OTT services beat TV in customer satisfaction in India: Statista report

Digital service providers -- from Netflix to Hotstar -- are bombarding users with original videos-on-demand, threatening the very existence of cable TV with a set-top box.

65% of video consumption comes from rural India. (AP)

Streaming video-on-demand services have beaten TV in customer satisfaction in India as the country is at the third spot (52%) when it comes to pay for content, after China and Brazil, a new report said on Friday.

Germany-based data research firm Statista, in its Digital Economy Outlook, said that Amazon tops the list of digital music services globally.

"The willingness to pay for content is highest in China, Brazil and India (52%), with Germany and UK lagging behind," the findings showed.

The video streaming market in India has exploded -- thanks to Reliance Jio -- with 65% of video consumption coming from rural India that has only 40% internet connectivity. The viewing habits have changed and digital service providers -- from Netflix to Hotstar -- are bombarding users with original videos-on-demand, threatening the very existence of cable TV with a set-top box.

There are currently more than 32 online content and video streaming platforms in the country and the market is expected to hit $5 billion by 2023, according to the global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Online food delivery users in India are mostly young males (52%) while "another hot trend is the growth of the travel market in developing countries such as India and China".

The online food ordering market in India is likely to grow at over 16% annually to touch $17 billion by 2023. The report also noted that more and more people are becoming affluent enough to travel.

'A new generation of local start-ups are entering the market, threatening established players. Examples are mobility service provider Grab in South East Asia or MakeMyTrip in India," the Statista report noted.

Asian consumers are mobile-first, while many European consumers still use their desktops. Ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Ola are growing fast in India.

"Ride-sharing users in India are very young but still have a medium to high income," the findings showed.

Giving an example of Ola, the report said that Southeast Asian tech-start-ups are getting ready for the global unicorn race.

When it comes to ecommerce, Chinese key market players like Alibaba Group, JD and Tencent together add to a comprehensive eCommerce ecosystem in China - and increasingly penetrate other promising Asian markets like Indonesia and India.

"The Chinese population is tech savvy and mobile-first, and Chinese eCommerce giants are therefore constantly pushing technology forward.

"They have diversified into literally every sphere that comes in touch with online retail, from payments to logistics. Current developments in China will - to a large extent - define the next decade's global eCommerce," said the report.