The findings of the pan-India study were based on the responses of 429 working professionals and students that were gathered in April and May. (Representational)The two months of lockdown owing to the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a 25 per cent spike in people consuming a minimum of four hours of daily web content, stated a study conducted by MICA’s Centre for Media and Entertainment Studies (CMES). The study mapped changes in media consumption patterns and platform engagements which took place during the lockdown period.
Online courses were the first choice followed by social gaming, revealed the study “Covid-19 and Content Consumption” by a team from MICA including Professor Santosh Patra, head of CMES, with Leslin Bastian and three final year students from MICA’s postgraduate programme – Piyush Goswami, Mohammad Salman Khan and Aakriti Ananya.
The findings of the pan-India study were based on the responses of 429 working professionals and students that were gathered in April and May.
Sharing further insights on Over The Top (OTT) platforms, Prof Santosh Patra said, “The study reveals that comedy was the most popular genre during the lockdown as people looked to escape from their fears and anxieties. Over 75 percent of the respondents chose it as their go-to genre. Drama and thrillers were the second and the third most watched genres after comedy, respectively.”
Prof Patra said that the lockdown resulted in a surge of using social gaming apps. “In terms of news, nearly 57 per cent of the respondents termed social media as the primary source of news, followed by news apps. The newspaper was the least preferred source of news with only 18% of respondents choosing it”, the study stated.
Dr Shailendra Raj Mehta, president and director of MICA, said, “As the world took a giant pause due to the lockdown, a lot of upheavals occurred in media consumption patterns. The study has stumbled upon new patterns of consumption that would help understand how the crisis has led to a change in preferences from an Indian perspective.”