Kantar said it conducted research discussions in 16 cities, interviewing over 4,600 Indians across 43 urban cities in 14 states from November 2022 to March 2023 and conducted research in 8 Indian languages (Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil). and Telugu). ,
According to the findings of the report, “Indian Languages - Understanding India digital news Consumers”, Indians use an average of 5.05 online platforms to get news content.
YouTube is the most used source of news
The report said that 93% of people in India said they get their news from YouTube. Platforms are followed by social media websites including Instagram and Facebook (88%), and instant messaging apps (82%). Search engines, such as Google Search, ranked fourth with 61%, followed by published news apps/websites (45%).
When it comes to 8 Indian languages, 65% trust both the publisher’s app/website and the news aggregator. Only 33% get their news from the publisher’s app/website.
Video Most Popular News Format
The report also states that video is the most popular format for watching news, regardless of language. However, when it comes to 8 Indian languages, Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada speakers rely on text news. Marathi and Malayalam speaking consumers have a high proportion of audio news subscribers.
According to the findings, short-form and long-form content work in tandem in India. When it comes to engagement with video duration on YouTube, 25% always watch clips of less than 60 seconds while 19% always watch longer clips.
Misinformation or news?
The Kantar report also pointed out that 1 in 5 Indian language users said they frequently encounter misinformation, with Bengali and Marathi speakers claiming to do so with greater frequency.
Almost 80% – often (19%) and sometimes (61%) – of people claimed that they see news that seems suspicious and difficult to tag as real or misinformation. It also pointed out that 43% of news spread through WhatsApp or word of mouth is not found on any news website/app.
Respondents said that about 40% of news about major events is not heard from anyone else around, 38% is repetition/resurgence of old news as a current event/occurrence and 37% is sensational news.