Entertainment, OTT platforms ride high on Indian festivities

Entertainment and OTT apps saw a 30% rise in engagement and music apps saw a 14% rise in engagement, according to a study released by InMobi and Branch called Mobile App Report 2022.

Marketing on entertainment apps during the festive season will be most successful, it added.

InMobi is a provider of content, and marketing technologies and Branch is an adtech startup. The report discusses the growing rate of app installments and engagement through the course of the festive season in India from September 2020 to December 2021 in an attempt to provide a guide for app marketers for the upcoming festive season and help their brands grow.


The insights are based on findings from InMobi's Data Platform and InMobi's Audience Intelligence Platform between Q1 2021 and Q2 2022 and covers data from over 330 million smartphone users across more than 44,000 apps.

The Branch data has been gleaned from 4.1 billion app installs and 5.2 billion deep links in the period from September 2020 to December 2021

According to the report, the festive season in India in 2021 witnessed an increase in app installs especially in the months of August and November. However, engagement does not show the same momentum.

With Indians looking to travel, shop and meet up with friends and families this year, their interaction with mobile apps will change. Marketers will need to focus on how to drive more engagement with their new and existing users in 2022, going beyond app acquisition efforts only.

Average time spend

The report suggests that the time spent on mobile in 2021 saw an increase of 27% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This shows Indians are engaging deeper in social and communication apps, and a significant increase was seen in finance, shopping and travel apps - which saw a growth of 34% from 2020 as consumers continued the habit of online research and purchase as they embrace normal life.

Today, more people in India are watching online videos (YouTube/OTT) and music streaming leading to a growth of 7.7% year on year in entertainment & music apps.

Streaming & music apps to lead the way

Entertainment apps will continue to be the primary battleground for consumer attention, the report shows. Whether it’s OTT apps vying for subscription dominance or music streaming apps taking over mindshare to seamlessly becoming a part of the celebrations - this category has seen installs a lot higher than other categories pretty consistently across the year, especially with the onset of local content creators which is driving OTT reach in both urban and rural India.

Further it projects that the upcoming festive season will offer an opportunity for marketers in this category to boost their engagement with in-app and social referrals as well as focusing on a seamless customer experience within their apps.