Daily consumers of social media nearly double that of OTT platforms, reveals study

In a world where OTT and short-form formats seem to exist together cordially, a recent Meta-IPSOS study reveals that number of users spending time on social media is doubled of those spending time on OTT apps. This means fewer people consume OTT content that regularly as they consume content on social media.

Ever since the rise of short-form video content on social media, the majority of the global population, including in India, seems to prefer content that lasts just 30-60-90 seconds.

Meanwhile, there remains a strong interest for OTT content, including series and movies available on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and JioStar. This duo of short-form and ‘on-the-go OTT’ content has long been seen as challenge for television viewership.

According to the survey, at 82%, the number of users spending time on social media daily is nearly double that of daily consumers of OTT apps, at 43%. Notably, the social media user base is much higher than that of OTT platforms in India due to the latter’s subscription-only viewership format.

While the study does not explain the reasons for this sharp gap, it is likely that restricted access due to paid subscriptions and the challenge of consuming long-form OTT content in one sitting have contributed to lower daily viewership.

The nature of OTT programming, comprising series and movies, usually demands longer attention spans and sustained commitment, in comparison to the quicker form of content available on social media.

Meanwhile, the study revealed that 78% of television consumption occurred daily, higher than OTT viewership, while only a little more than a third of total newspaper and online news consumption occurred every day.

Radio consumption that occurred daily had dropped to just 9%. This reveals another interesting observation. There was a time when radio was the only option for entertainment while one was in transit. However, despite the increase in number of vehicles in the country annually, the frequency of radio consumption does not seem to grow equally, signalling a possibility of users choosing smart media players over radio.