Omnicom Media Group (OMG) in its new report titled ‘COVID-19: The Impact on Media Consumption of Indians’ cites that TV, online video and social media stack up as top entertainment mediums in India. “Music streaming and online games also strike a chord as Indians find new ways to keep themselves entertained,” states the report that is centred on the evolving media consumption habits and content formats in the country in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The report reiterates the rise of OTT platforms “as Indians across geographies consume close to an hour and a half of OTT content every day. Originals and latest movies keeping audiences hooked across platforms.

“YouTube is another top gainer with close to two hours of daily time spent driven by comedy, music, movie and educational video content.”

Fig 1: Average time spent on media

 In regard to TV media consumption, the report cites “a significant increase in General news consumption with 65% of the respondents claiming to spend more time consuming news around the pandemic.”

“Movies and comedy serials round off the top 5 list as Indians explore new ways to keep themselves entertained.

“GECs and sports which usually dominated TRPs on TV find themselves languishing in the bottom half of the table in the absence of fresh content.”

Fig 2: TV media consumption patterns

 OTT platforms have seen strong following in main cities.

Fig 3: Time spent on OTT 

It may be inferred from the findings of the report that high performing TV channels, TV shows, OTT platforms and OTT could be strong candidates for OOH campaigns, as cities sees higher traffic with the easing of lockdowns.

The OMG research was conducted in Metros as well as Tier 1 cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmadabad, Pune, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, Guwahati, Kanpur, Chandigarh, Kochi, Patna & Bhubaneshwar. The survey had a total sample size of 1000+ respondents spread across research centres.