Every time Prime Minister Narendra Modi intimates about addressing the nation, there’s a bit of frenzy in anticipation of what’s going to be the agenda. In his first address on March 19, he appealed to the 1.3 billion people to follow a one-day janta curfew on March 22, alongside announcing a ban on international flight arrivals to combat the coronavirus pandemic. That approximate 30-minute address was watched by 83 million people across 192 channels.
In the BARC India & Nielsen Media Explain, “The Crisis Consumption - Impact Of COVID-19 On TV And Smartphone Behaviour Across India", it is revealed that the number of viewers for the PM’s announcement have only grown in the following sessions. The second address on March 24, announcing the 21-day lockdown garnered 192 million viewers across 201 channels.
The third one on April 3 had 119 million viewers across 199 channels. And, the fourth one on April 14, announcing the second phase of the lockdown till May 3, saw a tremendous increase as the viewers count reached 203 million for the 25-minute address. It had a total of four billion viewing minutes, the highest among the four addresses.
In the meanwhile, the COVID-19 has become one of the most searched terms, with 40 per cent of the top 100 Google searches last week being on COVID.
The Aarogya Setu app developed by the National Informatics Centre (under the Ministry of Electronics and IT) that helps in tracking COVID-19 on Android and iOS smartphones, the government informed, has been downloaded 50 million times. “Telephone took 75 years to reach 50 milion users, radio 38 yrs,television 13 yrs,Internet 4 yrs, Facebook 19 months, Pokemon Go 19 days. #AarogyaSetu, India’s app to fight COVID-19 has reached 50 mn users in just 13 days-fastest ever globally for an App Salute the spirit of India!” Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog tweeted. However, as per the data shared by BARC-Nielsen, only 1 in 10 people are using the app.
“The COVID disruption has given a big fillip to education apps. The time spent on education apps has grown by 40 per cent. News franchise have also seen a big increase, so has YouTube,” said Dolly Jha, Country Leader, Nielsen Global Media during a webinar.
TV consumption has grown by 38 per cent over pre-COVID period and is now at 1.2 trillion minutes. Hindi GEC attains all-time high viewership of four billion since 2015 in Hindi speaking market (HSM) this week, while movies showed an increase across HSM, while GEC continues to lead in south markets.
The top five content for digital audiences is a mix of fiction, history, mythology and supernatural. Going by the gross consumption, Money Heist on Netflix was the most watched show last week on streaming mediums followed by Aaj Tak (Disney+Hotstar), Mahabharat (Disney+Hotstar), ABP News (Disney+Hotstar), ABP Ananda (Disney+Hotstar), Bigg Boss (Voot) among others. The News franchise on Digital is close to 50 per cent now, almost a 25 per cent jump from the Pre- COVID period) with wide news consumption showing a growth of 75 per cent.
The movies that did really well on the streaming platforms include Mission Mangal, Chichhore, Angrezi Medium, Housefull 4, Arjun, Good Newzz, Shikara among others.