Dinner with the idiot box: 97% Indians like to stream while they eat

• Indians love to stream OTT shows and movies on TV screens, says a NielsenIQ study.
• Video and sound quality, ergonomic benefits, and voice assistants make TVs the preferred option to stream.
• Most Indians want to stream and watch their family and comedy is the preferred genre.
  

India has a new dinner companion — streaming services. As per a study conducted by NielsenIQ commissioned by Amazon for TV streaming trends, 97% of Indians prefer to stream their favourite movies and shows at dinner time.

The good news is that they’re not cutting down on family time, as 74% watched these services with family, especially spouses and children. Family streaming also means they all want to watch it together on their big screens.

According to the study, 78% respondents prefer streaming content on their TVs through streaming sticks, smart TVs, and set-top-boxes as compared to smartphones, tablets and laptops.

TV equals painless streaming

In addition to family time, TV watching offers ergonomic comfort. “Viewing on TV may also allow one to maintain a comfortable body posture, alleviating the aches and pains sometimes associated with watching content while holding the phone,” the study says.

Adding to this is the active broadband connections at most homes. TVs also provide better video and sound quality, and convenience of accessing a variety of content across OTT providers and online sources. Voice assistants, and the convenience of watching live shows and DTH channels all in one single screen also helps.

“Online video streaming has come a long way since its inception, and so has streaming habits of consumers. What has remained a constant is our preference to view content on the biggest screen in our homes – the television,” said Parag Gupta, Director and Country Manager, Amazon Devices India.

What does India love to stream?

Almost 66% of respondents of the study also said that they streamed five hours daily over the weekend. On weekdays, most of them keep it down to three hours of streaming.

As per the study, India loves to watch comedy – which is the most popular genre of content watched. It’s closely followed by sports, thriller, romantic, horror, international TV shows, and news in order of preference.

Ormax too recently released a report on the most streamed movies and shows on OTT. Shahid Kapoor’s Farzi became the most watched Hindi web series with a viewership of around 37 million. Anil Kapoor’s The Night Manager however comes a close second with 28.4 million. Bhuvam Bam starrer Taaza Khabar came at number three with a viewership of 23.5 million. Made in Heaven season 2 ranked at number 10 with 15.7 million.

“Farzi is the only show to cross the 30 million viewership mark in 2023, and is now the most-watched subscription video on demand (SVOD) series in India of all time. Two advertising video on demand AVOD shows from JioCinema, i.e., Asur 2 & Taali, feature in the top five most-watched shows of the year,” said Ormax.

Bawaal starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor was the most streamed movie attracting 21.2 million. Shahid Kapoor is back on the list again with his Bloody Daddy becoming the second most watched movie. The much hyped Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies ranked 13 with a viewership of 10 million.