iWorld
Young Indians under 35 years of age drive OTT consumption
MUMBAI: Although users of all age groups are consuming over-the-top (OTT) platforms, young Indians under 35 years of age accounted for 89 per cent of OTT platform users. The age groups of 16-24 and 25-35 contributed equally to the overall market, Counterpoint Research’s India OTT Video Content Market Consumer Survey revealed. Moreover, male users account for 79 per cent of the total users.
The report also revealed that the top five metros accounted for 55 per cent of OTT video platform users, while tier I cities accounted for another 36 per cent of users. In addition to that, Hotstar leads the Indian OTT video content market, followed by Amazon’s Prime Video, SonyLIV, Netflix, Voot, Zee5, ALTBalaji, and Eros Now in terms of the percentage of respondents subscribed to each platform.
While subscription-based market (SVOD) continues to grow significantly, the market remains highly focused on the ad-based model (AVOD), where advertisements drive revenues. Notably, Eros Now users were the most engaged users, with 68 per cent indicating that they watched content on the platform daily. As per the report, 9 per cent of Eros Now’s users watch content on the platform for more than 21 hours a week.
As per the survey, salaried employees was the largest consumer group of OTT users, followed by students, business owners, housewives, and others in terms of overall demographics. While more than one-third of the respondents indicated that they were inclined to use free services, another third indicated that they were paying for the subscription. Among the remaining respondents, some of them were either on trial period or indicated that their friend or family paid the subscription cost.
In line with popular belief, smartphone has emerged as the most popular device for OTT video content consumption and Xiaomi has acquired the place of most popular smartphone brand. Reliance Jio has taken the place of the most popular network among OTT users, followed by Airtel and Vodafone-Idea.
Although regional languages are gradually becoming very important, most preferred languages for video content are Hindi and English till now. However, Telugu was found to be most popular among regional ones, followed by Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Tamil.
The market leader Hotstar has the highest penetration of non-paying user and 56 per cent of Hotstar users hail from metro cities. On the other hand, international giants Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have high popularity in metros as top five metros account for more than 65 per cent users on these platforms.
Among others, 40 per cent of SonyLIV users hail from these cities and Voot has the greatest reach among female users. ALTBalaji scored the highest among 25-35 age group users, who account for 59 per cent of its users while Eros Now has the largest share of its users in the 25-39 age group in tier II/III cities.
iWorld
Telcos push for unified rules as spam shifts to OTT platforms
Over 80 per cent fraud moves online, operators seek common framework.
MUMBAI: The spam may have left your phone network but it hasn’t left you alone. India’s telecom operators are once again dialling up the pressure for a unified regulatory framework, warning that fraud is rapidly migrating to internet-based platforms where oversight remains far looser. According to industry communication, a leading operator has written to multiple arms of the government including the Department of Telecommunications, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance arguing that tighter controls on traditional telecom networks are inadvertently pushing bad actors towards over-the-top (OTT) communication platforms.
The concern is not new, but the framing has sharpened. What was once an industry grievance is now being positioned as a consumer protection issue. Operators say that tackling spam in silos no longer works, as fraudsters seamlessly shift across platforms, exploiting regulatory gaps. The result: a moving target that traditional safeguards struggle to contain.
Executives point to a clear shift in fraud patterns. OTT platforms are increasingly being used for phishing links, impersonation scams and bulk unsolicited messaging, with industry estimates suggesting that over 80 per cent of spam activity has now migrated online. In this environment, the lines between telecom networks, messaging apps and financial fraud are blurring fast.
At the heart of the industry’s demand is a call for a technology-neutral regulatory framework, one that applies consistently across telecom and internet-based communication services. Operators argue that the absence of uniform safeguards, such as sender verification systems, robust spam filters and clearly defined accountability mechanisms, has created enforcement blind spots that fraudsters are quick to exploit.
The proposal is straightforward but far-reaching. Telcos are pushing for baseline anti-fraud measures across all communication platforms, alongside faster response systems and deeper coordination between ministries. Given the interconnected nature of telecom networks, digital platforms and financial systems, they argue that fragmented oversight only weakens the overall defence.
The broader issue is regulatory arbitrage, the ability of bad actors to hop between platforms based on which is least regulated at any given time. Without harmonised rules, operators say, efforts to curb fraud risk becoming a game of whack-a-mole.
As digital communication continues to expand, the debate is shifting from who regulates what to how consistently it is regulated. For now, telecom operators are making their case clear: in a world where spam travels freely, regulation cannot afford to stay fragmented.
