One week into the lockdown: online media consumption in India

1. General News

While traffic to websites and mobile apps in the “General News” category was showing an increasing trend ever since news of the pandemic started, things accelerated in the second half of March 2020:

• Compared with the previous week, i.e. the week of March 16-22, 2020, visits increased by 30% during the week of March 23-29, 2020;
• Compared with the week of February 10-16, 2020, visits increased by 97% during the week of March 23-29, 2020.

2. Entertainment

Many consumers in India are turning to their sound systems as they spent more time indoors. As a result, visits to websites and mobile apps in the “Entertainment – Music” category increased, most sharply in the second half of the month of March 2020:

• Compared with the previous week, i.e. the week of March 16-22, 2020, visits increased by 35% during the week of March 23-29, 2020;
• Compared with the week of February 10-16, 2020, visits increased by 67% during the week of March 23-29, 2020.

3. Online Gaming

Another form of entertainment which has benefited from the lockdown is online gaming. Again, we are seeing that visits to websites and mobile apps in the “Online Gaming” category increased, mostly in the second half of the month of March 2020:

• Compared with the previous week, i.e. the week of March 16-22, 2020, visits increased by 24% during the week of March 23-29, 2020;
• Compared with the week of February 10-16, 2020, visits increased by 53% during the week of March 23-29, 2020.

4. Sports

The cancellations of nearly all mass sporting events has reverberated online.

• Compared with the previous week, i.e. the week of March 16-22, 2020, visits decreased by 5% during the week of March 23-29, 2020;
• Compared with the week of February 10-16, 2020, visits decreased by 79% during the week of March 23-29, 2020.