Streaming companies see paid users soar this year

NEW DELHI : Indians deprived of outdoor activities switched on their screens for media and entertainment in 2020, boosting paid video-on-demand subscriptions by as much as 60% from a year ago.

At least half of these new users are likely to renew their subscriptions, according to the annual media and entertainment report prepared by the Boston Consulting Group and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The report said tier-II, -III and -IV towns led growth in streaming video subscriptions. In these towns, subscriptions grew 1.5 times, compared with metro and tier-I cities during the covid pandemic. Overall media consumption, including print, audio and video, on smartphones that grew 37% from pre-covid levels at the peak of the lockdown, grew 13% after curbs were eased.