We started publishing The Ormax OTT Audience Report in 2021. The annual report is our endeavour to size the growing Indian OTT (digital video) market using primary research, than rely purely on secondary data, proxy variables (like Internet and smartphone penetration) or industry estimates.

The sixth edition, titled The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2026, based on data collected from 15,000 respondents across India in Jun-Jul 2026, is now out, and available for subscription (see details at the end of this article). The 2026 edition has a detailed CTV deep-dive, and introduces new sections on FAST channel consumption, and e-commerce behaviour across 12 app categories and nine shopping sub-categories. These additions broaden the report beyond content and platform usage, offering a richer view of the digital consumer and creating new opportunities to connect audience behaviour with business and monetisation outcomes.

Here are some key highlights of the report:

1. India's OTT universe has grown by 11% this year, from 601.2 million audiences in 2025 to 664.9 million audiences in 2026. The report defines an OTT audience as anyone who watched at least one online video (free or paid) during the past month, and breaks down this universe by gender, age, media affluence, pop strata, states, and cities.

2. India's CTV (Connected TV) audience base is now at 206.9 million, which is a staggering 60% growth over the 2025 CTV audience base of 129.2 million.

3. The total number of active paid OTT subscriptions (defined as used at least once in the last one month) are estimated at 172.6 million, including subscriptions through telecom bundles and OTT aggregators. Paid subscriptions have seen a 16% growth vis-à-vis 148.2 Mn in 2025.

4. 44 cities in India have an OTT audience that is 1 million or more in size.

5. The average time spent by an average OTT audience in India, including time spent on watching videos on social media, micro drama platforms and FAST channels, is 14.9 hours per week, which translates into total annual watch time of 517 billion hours of video consumption.

6. India has a monthly active user base of 227.3 million audio streamers, of which 15.0 million pay for audio streaming services.

7. FAST channels consumption is beginning to find an audience in India, with an estimated audience size of 35.2 Mn.

8. Micro Dramas, K-Dramas, and Anime have emerged as the fastest-growing content formats, with 50%, 48% and 32% growth in their audience size respectively.

Read the press coverage of the report in The Economic Times, afaqs!, The Hindu Business Line, and The Hollywood Reporter India.

To subscribe to The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2026 please drop in an email to [email protected], and we will connect with you soon.