We all know that non-English speakers are triggering the fastest adoption of the Internet in India – A Google study conducted last year in the month of April revealed that 90% of new Internet users are non-English speakers, and this speaks volume about the new trend of growth for content consumption.
Maybe this is the reason that Hindi content consumption is increasing at an unbelievable growth rate of 94%, since 2015.
This makes sense as well: Non-English speakers are becoming new Internet users, and hence they are consuming more and more Non-English content as well.
But, what about English language content – both digital and non-digital?
The inclusion of more non-English speaking Internet users is triggering a new growth in consumption of English content?
A new study done by Chrome Data Analytics & Media attempts to find out the trends of English content consumption in rural India, and the results can be an excellent gauge to measure the impact of the Internet and mobile Internet on this activity.
Considering that the study was mainly done for rural India, the findings become even more interesting, as 70% of India is still residing in rural India.
After all, it is thing cross-cultural exchanges which redefine the history of any civilization; and here, Internet & English, both are playing a crucial role in this phenomenon!
Movies Triggering More English Content Consumption!
The fascinating part of the study is that consumption of English language content in rural India is being led by movies. Traditionally, it was newspapers, books and magazines which triggered this growth, and then in later years Internet content.
But now, it is English movies which are being watched by rural India increasingly.
Maybe Hollywood can take a note of this fact, and conceptualize their content, especially for Indian rural audience!
While massive 86% of the respondents admitted that they are watching English movies on a regular basis, 79% of them said that they are reading newspapers as well.
English News on TV was reported y 36% as the primary source of English content, while only 29% mentioned English TV series and programs.
Now, the interesting fact here is that 19% of the respondents admitted that they can’t read or speak or write the English language – this clearly means that knowledge of English is not essential for consuming English content.
The rule: Content is King truly reflects here.
TV Beats Internet In Medium
The study finds that only 7% of the respondents watched English TV series/programs after downloading the content, and only 21% of the respondents watched movies after downloading it.
This clearly means that Internet is basically used for knowing about the English content, and TV is the source which is preferred for the consuming English content.
Among the English movie channels available on TV, Star Movies emerged as the winner, as 57% of the respondents watched English movies on this channel; HBO stood at #2 rank as 53% preferred this channel, and Movies Now is at #3 with 44% share.
At #4 is Sony Pix and with 29% AXN is at #5.
Here is a brief overview of the respondents:
- 50% were aged between 25 to 34 years
- 28% were aged between 16 to 24 years
- 81% were male and only 19% were female
- 35% had less than Class 10th qualification
- 33% had at least class 10th qualification
- 24% were 12th pass outs
- 29% were self-employed and 21% were into private jobs
The results here clearly showcase that English content consumption is no doubt increasing, but TV and movies are the catalysts which are triggering this growth.
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