Indians Spend A Trillion Hours On their Phones, Pushing A $29.4 Billion Media Industry

Indians collectively spent 1.1 trillion hours staring at their smartphones in 2024, according to management consultant EY, as cheap internet makes platforms from Instagram to Netflix more accessible to the world’s most populous nation. 

On average, they spent five hours daily on the mobile screen, nearly 70% of it devoted to social media platforms, gaming, and videos, EY said in its annual entertainment report published Thursday.

This has made digital channels the single largest segment of India’s 2.5 trillion rupees ($29.1 billion) media and entertainment industry in 2024, overtaking television for the first time.

While the daily time spent by Indians on their mobile phones is third behind Indonesia and Brazil, the combined hours add up to the largest market globally that firms from Meta and Amazon to tycoons like Mukesh Ambani and Elon Musk are tussling for.

The country has reached “the digital inflection point,” Ashish Pherwani, the media and entertainment sector leader at EY India, wrote in the report, adding there would be consolidation, new business models and partnerships in the days ahead. 

Nearly 40% of the country, or 562 million people, now use smartphones — more than the population of the US and Mexico combined. 5G subscriptions more than doubled to 270 million in 2024, while 40% of internet subscribers are from the rural areas. 

Core traditional media — comprising of television, print, and radio — together saw their revenues and market share drop in 2024, the report said.

Live events, such as concerts and cricket tournaments, also contributed significantly to the growth of the industry, it said. The report estimates the sector India would grow to 3.1 trillion rupees in 2027.