Most consumer internet firms recorded growth in November: BoFA report

Market leaders in the Indian consumer internet space – within segments such as food delivery, quick commerce, video streaming, online beauty and personal care (BPC) retail, and online travel booking – strengthened their positions in November, a research note from Bank of America (BoFA) Securities said, citing data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

In the food delivery space, Zomato saw a month-on-month rise in both monthly and daily usage during November, the report said, adding that the second-ranked player in the space, presumably Bengaluru-based Swiggy, witnessed a marginal fall in metrics over October.

The number of Zomato’s daily active users (DAUs) rose 0.6% in November over October, while that of Swiggy fell 1.9% during the same period, it said.


“The key thing to note is this period included the ICC Cricket World Cup held between October and November. Our recent note on World Cup trend for Zomato/Blinkit also highlighted that usage spiked during important cricket matches & despite the periods of Shradh & fasting during Dussehra, food delivery demand held up well. Key trends to watch out for are the December ones, to see the impact on DAUs as we head in the vacation season,” BoFA Securities noted.

In the over-the-top (OTT) video streaming space, Disney’s Hotstar saw a major boost from the Cricket World Cup for which it had sole streaming rights.

“In the OTT space, Sensor Tower data indicated near record viewership for Disney+Hotstar. During November 2023, Hotstar’s average DAUs stood at over 93 million, while MAUs stood at over 474 million,” the report said.

Meanwhile, with the India-Australia bilateral cricket series being streamed on JioCinema, the Reliance-owned OTT platform also saw an increase in usage.

Online commerce
In the quick commerce segment, while Blinkit – the market leader in terms of monthly active users (MAUs) continued to show “resilient usage trend” as per the report, Mumbai-based Zepto overtook Reliance Industries’ JioMart to get the second spot.

“Zepto saw the highest increase in both DAUs & MAUs at 8% & 10% respectively and overtook JioMart to become the second biggest grocery app in terms of monthly usage. To highlight, Zepto recently raised over $200 million, perhaps leading to more aggression. JioMart saw the highest decline in both DAUs & MAUs at -21% & -17% MoM (month-on-month) (respectively) on a record high base of October 2023,” it said.

In August, Zepto raised $200 million from investors such as StepStone Group, Goodwater Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, and others. Later, in November, the company raised another $31.25 million from existing investors such as Goodwater Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.

Meanwhile, in the online BPC retail segment, BoFA Securities said, market leader Nykaa was the only platform to gain in terms of usage.

“On daily usage level, Nykaa saw a steep increase of 17% MoM on the back of its Pink Friday sale launched mid-November. All other apps saw decline in daily usage, Purplle saw highest decline of 13% MoM followed by Tata Cliq Palette (-5%) & MyGlamm (-4%). (Reliance’s) Tira saw marginal decline in DAUs. DAUs. Similar trend was observed on MAU level…,” the report said.