One in four Indians uses only a mobile phone for everything from Netflix to social media

A Kantar survey reveals a significant shift in Indian media consumption, with 23% relying solely on mobile phones for entertainment in early 2025, up from 15% in 2023. This trend, driven by affordable smartphones and data plans, benefits companies like Netflix and Starlink seeking growth in India. Surging e-commerce further expands digital access, particularly in rural areas, impacting various industries.
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Nearly one in four Indians said in a survey they use only mobile phones to consume entertainment and media content, ditching television, in a telling sign for firms from Netflix Inc. to Starlink Inc. seeking growth in the world's largest consumer market.The number of users who only use digital channels ballooned to 23% in the March quarter of 2025, according to market research firm Kantar's Media Compass report this week, which surveyed 87,000 Indians across the country. That compares with 15% in the same period in 2023.The smartphone-only audience is skewed toward the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, along with more rural users and men, said Puneet Avasthi, director of specialist businesses at Kantar's Insights Division for South Asia.Booming internet access, spurred by affordable smartphones and monthly mobile phone tariffs as low as $4, has made India among the largest digital consumer bases. This trend will help finetune marketing strategies of global media giants, including Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video and Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram, which are seeking more subscribers in the nation with more than 1.4 billion consumers.Satellite internet in India is also set to get a boost, with Starlink receiving approval from India's telecom ministry to roll out its services capping a years-long effort by Elon Musk's firm.Digital platforms provide potential for a 'very wide basket of categories' to grow among India's masses, Avasthi said. Surging e-commerce presence is allowing consumers to buy products that are not otherwise available in rural markets with 'the click of a button,' he added.From electrical appliance firms like Voltas Ltd. who benefit from deepening electrification to soft drink and snack sellers, multiple industries are targeting rural audiences, Avasthi said.Online marketplaces like Softbank Group Corp.-backed Meesho and Walmart Inc.-backed Flipkart are also deepening their penetration in smaller towns in India by selling more affordable products, riding on the growing digital presence of Indian buyers.Netflix offers a mobile-only plan for as little as 149 rupees ($1.72) in the country, with other providers also offering similar mobile-only experiences.Apart from mobile phones, the more premium option of connected TV, which allows users to watch television as well as access the internet, has emerged as a 'strong segment' with 35 million users being added in the quarter, according to the Kantar report.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Print

40 minutes ago

• The Print

Govt meets stakeholders to assess impact of Iran-Israel conflict on trade; monitoring situation

The participants informed that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is currently stable and a ship reporting system is in place to monitor any incidents. New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) The commerce ministry on Friday held consultations with key stakeholders, including shipping lines, exporters, container firms, and other departments, to assess the impact of the Iran-Israel conflict on India's overseas trade, an official said. The freight and insurance rates are also being closely monitored, the official said. The commerce secretary emphasised the need to assess the evolving situation and its impact on Indian trade, the official said. He highlighted the importance of exploring all possible alternatives in response to the situation. Exporters have stated that the war, if escalated further, would impact world trade and push both air and sea freight rates. They have expressed apprehensions that the conflict may impact the movement of merchant ships from the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. Nearly two-thirds of India's crude oil and half of its LNG imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has now threatened to close. This narrow waterway, only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, handles nearly a fifth of global oil trade and is indispensable to India, which depends on imports for over 80 per cent of its energy needs. According to think tank GTRI, any closure or military disruption in the Strait of Hormuz would sharply increase oil prices, shipping costs, and insurance premiums, triggering inflation, pressuring the rupee, and complicating India's fiscal management. The present conflict that began with an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 had brought cargo movement through Red Sea routes to a halt due to attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial shipping. Last year, the situation around the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping route connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, escalated due to attacks by Yemen-based Houthi militants. Around 80 per cent of India's merchandise trade with Europe passes through the Red Sea, and substantial trade with the US also takes this route. Both these geographies account for 34 per cent of the country's total exports. The Red Sea Strait is vital for 30 per cent of global container traffic and 12 per cent of world trade. India's exports to Israel have fallen sharply to USD 2.1 billion in 2024-25 from USD 4.5 billion in 2023-24. Imports from Israel came down to USD 1.6 billion in the last fiscal from USD 2.0 billion in 2023-24. Similarly, exports to Iran, amounting to USD 1.4 billion, which were at the same level in 2024-25 as well as in 2023-24, could also suffer. India's imports from Iran were at USD 441 million in FY25 as against USD 625 million in the previous year. The conflict adds to the pressure that the world trade was under after the US President Donald Trump announced high tariffs. Based on the tariff war impact, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has already said that global trade will contract 0.2 per cent in 2025 as against the earlier projection of 2.7 per cent expansion. India's overall exports had grown 6 per cent on year to USD 825 billion in 2024-25. PTI RR HVA This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

New Indian Express

42 minutes ago

• New Indian Express

India's basmati export takes another hit after Trump tariffs as Israel-Iran war intensifies

CHANDIGARH: Already grappling with US President Donald Trump's 26 per cent tariff, the ongoing Israel-Iran war has triggered a fresh crisis in the Indian basmati rice export market. Indian basmati exporters find themselves caught in a web of woes, with stuck consignments, delayed payments, plummeting prices, and fears of a domestic glut. Iran is the second-highest importer of Indian basmati after Saudi Arabia, with the sela (parboiled) variety particularly cherished in Iranian kitchens. In the 2023–24 fiscal year, a total of 59.42 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of basmati rice was exported from the country. Of these exports, basmati rice was mainly sent to five countries: 7 LMT to Iran, 11 LMT to Saudi Arabia, 8 LMT to Iraq, 3 LMT to Yemen, and 3 LMT to the US, with the remainder going to other countries. This development is likely to severely affect Punjab, the highest producer of basmati rice in the country, accounting for 40 per cent of production, followed by Haryana and other states.

Indian Express

an hour ago

• Indian Express

‘Mastered art of slogans, not solutions': Rahul Gandhi takes dig at PM Modi over India's ‘record low' manufacturing

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mastered the 'art of slogans' but offers no solutions, and claimed that India's manufacturing was at a record low despite the 'Make in India' initiative. ''Make in India' promised a factory boom. So why is manufacturing at record lows, youth unemployment at record highs, and why have imports from China more than doubled? 'Modi ji has mastered the art of slogans, not solutions. Since 2014, manufacturing has fallen to 14 per cent of our economy,' he said in a post on X. 'Make in India' promised a factory boom. So why is manufacturing at record lows, youth unemployment at record highs, and why have imports from China more than doubled? Modi ji has mastered the art of slogans, not solutions. Since 2014, manufacturing has fallen to 14% of our… — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 21, 2025 Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, said Modi has 'no new ideas' and has 'surrendered'. 'Even the much-hyped PLI scheme is now being quietly rolled back,' he alleged. Gandhi said India needs a fundamental shift, one that empowers lakhs of producers through honest reforms and financial support. 'We must stop being a market for others. If we don't build here, we'll keep buying from those who do. The clock is ticking,' he said. Gandhi met mobile repair technicians at Nehru Place, Delhi and attached a video of the conversation to the post. 'In Nehru Place, New Delhi, I met Shivam and Saif – bright, skilled, full of promise – yet denied the opportunity to fulfil it.' Noting that there is a difference between 'Made in India' and 'Assembled in India', he said: 'The truth is stark: we assemble, we import, but we don't build. China profits.' 'China is the world's electronic market. There is no other electronic market anywhere. Assembly as many iPhones as you want, all you are doing is giving money to the big oligopolies of India. Start making iPhones, it's a completely different ball game,' he said in the video. The former Congress chief said to manufacture parts, whether it is a motherboard or 'small pieces', you need a certain level of machining, a certain level of quality, a certain level of understanding of tolerances of working with small components. 'That is a learnt skill. That is not something you can get in just two minutes. Until you start respecting the idea of physical labour, the man who is doing that work…But we have no respect for that guy on the street who is sitting there, selling his things, for hours together…' 'And, at the centre of it, and people don't like it when I say it, and at the centre of it is the idea of caste. We need to make this transparent. We need to show exactly how Indian society distributes power, exactly how Indian society distributes respect,' Gandhi observed. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have raised the issue of conducting a nationwide caste census to ascertain if various castes in society have a proportionate 'share' of power.