Hotstar leads entertainment app installations, Jio in live TV: Study

Video streaming platform Hotstar leads the over-the-top entertainment app segment with 49 per cent share in terms of smartphone installations, while Jio's Live Tv leads the live channel category with 30 per cent share, a study said Thursday.

According to the techARC-Unomer MegaInsight study, around 79 per cent of smartphone users access over-the-top (OTT) mobile applications for entertainment in India, which is in addition to the 'casual' entertainment of YouTube and other UGC (User Generated Content) platforms like TikTok.

"Over the past 3 years we have seen a lot of enablement both from the Smartphone OEMs as well as operators' sides. This has facilitated growth of OTT Entertainment services as well as the consumption," techARC's founder and Chief Analyst, Faisal Kawoosa said in a statement.

The study found that Hotstar has the highest penetration of 49 per cent on smartphone devices in entertainment OTT app category, followed by Times Internet's MX Player with 42 per cent share.

"One of the main factors for Hotstar's growth has been its sports, especially cricket content, be it IPL or now the World Cup Championship," the statement said.

Amazon Prime Video had 15 per cent share, while that of Netflix was 13 per cent.

In the live TV app category, Jio leads the market with 30 per cent penetration among smartphone users and was distantly followed by Airtel and Vodafone Play, according to the study.

"Video has emerged as a category where we are seeing a large number of players that can co-exist and each player can create a market for itself, unlike other sectors like e-commerce and social media, where there is dominance of 1-2 players," Unomer CEO and co-founder Vinay Bapna said.