The disruption caused due to COVID-19 pandemic and practicing of social distancing, have resulted in boredom and mental illness like depression, anxiety, and more. To survive the battle of social distancing, consumption of the content is the only option, and the internet on mobile devices being the fastest medium has witnessed a surge in growth.
BARC and Nielsen Media jointly rolled the seventh part of the report on “Crisis Consumption on TV and Smartphones” which says social networking, gaming, and education apps have continued their trailblazing increase on mobile devices.
Here’s what the BARC report has to say:
- Almost all activities on mobile devices saw a massive increase in time, social networking, gaming and education apps were the biggest gainers in the Week.
- The share of time spent on various activities on mobile devices during the pre-COVID-19 period is 3hrs 24mins per day. Whereas during COVID-19 destruction share of time spent on various activities on mobile is 3hr 54mins per day.
- Time spent in gaming during the pre-COVID-19 period was 6 percent whereas during COVID-19 destruction time spent has increased to 11 per cent which is an increase of 5 per cent.
- Gaming has seen a continual increase over the weeks in time spent. Reach for gaming has increased to 12 per cent (total 72 per cent) week of week from 16 March to 25 April compared to pre-COVID-19 period which was 60 per cent
- Time spent in gaming has increased by 1hrs 74 mins(total 4 hrs 5 mins) week of the week from 16 March to 25 April compared to pre-COVID-19 period with 2 hrs 31min
Earlier BARC shared that gaming has seen dynamic evolution with shifts in top-ranking players and some new entrants into the top 30. LUDO KING, PUBG, Candy Crush Saga, Free Fire, Carrom Pool, MPL, PUBG Lite, Blub Smash continued to top the charts . The new entrants into the top 30 include Mini Joy Lite, Call Break, Dr. Driving, Ludo Club, Rummy Circle, Bubble Shooter, ACE 2ThreeRummy.
The reason for the growth can be many of which one of the crucial ones may be the increase in the number of internet users in India during the Covid-19 period. Internet users in rural areas surpassed those in urban areas for the first time, according to the ‘Digital in India’ report by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
As of last November, there were 227 million active internet users in rural areas which are 10 per cent more than around 205 million in urban areas. In total, India had 504 million active internet users.
Another reason can be the accessibility to affordable devices and cheap data plans which have been a major boost behind the growth of India’s internet users. IAMAI also showed that the preferred device for accessing the internet was mobile in both urban and rural areas.
