BARC India & Nielsen Media Explain “Impact Of COVID -19 On TV Viewership And Smartphone Behaviour Across India – Edition 6
This is the sixth edition of the report on ‘Crisis Consumption on TV and Smartphones’ jointly released by BARC India and Nielsen Media.
BARC India is the official currency on Television Measurement in India and Nielsen Media runs a 12000 strong smartphone panel in India passively capturing smartphone behaviour.
Some of the Key Highlights of TV and Smartphone consumption during the fifth week of Lockdown are as follows: –
1. “CORONA Virus” searches now waning – down to 32% among Top 100 Google searches
2. TV consumption seems to be stabilising now – at 1.16 Trillion minutes this week, a drop from last week but growth of 31% over pre-COVID period – Growth in Mega Cities is higher than growth in Rural
3. The new normal of around 3 hrs, 40 minutes spent per day on Smartphone seems to have set in
4. News and Movies on TV have started to taper off as compared to last few weeks but continue to operate at 2X levels over the pre-COVID period
5. News franchise on Smartphone continues to evoke massive interest among Audiences
6. Hindi GEC in Urban HSM grew by 31% over the pre-COVID period whereas strong gains for Movies and Original Series on OTT platforms continue on the Smartphone
7. Drop observed in viewership as Ramayana transitioned to Uttar Ramayan
8. Heavy viewers of last year’s IPL watched just 2% of sports in the last 4 weeks (down from 20% last year) – viewership shifted to GEC, Movies, News
9. Lack of Sports pushes the Sports Audiences to more Virtual Connectedness & Gaming Apps
10. FCT on TV stable this week whereas Digital Video Ad spends (select platforms) at the lowest among last four weeks across most categories