What India did with its smartphones in 2013

Mumbai: For a county obsessed with Bollywood, saas-bahu serials and cricket, it doesn’t come as a surprise that over 95 percent Indians use their smartphones for entertainment. Vuclip, the mobile video and media company, tracked some of the most significant trends in 2013 in India with regards to mobile video.[caption id=“attachment_1319943” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sharing videos. Reuters[/caption]

Indians love to share mobile videos. Around 65 percent of Indians share mobile videos as compared to 53 percent globally. The under-18s fuel this phenomenon; a whopping 87 percent say they share mobile videos regularly, which mostly consist of movie trailers. Indians also prefer to watch long-form content on mobile devices.

Moreover, 62 percent of Indian respondents prefer to view movies or TV serials instead of short movie clips on their phones. At 79 percent, this preference for long form content is extremely high among the under-18s. If made available, 89 percent of respondents said they would prefer to watch their favourite movies and 81 percent said they would prefer to watch their favourite TV serials, on their mobiles.

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As much as we like being perpetually glued to our mobile screens, three main concerns prevail. High data costs, issues with buffering and the general lack of interesting content do come in the way of high quality video streaming.

Another significant trend that emerged this year was the use of mobile devices to make purchase decisions. About 66 percent of Indians turn to their mobile devices to research products before making a purchase compared to 60 percent in the US. This is most likely because in a country like India, mobile is not only the first screen, but in many cases the only screen respondents have access to.

“2013 brought a major revolution in democratising access to mobile video for the masses. While it used to be available to only the elite few with smartphones and on high-quality networks, now innovations in technology, as well as pricing have changed the game. Emerging markets like India are at the forefront of the mobile video revolution,” said Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO for Vuclip.

“I expect 2014 to bring even more excitement and passion from consumers around the world for mobile video. We are already starting to see tremendous shifts in the Middle East and throughout Southeast Asia,” he concludes.