iWorld
Indian OTT audience: Young, urban and male-dominated
MUMBAI: India has seen a healthy growth of OTT audience in the last few years. Yet, brands and OTT service providers know very little about the demographics of their fast-increasing audience. How many are they in number, where do they exist, how do they watch, which genres of content do they prefer, are all important questions that can help in decision-making in the areas of content selection, target audience choice, media planning, market research and brand communication.
To fill this knowledge-gap, Ormax Media has released its OTT Audience Report: 2019, with a large sample size of 10,000 over the period of May-September 2019. The report puts the regular OTT (online video content) audience in India at 76.5 million. The study defined ‘regular OTT audience’ as someone who watched two or more hours of OTT content every week.
While the report confirms many of our perceptions about the Indian OTT audience, it also throws many new and interesting facets of its demographics.
The report finds that Mumbai and Delhi lead with 3 million regular OTT audience each, followed by Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai, Pune & Jaipur.
Earlier in June, a study by Counterpoint Research found that tier I cities bring in 36 per cent of the audience and the top five metros account for 55 per cent of OTT users in the country.
The audience, however, is heavily male-dominated. As many as 66 per cent regular OTT audience are men while only 34 per cent are women. ALT Balaji’s GandiiBaat emerged as the most male-skewed show, while Amazon Prime Video’s Mind The Malhotras emerged as the most female-skewed show, the study finds.
The OTT audience, expectedly, is also young. Nearly 60 per cent of the regular OTT audience is below the age of 30, 21 per cent are in the age group of 31-40 and 20 per cent in the 41+ age group.
Among the OTT platforms, YouTube emerged as the most-preferred OTT brand, followed by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar closely vying for the second position.
The report also highlights how solo consumption is still the dominant viewing behaviour seen in the OTT category, with 82 per cent audience typically watching online videos alone. Hindi emerges as the most preferred language of online video consumption at 62 per cent, followed by English at 22 per cent, while regional languages, led by Telugu and Tamil, control the balance 16 per cent share.
Speaking about The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2019, Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor said: “OTT is an emerging and fast-growing category in India. While individual platforms have a lot of data on their own audience, there is little industry-wide understanding available on who the OTT audience in India exactly is, how many are they in number, where do they exist, how do they watch, which genres do they prefer, what are their subscription triggers, and many other such questions that are extremely relevant to any OTT business. This report, which will be an annual feature, answers many such questions in a manner that’s highly actionable.”
iWorld
Taylor Swift sued by Maren Wade over Showgirl trademark clash
Las Vegas performer claims hit album branding overshadows her long-held identity
MUMBAI: A high-profile trademark dispute is brewing in the entertainment world as Las Vegas performer Maren Wade has filed a lawsuit against global pop star Taylor Swift over the title of her latest album.
Filed on March 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the suit accuses Swift and UMG Recordings of trademark infringement, false designation and unfair competition. At the centre of the dispute is Swift’s chart-topping album The Life of a Showgirl, released in October 2025.
Wade argues that the album’s title and branding are confusingly similar to her long-established trademark Confessions of a Showgirl, which she has built since 2014. What began as a column in Las Vegas Weekly has since expanded into a touring stage show, podcast and book, with a federal trademark secured in 2015.
The complaint leans heavily on the concept of reverse confusion. Wade claims Swift’s global popularity has effectively drowned out her brand, leaving audiences to assume she is imitating the singer rather than the other way around. The lawsuit cites instances of fans using Wade’s trademarked phrase in connection with Swift’s album and search results increasingly pointing to Swift-related content.
A key element of the case involves the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which had already raised concerns. According to the filing, the office issued a partial refusal of Swift’s trademark application in late 2025, citing a likelihood of confusion due to shared phrasing and overlapping entertainment categories.
“They did not do so quietly,” the complaint notes, referring to the album’s rollout, which quickly extended into merchandise, labels and retail branding aimed at a similar audience.
Wade is seeking a permanent injunction to stop further use of the title, along with a share of profits, damages and legal costs. The stakes are high given the album’s commercial success, with over four million units sold in its first week in the United States alone.
Taylor Swift, known for her expansive intellectual property portfolio, operates through entities such as TAS Rights Management and Bravado, which manage her trademarks and global merchandising operations.
The outcome could hinge on whether the court sees the similarity as coincidence or confusion. For now, the case sets the stage for a legal showdown that may determine who truly owns the spotlight in the “showgirl” story.
