Paid unique OTT users grew 35% to 31 million in Feb: RedSeer
Subscription revenue saw a 42% surge at $68 million compared to $49 million
According to the latest trends published by consulting firm RedSeer, the number of unique paid users grew by 35% at 31 million in February 2021 from 23 million in April 2020.
Subscription revenue saw a 42% surge at $68 million compared to $49 million. Subscription per user was up 8% at 1.4 compared to 1.3. The average revenue per user (ARPU) remained flat at $1.58 compared to $1.63.
RedSeer noted that video streaming platforms have been seeing significant growth after the pandemic. As offline entertainment shut down, there has been a complete shift to online streaming. With users not willing to step out of their houses, production houses of mainstream movies and OTT platforms started releasing new content online along with producing more originals as demand kept increasing.
The consulting said that the growth in paid users is due to new launches in Video and a shift to online, bundling plans, and higher users opting for annual packs.
It noted that users are shifting spend to online. The shift is happening due to the launch of platforms like Disney+ Hostar, Voot Select & multiple regional SVoD platforms like hoichoi, SunNXT and rise in Smart TV users.
Many of the post-paid users opt for bundling options provided by their telecom operator as it benefits them in varying ways. Even broadband operators like JioFibre provide bundling options. For Free Prime and Netflix subscriptions. Moreover, with discounts and offers on various players, users tend to opt for annual subscription packs. While the unique paid user growth rate has been 35% in February 2021 when compared to April 2020, subscriptions increased by 8% during the same period. Importantly, subscription revenue also increased by 42%.
Compared to last April 2020, there has been a drop of 6% in February 2021 where users spent 188 billion minutes monthly. The drop is mostly because engagement dropped as users started moving out with normalcy returning and their favourite TV soaps starting again. However, the good news is with more releases in the pipeline along with product improvement, the engagement is likely to increase.
RedSeer research shows that out of the 188 billion minutes spent on OTT, users spent the highest that is 69 billion minutes on daily soaps followed by movies with 31 billion minutes, and then originals produced by the OTT platforms. Voot dominates the daily soaps genre compared to its players while ‘Others’ together contribute 31% as well. On the other hand, Hotstar dominates the movie genre with 33%.
