of years. With consumption now going mass and viewers spending close to 8.5 hours a week on online video, we see a homogenous pattern of consumption emerging cutting across age groups, income levels and professions. Our report also touches upon the future of this consumption evolution, and how online video could potentially disrupt traditional distribution in the coming years. This represents a large opportunity for platforms to tap into the ever-expanding universe of digitally connected Indians”
The increasing internet penetration and access to digital infrastructure across India make it an important market for the OTT industry. The KPMG report is a testament that content innovation, services across device forms and partnerships has established Eros Now as a key player and will further strengthen its position in the growing market.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
