India has always been driven by engineering and technology, ready to adopt any new solution that enters the market place in the IT world. It has been a very open market in embracing product innovations and enhancement in its own style, whether it be the latest in the expensive iPhone category or smart phones that are designed to cater to the Indian audience at varied income levels. For example an Android phone that is less than 100 USD is freely available in the market place making it extremely easy for online video platforms to adopt and popular amongst masses.
Such easy access to mobile technology has completely revolutionized end user offerings, applications, usage patterns, and more importantly lifestyle. One area that has seen tremendous upsurge in all of this is online video consumption. Numbers suggest a huge uptick in both user base as well as per user consumption specific to the Indian market and growth in supporting functions such as video advertisers, publishers etc. Online video platforms have grown across disciplines/domains, users across gender and age groups (even toddlers), whether it be a DIY video or a complex problem being solved or pure entertainment – you name it, there is a video solution for the same, thanks to the rich content that feeds into these online video platforms.
Articles that talk about the growth in video platforms specific to the Indian market highlight the growth in video content, how the appeal has risen due to short and catchy videos, how new technologies such as AR, VR are making big strides amongst others. At a platform level, even leading players still have their downsides around reach and customization, making room for further enhancements – for example, this post talks about the pros and cons of platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. On another note, there is a lot of discussion and debate at a global level on whether the digital culture, especially online videos, is detrimental to one’s physical and mental health, especially for the kids. Even with such ongoing discussions, the growth in online video platforms is not going to be adversely impacted as the community does understand the pros and cons – the user base is becoming increasingly mature on where to draw the line to benefit from the entire ecosystem rather being disadvantaged by it.
The welcoming trend around surge in online video platforms especially in technology embracing developing countries like India, is only going to rise. Let’s ride the wave responsibly!