The YouTube Effect: What Local OTT Platforms Must Do to Compete
With YouTube’s massive lead, local streamers can fight back
Hey Streamers 👋,
A warm welcome to the 76th edition of the “Streaming in India” newsletter, your weekly news digest about streaming players, OTT trends, and analyses. If you are not already a subscriber, please sign up and join thousands of others who receive it directly in their inbox every Wednesday.
Agenda
‘24 Unique Visitor (UV) numbers on Indian Streaming as per Comscore
YouTube's Unrivaled Position
Decoding YouTube's Dominance: Strategic Pillars
How can Local Streamers compete better with YouTube?
And….Action!
‘24 Unique Visitor (UV) numbers on Indian Streaming as per Comscore
India's digital entertainment sector has experienced remarkable growth, with streaming platforms playing a pivotal role in shaping content consumption habits.
Recent data from Comscore's "India Year in Review ‘24: Setting Stage for 2025" report offers insights into platform performances and emerging trends [Source: e4m]
Leading Streaming Platforms in India
YouTube: Dominates with 411 million unique visitors across desktop and mobile platforms in December ‘24.
MX Player [Now Amazon MX Player]: Secures the second spot with 99 million unique visitors, reflecting its strong user base.
Spotify: Achieves third place with 91 million unique visitors, indicating the rising popularity of digital audio streaming.
Hotstar: Attracts 89 million unique visitors, maintaining its position as a key player in the video streaming market.
JioCinema: Garners 72 million unique visitors, showcasing its growing influence in the streaming sector.
YouTube's Unrivaled Position
With 411 million unique visitors in December ‘24, YouTube’s audience is more than four times the size of its closest video streaming competitor. To put this into perspective:
YouTube’s reach (411M) is greater than the combined total of MX Player (99M), Spotify (91M), Hotstar (89M), and JioCinema (72M) – a total of 351 million.
MX Player, the second-largest platform, has only 24% of YouTube’s unique visitor base.
Spotify, the largest audio-only platform, is seeing rapid growth at 91M visitors, yet remains at just 22% of YouTube’s footprint.
Hotstar and JioCinema (now JioHotstar), the two biggest OTT players, together reach 161M users—still less than 40% of YouTube’s total audience.
YouTube's leadership is underscored by its extensive reach and engagement:
User Base: India boasts the largest YouTube audience globally, with approximately 476 million users as of July ‘24.
Connected TV (CTV) Growth: Consumption on CTV devices surged by 132% over two years, escalating from 15 billion hours in August 2022 to over 35 billion hours by August ‘24.
Content Creator Ecosystem: Over 11,000 Indian YouTubers have surpassed 1 million subscribers each, marking a 50% year-on-year increase.
YouTube's Unmatched Reach and Influence
The vast user base underscores YouTube's deep penetration into the Indian market, reflecting its integral role in the daily digital lives of millions.
Emerging Trends in India's Streaming Landscape
The broader streaming ecosystem in India reveals several noteworthy developments:
Surge in User-Generated Content (UGC): Platforms dominated by UGC, such as YouTube and Meta, accounted for 89% of online video viewership in the first nine months of 2024, capturing 57% of online video revenue.
Monetization Dynamics: Indian content creators on YouTube earn approximately ₹53.46 per 1,000 views, highlighting the platform's role in fostering a viable digital economy for creators.
Decoding YouTube's Dominance: Strategic Pillars
Several strategic factors contribute to YouTube's preeminent position in India's streaming ecosystem:
Pre-Installed Accessibility: YouTube's integration as a default application on most Android devices (Indian market share at 94% - 95%) ensures immediate user access without additional downloads, significantly lowering entry barriers. Especially in Tier 2/3 and rural India, getting an app downloaded on a user’s device is a task leading to significant CAC [Customer Acquisition Cost] for competitors. YouTube has a towering advantage!
User-Friendly Interface: An intuitive design caters to a diverse demographic, facilitating effortless navigation and personalized content discovery. When one thinks of YouTube, the one statement that comes to mind - “EASY TO USE” - onboarding of creators, advertisers and agencies is via a self serve platform with simple explanation and self help videos for the most part.
Diverse Content Ecosystem: From educational tutorials to entertainment, YouTube's vast and varied content library caters to a wide array of interests, ensuring relevance across different user segments.
Robust Monetization Opportunities: YouTube offers creators multiple revenue streams, including ad revenue, channel memberships, and merchandise shelves, attracting a vast pool of content producers.
Community Engagement: Features such as comments, live chats, and community posts foster a sense of community, enhancing user engagement and loyalty.
Algorithmic Precision: YouTube's sophisticated recommendation system leverages machine learning to provide personalized content suggestions, increasing user retention and watch time.
How can Local Streamers compete better with YouTube?
The purpose of this newsletter is to showcase some of YouTube’s successful strategies in India and use those benchmarks to kickstart a debate on a few areas of inspiration for regional streamers which could potentially lead to better outcomes for the Indian streaming industry overall -
1. Enhancing User Experience: Frictionless Access & Better Engagement
Challenge: YouTube offers instant, barrier-free access—no sign-ups, no subscriptions, just instant video consumption.
What Streaming Platforms Can Do:
✔ One-Tap Access – Reduce sign-up requirements; allow social logins and seamless authentication.
✔ Personalized Home Screens – AI-powered recommendation engines that curate content based on user behavior.
✔ Offline Viewing & Data Optimization – Improve compression technology & adaptive streaming for low-data users.
✔ Interactive Features – Add commenting, live reactions, and social sharing tools to boost engagement.
Example: JioHotstar has already experimented with a free ad-supported model and easy access to IPL streaming, driving mass adoption.
2. Expanding Content Diversity: Going Beyond Premium Content
Challenge: YouTube thrives on User-Generated Content (UGC), providing an infinite supply of free videos—something traditional streaming platforms lack.
What Streaming Platforms Can Do:
✔ Invest in Regional & Hyperlocal Content – Focus on tier-2, tier-3, and vernacular audiences that are underserved.
✔ Crowdsourced & UGC Integrations – Allow users to upload content, short videos, or engage in live streaming.
✔ Niche Genres & Experiential Content – Double down on sports, anime, interactive gaming, reality shows, and live events.
Example: MX Player (now Amazon MX Player) is known for free regional content, but to challenge YouTube, it could introduce more short-form UGC features.
3. Flexible Monetization Models: Hybrid Approaches for All Users
Challenge: YouTube runs on a freemium model, combining ad-supported free content with YouTube Premium subscriptions—giving users both choice and flexibility.
What Streaming Platforms Can Do:
✔ Ad-Supported Tiers – Platforms like JioHotstar & Amazon MXPlayer have already moved toward AVOD (Ad-Supported Video On Demand) models.
✔ Microtransactions & Pay-Per-View – Instead of monthly subscriptions, offer per-movie, per-show, or per-event pricing.
✔ Freemium Upsells – Allow users to watch 5–10 minutes free before upselling premium content.
✔ Exclusive Creator Partnerships – Work with top YouTubers & influencers to bring their content to OTT platforms.
Example: Spotify India launched freemium access with ads, free streaming, and premium paid plans—a model video platforms can replicate.
4. Strengthening Creator Economy: Competitive Monetization for Influencers
Challenge: YouTube offers a robust monetization system through ads, memberships, super chats, and affiliate links, making it the preferred platform for content creators.
What Streaming Platforms Can Do:
✔ Revenue Sharing with Creators – Offer a bigger revenue split on ad-supported content to lure top creators away from YouTube.
✔ Live Streaming Commerce – Introduce live shopping integrations where influencers can monetize directly through product sales.
✔ Exclusive Content Licensing – Pay creators upfront for exclusive content drops to drive engagement.
✔ Creator Incubation Programs – Train new-generation influencers and provide them with better distribution and revenue tools.
Example: JioHotstar has worked with Bollywood stars, but no platform has built a strong YouTuber-first ecosystem like YouTube yet.
5. Leveraging AI, Search, & Personalization
Challenge: YouTube’s AI-powered recommendation engine ensures infinite scroll engagement, keeping users hooked for hours.
What Streaming Platforms Can Do:
✔ Smart AI-Based Search – Improve discoverability with better AI-tagging, metadata, and real-time search recommendations.
✔ Custom Playlists & Smart Curation – Allow users to curate playlists & get AI-driven recommendations.
✔ Multi-Screen & Second-Screen Features – Enable synchronized viewing across devices and social viewing parties.
Example: Netflix’s "Top 10 in India" list and JioHotstar’s "Watch Together" feature are early steps in the right direction.
6. Exclusive Live Content & Event-Based Strategy
Challenge: YouTube has music concerts, sports analysis, live shows, and real-time community discussions—something most OTTs don’t offer.
What Streaming Platforms Can Do:
✔ Exclusive Live Sports & Events – Invest in regional sports, niche live streaming (gaming, esports, political debates, concerts).
✔ Live Talk Shows & Community Streams – Enable real-time viewer interactions with celebrities, influencers, and analysts.
✔ Co-Watching & Interactive Viewing – Let users watch together, comment live, and react in real time.
Example: JioHotstar’s IPL Free Streaming was a game-changer—platforms must double down on exclusive, free live content.
7. Strategic Distribution: Building an Ecosystem Beyond Mobile
Challenge: YouTube comes pre-installed on every Android phone, giving it instant accessibility—a major advantage no streaming platform has.
What Streaming Platforms Can Do:
✔ Partnerships with Smartphone Brands – Pre-load the app on devices from Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo, and OnePlus.
✔ Deep Telecom Bundling – Collaborate with Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone for zero-data access to streaming platforms.
✔ Connected TV First Approach – Target India’s booming Smart TV & Fire Stick market with exclusive TV-based content.
Example: Amazon MXPlayer is integrated into the Amazon Shopping app, creating seamless entry points for users.
Conclusion
YouTube's dominance in India's streaming landscape is the result of a strategic blend of accessibility, a vast content ecosystem, and user-centric features. Competing platforms must innovate and adapt to these dynamics to capture and retain user engagement in this rapidly evolving digital era.
Feel like getting in touch with your spiritual/religious side in India: look no further than “Legends of Shiva” on Discovery+ (probably THE most underrated streaming app in India). India’s best-selling author Amish Tripathi has been working on documentaries for some time now and his latest outing is Discovery India’s Legends of Shiva With Amish. The most revered Hindu figure of Lord Shiva catapulted Tripathi to pop-culture fame with his debut novel trilogy in 2010 [The Immortals of Meluha].
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I think what most of us ignore is that YouTube is JioHotstar & Spotify combined. While OTT platforms must invest to squeeze a lot more from existing users, they may have to look beyond UGC video and audio content. Because the big daddy (YT) already owns it. Not sure this can be reversed. However, formats like gaming, news, etc. can be explored by regional OTT platforms to offer unique stuff that YT may not.