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Mint
25-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
OTT platforms gain ground in India, but YouTube's dominance endures
YouTube continues to dominate India's online video market. Despite a proliferation of premium streaming services, the Google-owned platform commanded a staggering 92% of all video consumption in 2024, leaving subscription and ad-supported (AVoD, or advertising video-on-demand) rivals to jostle for the remainder, according to the latest Ficci-EY report. Industry experts say user-generated content is now easier to create than ever before, thanks, of course, to the availability of cheap data and smartphones. As a result, creators have mushroomed across the tiniest of Indian towns, producing quality content and sharing on YouTube for the world to see. By contrast, streaming platforms spend a lot of money and time to create content, only to be pegged back by their limited reach and viewership, hurting their monetization potential. 'YouTube continues to dominate online video viewership because it's not just a platform—it's a cultural engine. It earned its position by being early, but more importantly, by being everywhere. For other premium platforms trying to carve out meaningful share in the video content space, the answer won't be copying YouTube—it'll be about leaning into what makes them different,' said Preranaa Khatri, chief business officer at Only Much Louder (OML), a media and entertainment company. What really sets YouTube apart is how it balances scale with personalization, Khatri added. Its recommendation algorithm, constantly learning from user behaviour—searches, watch time, engagement—ensures people find what they didn't even know they were looking for. Further, it constantly introduces new monetization streams to incentivize creators, letting them earn not just from ads, but also from YouTube Shopping, Memberships, Super Chats, Super Stickers and YouTube Premium revenue. YouTube Shopping allows creators to promote products from their own stores or other brands within their content, enabling viewers to browse and purchase items directly from YouTube. Memberships allow for benefits like exclusive or premium content, live streams and other perks. YouTube Super Chat is a feature that allows viewers to purchase highlighted chat messages during live streams, which can sometimes appear at the top of the chat feed. Super Stickers are also a way for creators to connect with fans. Premium is a paid feature that does away with ads. At the same time, tools like YouTube Create have made video production much easier than ever—be it filters, effects, transitions, all from one's phone. Meanwhile, features like the Copyright Match Tool and YouTube Studio's AI enhancements (including auto-dubbing and the new Inspiration Tab) have helped creators manage content and scale creatively across languages and geographies. The disproportionately high share of YouTube in India's streaming industry is not surprising at all, according to Girish Dwibhashyam, a streaming industry expert. Creators in tier-2 and tier-3 towns are today able to edit and curate better content at far lower prices than professionals. 'For OTT platforms, on the other hand, there is hardly any incentive to keep pumping in money since the economics are challenging because of low CPMs (cost per mille—a paid advertising option where companies pay a price for every 1,000 impressions an ad receives),' Dwibhashyam said. To be sure, user-generated content is of inferior quality compared to that on streaming platforms, but the latter's limited reach means their monetization potential is restricted, as brands keep away. 'The dominance of YouTube over OTT platforms in India presents significant challenges for the media industry. While YouTube benefits from its ad-supported model and user-generated content, OTT platforms rely on high-budget, professionally shot content, which demands more time, money and effort. This creates monetization struggles and higher user acquisition costs for OTTs, as they also face content discovery challenges and competition for brand partnerships,' said Yogesh Saini, marketing head at Civic Studios, a media production company. Additionally, YouTube's AI-driven recommendations and regional content capture wider audiences, while OTTs must invest heavily in marketing and localized content. To compete, OTT platforms need to reduce friction in app downloads, innovate quickly, and improve content accessibility for users, Saini added. First Published: 25 Apr 2025, 06:00 AM IST
The Guardian
03-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Our eight-year-old daughter spent £8,500 on the Apple app store
Our eight-year-old daughter has, unbeknown to us, managed to spend over £8,500 over 90 days on the Apple app store. We did not realise that our HSBC debit card had somehow been linked to her iPhone and had no idea that she could spend so easily. She was not aware that the money she was spending was real money. She has been sending money to YouTube channels and the YouTubers have then befriended her on Roblox in an attempt to make more money from our child. To me, this is financial grooming. HSBC did not once alert us to these suspicious transactions. Apple initially rejected our claim for a refund, then, on appeal, agreed to refund only two payments totalling £60 because they were unauthorised purchases by a minor, even though the others were made in the same circumstances. We are and location withheld This is a staggering story on many levels. Your daughter managed to make 270 payments over three months without you noticing and without the bank or Apple flagging up suspicious activity. You told me she has her own iPhone and her own Apple ID, which allows her to log in to Apple services without you being notified. Children under 13 are not permitted to apply for a personal Apple ID. You say you have no idea how your debit card came to be linked to her account. Some of the money was spent on YouTube Super Chat and Super Stickers, which is how YouTubers can monetise their channels. Essentially, their viewers can pay for their live chat messages to be highlighted or pinned to the top of a chat feed. Roblox and other online gaming services, meanwhile, allow users to pay real money for virtual merch and privileges. On one day alone, your daughter made six payments of £49.99 to Apple and one of £6.99. You sent me a screenshot of a YouTuber pulling up your daughter's online profile on a live video to see who was spending so much money. Her profile photo clearly showed a young child. In another video, a YouTuber offered to add her as a friend on Roblox if she paid out more. This virtual jungle is a mystery to many parents, including me, which is why it's essential that parental controls are activated and in-app purchases supervised or turned off if children are given smartphones. In my view, an eight-year-old has no business having an iPhone, let alone their own Apple ID, and you have most painfully realised your mistake. While you acknowledge you bear much of the responsibility for this, HSBC and Apple have questions to answer. Juvenile spending sprees on apps are not as unusual as they should be and both companies should have flagged concerns about the series of transactions on the account. In 2014, the US Federal Trade Commission ordered Apple to pay out $32.3m (£24.6m) to reimburse American parents for unauthorised app purchases made by their children. Some children had run up bills of several thousand dollars, although I've never heard of a bill as large as yours. When I contacted the company it instantly decided, much to my surprise, to refund the entire amount. The money was paid the following day. It told me it does not comment on individual cases but assured me an adviser would call you and guide you through safeguards to prevent this happening again. HSBC said its controls are designed to balance security, convenience and consumer demand, and that your mobile banking app and mailed statements should have alerted you, which indeed they should. As for Roblox and YouTube, the former said that it does not impose spending limits on children's accounts because it's up to parents to supervise their on-screen activity, but it does have tools to help parents manage their child's account remotely. It says it can't refund payments made via third parties, such as Apple. YouTube said there were daily purchase limits on Super Chat and that a refund could be requested if the charge was unauthorised or accidental. If purchases are made through an Apple account or device, refunds have to be applied for through Apple. It went on to say that if it is discovered that an account holder is under 13 and using YouTube without parental supervision, the account is closed. There are three levels of controls which can be used by parents to limit what preteen and teen children can see. Hopefully, you can use this ordeal as an excuse to confiscate your daughter's iPhone until she is older. But if and when she is allowed her own screen, it's essential you create an Apple ID for her within your family group, rather than allow her to create her own or to use yours – which will be linked to your bank card. This will automatically trigger Ask to Buy, which notifies you when a download or purchase is attempted.
