Mumbai, May 15: What do online Indians do?

A recent study by the Internet and Online Association, the organisation of Indian portals, lists the activities of users on the Net. While some of the habits are predictable, others shed light on how new avenues are catching on.

The study, conducted online on 6,200 respondents across several metros and non-metros by the association to figure out their entertainment preferences, understandably says 96 per cent of the respondents use the Net for email, 55 per cent use it for chatting and 69 per cent for surfing.

However, says Preeti Desai, the president of the association, many users are also found in the categories of job search, matrimony and astrology.

“About 34 per cent of the users go to the Net for job search, 22 per cent for matrimonial search and 25 per cent for astrology,” she said.

The thrust of the research, however, is to point out to the entertainment industry the vast potential it has of marketing its products online, as the industry spends a minuscule part of its marketing budget for online advertising. Contradicting assumptions about the audience for Indian cinema, the research finds that the premium consumers of entertainment are to be found online. As most of them are also cellphone users, the film and television industries can pocket huge profits if they go for an integrated Internet-mobile content.

“There are 37 million mobile users (source: Cellphone Operators’ Association of India) and 25 million Indians online (source: Internet and Online Association). There are 15 million Indians online and 22 million mobile users that are in the age-group 20 to 40,” says Desai.

“This is the premium segment of consumers with the highest spending power and they thrive on entertainment. This number is expected to swell to 165 million in three years (55 million online users and 110 million mobile users) and this is the group producers and television channels should focus on,” says Desai.

“The survey finds that 29 per cent spend more than five to 10 hours a week online, whereas 34 per cent spend the same number of hours watching television per week. It’s a gap that is being bridged,” says Desai. “About 55 per cent of the online audience also watches one or more movies per month.”

About 42 per cent of the respondents sought movie information “online” more than once during the week; 31 per cent said that they read online film reviews and 13 per cent watched movie trailers. Seventy-three per cent Net users spent less than Rs 500 on a visit to the cinema; 72 per cent booked their tickets in advance, indicating a potential for online booking and 41 per cent preferred multiplexes, which are turning out to be a huge source of revenue for the film industry.

A substantial number of the respondents also said they would like to be alerted about movie schedules and receive short reviews through SMS.

Contrary to popular belief, the online audience also prefers to watch Hindi movies, not English. Seventy per cent of the audience said they watch Hindi movies ? and the respondents, contrary to another belief, were almost equally divided between metros and non-metros. The metro-non-metro break up was 51 to 49 per cent. The respondents were sent questionnaires after online advertisements on the survey asking for responses.

Ninety-six per cent of the users also watched movies on television.

“We are not asking for much,” says Desai. “But given the huge potential, a film marketer can spend 8 to 10 per cent of his budget on online advertising, on integrated email and SMS communication, instead of just hosting websites. Now a film producer only spends about 1 to 2 per cent of his advertising money online.”