India’s OTT Market Hits 1.45 Billion Monthly Active Users as Cheap Data and Smartphones Fuel Streaming Boom

India’s over-the-top streaming market has expanded to about 1.45 billion monthly active users, according to a CLSA-backed estimate cited by IBEF and The Economic Times. The number reflects strong scale growth over the last three years, though it does not represent unique individual viewers, since many users watch content across multiple platforms. Even so, the figure underlines how deeply streaming has penetrated India’s digital media landscape and how firmly the country has emerged as a mobile-first entertainment market.

The growth is being driven by three reinforcing trends: cheap mobile data, rising smartphone penetration, and heavier digital-content consumption. India’s telecom base remains one of the biggest structural supports for OTT expansion. TRAI said India had 1,028.61 million internet subscribers at the end of December 2025, including 983.29 million wireless internet users, giving streaming platforms an enormous addressable audience. Separately, Nokia said average monthly mobile data consumption in India rose to more than 31 GB per user in 2025, showing how video-heavy usage is becoming central to the country’s digital behaviour.

The next growth leg is expected to come from device expansion. The CLSA estimate cited by IBEF says India’s smartphone user base could rise to 885 million by FY28, which would further deepen demand for video entertainment, sports streaming and regional-language content. That matters because OTT growth in India is no longer being driven only by metro audiences. It is increasingly supported by wider smartphone access, better networks and a content mix that travels across languages, price points and formats.

In platform terms, YouTube remains the clear volume leader with about 772 million monthly active users, while JioHotstar has built a strong position at around 390 million, helped by its sports and entertainment catalogues. Among subscription-led global platforms, Netflix has moved ahead of Amazon Prime Video in India, with about 92 million MAUs against Prime Video’s 67 million, according to the same CLSA data reported by The Economic Times. That suggests India’s streaming market is becoming more sharply segmented between mass-scale ad-supported video, sports-led aggregation, and premium subscription services.

For the business side of the media industry, the significance is broader than audience size alone. India’s OTT ecosystem is increasingly turning into a large monetisation engine spanning advertising, subscriptions, sports rights, creator-led content and regional storytelling. The latest user numbers suggest that the market is now moving from a simple scale story to a competition story, where retention, pricing, content localisation and platform strategy will matter as much as raw audience growth. That conclusion is an inference drawn from the market-size and platform-performance data reported by IBEF, ET and TRAI.

Sources:
https://www.ibef.org/news/india-s-ott-market-expands-to-1-45-billion-monthly-active-users-driven-by-data-smartphones
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/indias-ott-market-expands-to-1-45-billion-monthly-active-users-as-platforms-bet-on-scale/articleshow/130138689.cms
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2235044&lang=1&reg=3
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/indias-average-monthly-mobile-data-usage-per-user-hits-31-gb-in-2025-nokia/articleshow/129921729.cms