Indian consumers prefer to view ads than pay for video streaming content: Report

New Delhi: India remains a country that doesn’t want to pay for media and entertainment content. According to results from a new report, about 25% of the OTT (over-the-top video streaming) population wants to pay nothing and watch ads while consuming content, 25% is willing to pay a lower fee with limited ads, 14% would like to pay a higher fee to be free from ads; and 14% would like an option where they can customise their price and ad packages.

Overall, 35% of the consumer population might be open to a reduced monthly subscription OTT package that serves ads -- depending on the price, whereas 44% said they would definitely sign up for this option.

Brightcove Inc., a global provider of cloud solutions for video, today published a report on consumer preferences towards OTT services, including subscription tiers, motivators driving subscriptions, how much consumers are willing to pay and their tolerance to advertising and ad-supported subscriptions. Titled 2019 Asia OTT Research Report, the study has been conducted with research partner YouGov, a global public opinion and data company. The study polled 9,000 participants across nine countries in Asia, including 1,000 consumers in India.

“Indian consumers do not mind seeing ads as part of their shows, especially if they are getting a deal (value for money). OTT service providers should take advantage of this preference and make the advertising experience engaging while limiting ad loads per break,” Janvi Morzaria, sales director, India, at Brightcove, said in a statement.

Overall, 48% of total OTT consumers in India have adopted subscription models, 33% have never used subscription services, while 67% have subscribed to one at some point in their life.

Subscription fatigue is not common for users in India, according to the report, as content was the primary driver for their subscription to multiple OTT services. From wanting more content options (42%) and satisfying the content needs for an entire family (42%) to content not being available on any single OTT service (42%), content is clearly the primary driver for subscribing to multiple OTT services in India.

However, it is not uncommon for consumers to unsubscribe their OTT services. Reasons for unsubscribing include finding that the platform is too expensive and doesn’t offer value (39%), discovering content from free streaming services (27%) and some finding the service to not offer enough content (25%).

When asked how much consumers would be willing to pay for OTT services, 37% stated less than $1 per month, 27% would pay between $1-$4 per month, and 16% would pay $5-$9 per month. 22% of Indian respondents found two ads as an acceptable advertising load per ad break and 13% were open to three ads per break.

Among the most wanted OTT service features, offline downloads (42%), access on mobile (42%), and using less data on mobile (40%) ranked high.