Two-thirds of urban Indians support the government on regulating digital content

A smaller number (13%) said they oppose this move and 22% were unsure of their decision.

The content debate and its impact of various consumer sub-sets

There has been a lot of deliberation around the un-censored content being pushed out in India at a time when the mobile consumption has been increasing and the low mobile data rates have made the OTT consumption an ubiquitous phenomenon across the length and breadth of the country.

• Most urban Indians favour the government’s decision because they feel online content includes a lot of inappropriate content for children (56%). Many find depiction of violence and bloodshed (48%) and nudity and strong language (44%) in certain kinds of content concerning.
• Interestingly, as per the findings, millennials emerged as the greatest advocates of digital censorship; with one in seven (69%) saying they support the government’s decision to regulate online content.
• Two in five respondents (40%) feel regulation of digital content will make it more suitable for children as well as members of other age groups.
• A third (33%) are positive about the content quality improving, and almost as many (31%) feel the viewership of digital channels will increase due to this.

Could regulation make news quality better?

• People’s positive expectations from digital media regulation extend to online news platforms as well.
• One-third urban Indians said regulation of digital news would lead to better clarity of facts around current events and happening (33%).
• Another third feel the spread of fake news could now be controlled (33%), and just as many feel that the quality of news on digital platforms will improve (32%).

OTT consumption and how it may be impacted

• 33% of the respondents voiced that their consumption of content on OTT platforms is likely to increase because of the filtration of content. One in five (20%) feel it will decrease and for a quarter (24%) it is likely to remain unchanged.
• 39% of the respondents said their personal consumption of digital news is likely to rise due to the regulation while 31% feel it will remain unchanged.
• 16% said their online news consumption may decline.

The censorship regulation may have challenges

Not all is rosy around the regulation as there are people who feel that it could lead to some gaps in the overall quality of the content available.

• Many expect gloomy outcomes such as restriction of access to the global/niche content (31%), increase in piracy of movies or series (23%), decrease in the viewership and deterioration of the quality of content (20% each).
• 27% believe once digital news comes under the purview of the government, it may lose its essence as the freedom of speech will get restricted.
• 21% feel that it might affect the quality of news.