More Indians preferring Indian languages online over English: Axis My India survey

The CSI survey reveals OTT penetration at 27% with majority preferring Hotstar.

Consumer’s online behaviour reflects a preference for Indian languages over others, reveals the India Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) report by Axis My India, a leading consumer data intelligence company.

A combined 27% said that they prefer engaging with websites and mobile applications in Hindi and other regional languages while 24% preferred English. Moreover it was identified that 31% of the population that resides in the southern part of India prefers using apps and websites in the English language, while 34% prefer regional language based apps and sites. Meanwhile 27% in the northern belt prefers engaging with Hindi based apps and networks. In addition it was discovered that the majority of the youngsters (60%) amongst 18-25 prefer digital interactions in English, whereas those above 51 prefer Hindi and other regional languages.

Only 27% spend time watching content on OTT or video streaming platforms, whereas 73% reflected their view otherwise demonstrating the scope of penetration. Majority of the viewers are of the age of 18-35. A majority directed their choice towards Hotstar followed by Amazon Prime and Netflix. Jio TV and MX Player have emerged as the other top OTT choices.

Pradeep Gupta, CMD, Axis My India, said, “With the year approaching to an end, we witness consumer’s gradual return to normalcy though a slight drop in Net Promoter Score also demonstrates that the impact of festive spending is slowly tapering. While media consumption remains standard for the majority, our CSI Survey has further revealed that consumers from the north as well as the south favour vernacular languages when engaging with the digital mediums. This insight opens up opportunities for various local as well as national and international players in terms of where and in which form to place their brand content and advertisements. Moreover it is interesting to note that despite of a plethora of new age tech firms coming up with IPOs, Indian consumers still prefer to park their confidence in established companies and Government owned stocks and shares, providing a contrarian approach to the FOMO investing theory.”

The month of November reveals the same media consumption for the majority of the families (52%) as last month. This reflects the highest percentage since the last four months and is majorly from the south of India. Consumption has increased for 22% of the family, majorly from east and north, majorly amongst the age group of 18-25 and 26-35. Overall, the Net score of this month is at -4 as compared to -2 for the previous month.

The December net CSI score, calculated by percentage increase minus percentage decrease in sentiment, was down to +8, from +9 last month and the first time a slight dip in the net score was observed since the past 4 months, a reflection of the post-festive period sentiment.

Need a design agency for your project? Choose among 30 such agencies on afaqs! Marketplace now. Click here.