India’s OTT audience reaches 664.9 million as connected TV surges 60%, reshaping streaming, broadband and home entertainment.
India’s OTT audience has grown to 664.9 million users in 2026, representing 45% of the country’s population, as streaming continues to expand beyond smartphones and into connected televisions.
According to the Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2026, the country’s OTT audience increased 11% from 601.2 million in 2025. Active paid OTT subscriptions also grew 16% to 172.6 million, while India’s connected TV audience surged 60% to 206.9 million.
The latest numbers highlight a significant change in India’s digital entertainment market: streaming is increasingly becoming a large-screen experience, creating new opportunities and challenges for telecom operators, broadband providers, smart-TV platforms and traditional television distributors.
India’s OTT Audience Reaches 664.9 Million
Ormax estimates that 664.9 million Indians watched at least one online video during the month covered by its research.
The figure includes both free and paid online video consumption. At 45% of India’s population, the OTT universe has expanded considerably from the 601.2 million users recorded in the 2025 edition of the report.
The research was conducted among 15,000 respondents across urban and rural India during June and July 2026. Ormax defines an OTT audience as anyone who watched at least one online video, whether free or paid, during the previous month.
The growth indicates that online video is no longer limited to India’s biggest cities or premium subscribers. Streaming has become a mainstream form of entertainment across a much broader section of the country.
Connected TV Audience Jumps 60%
The most striking figure in the new report is the growth of connected TV.
India’s active CTV audience reached 206.9 million in 2026, representing a 60% increase over the previous year. The figure counts viewers who streamed video on a connected television at least once during the relevant month.
The growth is particularly important because India’s streaming market was traditionally dominated by smartphones. The latest numbers suggest that consumers are increasingly moving between mobile screens and televisions depending on the type of content they want to watch.
Ormax describes this evolution as a shift towards a “two-screen ecosystem”, with smartphones and connected TVs playing increasingly important but complementary roles.
The change also strengthens the case for broadband connectivity inside the home. Watching long-form video, sports and entertainment on a large screen generally makes reliable fixed broadband or strong home wireless connectivity more valuable.
Paid OTT Subscriptions Rise to 172.6 Million
India’s active paid OTT subscription base also expanded during the year.
Ormax estimates 172.6 million active paid subscriptions in 2026, up 16% from 148.2 million in 2025. The figure includes subscriptions obtained directly as well as those accessed through telecom bundles and OTT aggregators.
This distinction is important for India’s telecom industry. A growing portion of the value of a broadband or mobile connection can come from the entertainment services bundled with it rather than connectivity alone.
Jio, Airtel and other broadband providers have increasingly used combinations of OTT subscriptions, television services and cloud or digital benefits to differentiate their plans.
Indians Spend Nearly 15 Hours a Week Watching Online Video
The growth in audience is also accompanied by substantial viewing time.
Ormax estimates that Indian OTT users spend an average of 14.9 hours each week watching online video. Across the country, that translates into an estimated 517 billion hours of annual video consumption.
The definition of online video in the report extends beyond traditional subscription streaming platforms. It includes content watched on social media, micro-drama platforms and FAST channels.
That broader definition reflects how fragmented India’s digital video ecosystem has become, with consumers moving between conventional OTT platforms and newer forms of online entertainment.
Micro-Dramas and K-Dramas See Strong Growth
The report also highlights significant changes in content preferences.
Micro-drama audiences grew 50% during the year, making the format the fastest-growing category tracked by Ormax. K-drama audiences increased 48%, while anime audiences grew 32%.
FAST channels are also beginning to establish a meaningful audience in India, with Ormax estimating 35.2 million viewers.
The growth of these formats shows that India’s digital video market is becoming more diverse rather than simply shifting audiences from television channels to conventional OTT services.
What the OTT Growth Means for DTH
The rapid expansion of OTT and CTV does not mean traditional DTH is disappearing immediately. However, it increases the competitive pressure on conventional pay-TV distribution.
The 206.9 million CTV audience is particularly significant because connected televisions combine the large-screen experience traditionally associated with DTH and cable with the flexibility of internet-based streaming.
For consumers with reliable broadband, a smart TV or streaming device can increasingly become the centre of home entertainment without requiring the same dependence on a conventional DTH connection.
At the same time, DTH operators can respond by adding OTT aggregation, connected-TV services and broadband offerings to their existing television businesses.
The shift therefore represents more than a simple replacement of DTH with OTT. It is changing how television, broadband and streaming services are packaged together.
CTV Growth Creates a New Opportunity for Telecom Operators
For India’s telecom and broadband companies, the rapid rise of CTV creates a strong incentive to improve home connectivity.
High-quality streaming on televisions requires consistent bandwidth and low enough latency to avoid buffering, particularly for live sports and high-resolution video.
This creates an opportunity for fibre broadband and fixed wireless access services such as 5G-based home broadband to become part of the broader entertainment ecosystem.
Instead of selling broadband purely on speed, operators can increasingly position their connections around the combination of high-speed internet, OTT subscriptions, cloud services and large-screen entertainment.
This strategy is already visible in India’s telecom market, where bundled entertainment benefits are increasingly used to differentiate broadband and mobile plans.
India’s OTT Market Is Moving Beyond the Smartphone
The 2026 Ormax report shows that India’s streaming market is entering a different phase.
The audience is still growing, paid subscriptions are expanding and, most importantly, connected TV is becoming a much larger part of the viewing ecosystem.
With 664.9 million OTT users and 206.9 million active CTV viewers, streaming is no longer simply a smartphone-first phenomenon. India’s digital entertainment market is increasingly spread across mobile devices, connected televisions, broadband networks and a growing range of streaming formats.
For telecom operators, the opportunity is clear: the next stage of OTT growth will increasingly depend not just on mobile data, but also on the quality of the home broadband and television experience.
