Trends in

Online News
Consumption
Neha Singh
DIRECTOR • CLIENT INSIGHTS, INDIA
Indians love news.

TOP ONLINE CONTENT CATEGORIES BY REACH

India Worldwide
98 82
96 81
94 96
92 95 95 80 81.2
90
94 80.4
79
88 79.6
86 78
84 77 78 77.7
82 84.7 76
80
78 75

% Reach % Reach

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, September 2019, India & Worldwide

India is the second largest online news consuming
nation in the world.
3 OF THE TOP 5 COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD
CONSUMING DIGITAL NEWS ARE IN APAC
700

600
617
500

400

300

200
282
242
100
117 74
0
China India United. States Brazil Indonesia
News Category Unique Visitors (millions)

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, September 2019, Multiple Countries

High news penetration in India compared to other key
populations in the world.
% REACH CONSUMING NEWS
120

100
98 97 96
80
92

60 66
40

20

0
United Kingdom Brazil India United States China
% Reach consuming News

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, September 2019, Multiple Countries

General News tops the chart followed by Business /
Finance.
UNIQUE VISITORS (MILLIONS)

General News 273

Business / Finance 136

Technology 118

Weather 42

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Unique Visitors (millions)

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

Engage to grow!

AVG MINUTES SPENT BY A VISITOR ON NEWS SITES IN INDIA

IS 191 COMPARED TO 293 WORLDWIDE
800

700

600 667
622
500

400
496
300 352 347 344 329 304
200
244 214 211
100
191
0
Finland Norway China United Hong Kong Taiwan United Spain Canada Singapore Ireland India
States Kingdon
Avg Minutes per Visitor

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, Worldwide

How to engage? Mobile leads the way.

TOTAL MINUTES ON NEWS CATEGORY

Singapore

Hong Kong

Taiwan

Malaysia

Vietnam

Indonesia

India

China

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Mobile Desktop

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, Multiple Countries
In India, Mobile Web attracts but Apps engage.

300 35

250 30 33
263
25
200
20
150 176
15
100 15
10

50 5

0 0
Unique Visitors (Millions) Total Minutes (Billions)
Mobile Web Mobile App Mobile Web Mobile App

Source: Comscore Mobile Metrix, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

China is an exception.

UNIQUE VISITORS (MILLIONS)

600

500
507

400

300

263
200
176
100

59 15 27 0.792 22 1 6 6 2 4 1
0
India Indonesia Vietnam Japan China Hong Kong Singapore
Mobile Web Mobile App

Source: Comscore Mobile Metrix, News/Information Category, September 2019, Multiple Countries
Vernacular content shows promise.

Languages UV (000) % Reach

Unique Visitors (Millions) Hindi 192,960 66%

14 9
6 1 Marathi 32,821 11%
15 Malayalam 31,252 11%
15
Oriya 23,065 8%
23
Bengali 15,924 5%
31 192 Telugu 15,631 5%
32 Tamil 14,521 5%
Kannada 9,235 3%

Hindi Marathi Malayalam Oriya Bengali

Gujarati 6,582 2%
Telugu Tamil Kannada Gujarati Punjabi Punjabi 1,191 0.41%

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

Online vernacular story is being led by news.

Hindi Marathi Malayalam Oriya Bengali Telugu Tamil

(192 MM) (32 MM) (31 MM) (23 MM) (15 MM) (15 MM) (14.5 MM)
Odisha
Maharashtra Zee News 24
Aaj Tak Asianet News Television Samayam Vikatan
Times Ghanta
(63 MM) (23 MM) Network Telugu (6 MM) (5.1 MM)
(16 MM) (10 MM)
(15 MM)

News 18 Hindi Loksatta Manorama Orissapost Anandabazar Eenadu News18 Tamil

(43 MM) (13 MM) Online (10 MM) (0.47 MM) .com (7 MM) (5.5 MM) (3.7 MM)

Jagran.com Lokmat Mathrubhumi Orissa Diary Ei Samay Sakshi Dinamalar

(43 MM) (10 MM) (1.3 MM) (0.25 MM) (3.5 MM) (3 MM) (3.7 MM)

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

News aggregators as gateway to news consumption.

NEWS AGGREGATORS ATTRACT THE REACH OF AGGREGATORS

56% OF NEWS VIEWERS INCREASED BY A STAGGERING
300 187% IN A YEAR
180
250 282 160
140
200 120
100
150
80
158
60
100
40
20
50
0

0
News/Information Top News Aggregators
UVs (Millions) UV (000)

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

Dailyhunt is leading the pack of aggregators.

% REACH OF NEWS AGGREGATORS

Dailyhunt 43

Flipboard 6

Newspoint 5

Google News 3

Inshorts 2

UCNews 1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
% reach

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

Video - a catalyst in news content consumption.
Reach of Top 5 Video players in news category saw exponential annual growth.

UNIQUE VISITORS (MILLIONS)

140

120
395%
118
100
39%
80
84
32%
60
60 62
40 47 274%
1973%
20
33
23 9 26
1
0
Network 18 India Today Group ABP News Network Times Internet Limited Zee Digital
Sep-18 Sep-19

Source: Comscore VMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

Videos present an opportunity to engage.
TOTAL VIDEOS CONTRIBUTED BY TOP 5 NEWS TOTAL MINUTES CONTRIBUTED BY TOP 5 NEWS
PLAYERS INCREASED BY 351% IN A YEAR PLAYERS INCREASED BY 326% IN A YEAR

4,500 140
4,000
120
3,500 3,835 118 121 115
3,632
3,485 100 106
3,000
2,500 2,716 2,590 80
76 79
2,000 60
2,080
1,500 58
1,636 1,632 53 50
40
1,356 44
1,000 1,185
985 33
805 20 27 28
500 760
0 0

Total Videos (millions) Linear (Total Videos (millions)) Total Minutes (billions) Linear (Total Minutes (billions))

Source: Comscore VMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

YouTube is the preferred partner for growth in news
videos.

UNIQUE VISITORS (MILLIONS)

140

120
118
100

80
84 85
60
67 62
40 52
20 33
25
0
Network 18 India Today Group ABP News Network Times Internet
UVs from YouTube Total UVs

Source: Comscore VMX Multi-Platform, News/Information Category, September 2019, India

Insights into the behaviour of online news audience.

% OF NEWS AUDIENCES ON TOP CATEGORIES

Social Media 96

Entertainment 95

Retail 94

Search Navigation 93

Financial Services 85

78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98
% of News Audiences

Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, Cross Visiting, September 2019, India

Key takeaways.

News is here to stay, although the formats will keep Partnerships are the cornerstone of News discovery
evolving. and growth.

Video on Mobile is witnessing ever increasing As internet access becomes more and more
engagement. inclusive, Vernacular News and content will continue
exploding.
Exploring further Additional research

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