Mi India has released its annual trend report ‘PatchWall Replay 2020’. It is based on usage data gathered from customers who bought Mi TV models (which calculates to roughly over 5 million consumers across 25+ content partners). On a side note, a lot of critics have claimed that Mi TV is easily one of the most pocket-friendly smart TV with features that are worth a shot in the market. The report shows some really interesting patterns, trends, and viewer consumption analysis in India.
Mi India had introduced PatchWall on Mi TV in 2018. An earlier version had already been introduced in China in the year 2016. Patchwall is Mi’s own Artificial Intelligence TV system. With a huge partnership and collaboration model both in India and globally, Patchwall has a huge content library.
Digital interaction through entertainment, news, work, and more increased extensively and there is no doubt about it. The year 2020 can be considered as the golden era of media streaming.
Commenting on the unveiling of the report, Eshwar Nilakantan, Category Lead – Mi TVs, Mi India, told Business Insider, “Mi TVs have become an integral part of families and consumers’ lives and they further solidify Mi India’s leadership in the smart TV segment. Having sold over 5 million TVs, we not only understand the requirements of Indian consumers but have also taken significant steps to address their needs. “Content first” has always been our Mi TV team’s philosophy and that led the company to introduce PatchWall on Mi TVs and since then, we have rolled out over 40+ features and extended partnership with 25+ content partners. We are happy to unveil PatchWall Replay 2020’, it throws light on what India watched in 2020, across all OTT platforms.”
Let’s look at some of trends and consumption patterns:
Kid’s Content
Online learning and ed-tech experienced a drastic surge in 2020. As per its report, Xiaomi says it saw a 177 percent increase in the edutainment category along with a 205 percent increase in overall kids streaming. “Wheels on the bus’, ‘Tales of Akbar and Birbal’, ‘Bal Ganesha’ stole the show for the Kids section. ‘Show yourself’ and ‘Baby Shark’ was the choice of music. While the schools were finding new ways to keep the kids at home, nursery rhymes and DIY videos saw a significant spike from March to August. The kids took over the screens and so did the kids mode on the respective devices. There were more than a million kids mode sessions on the platform.
Silver screen to Digital screen
The content pipeline was indeed disrupted for some time but it did not cease.
PatchWall Replay 2020 suggests a 2.5x increase in the number of people watching movies on weekdays as compared to 2019. There was reportedly a 97% increase in the movies category. Some of the popular watches of 2020 were: Chintu ka Birthday, Dil Bechara, Lootcase, Chhalaang, Angrezi Medium, Khaali Peeli, and more. There was a surge in the original content production irrespective of the OTT platforms. Shows like Pataal Lok, Mirzapur 2, Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, and more were responsible for increasing the engagement rate. The April to August 2020 period saw significant growth in movie viewing on PatchWall.
Music & Fitness
More than 20 million minutes were spent in the music department as reported. Genda Phool, Illegal Weapon, Dus Bahane, Bhankaas, and Khulke Jeena ka were some of the popular hits.
With all the gyms, parks, and pools closed, people resorted to find a digital way to keep up their fitness spirits high. There was a 93% increase in the fitness viewership. The top choices in the fitness category were: how to lose weight in 21 days, meditation for relaxation, and yoga stretches.
News and regional landscape
One generally speaks in their regional language when at home. Hence, content in regional languages too saw a spike by around 56 percent. The top languages that saw an increased consumption trend were Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali.
Locked down in the house with unpredictability circling us, news channels were no less than an escape for many. No wonder there was a 161% increase in news viewership.
Don’t forget to tell us how you think this data might change in the coming six months!