Improving internet infrastructure across India, rising ownership of smartphones, and ubiquitous of its usage has made the mobile device the gateway of choice for the internet. A recent GfK study, focused on the top users of the country’s internet population, the hyperconnected consumers,is defined as someone who owns a smartphone, at least one other connected device, accesses the internet daily with, and spends more than four hours daily on the smartphone.
There are around 41 million hyperconnected consumers in India, with major cities like Delhi and Mumbai reporting the highest concentration of consumers belonging in this segment. According to the Hyperconnected Consumer study in India, they spend almost six hours daily online—double the amount of time compared to the average consumer. Prime time for them is 9pm to 12 midnight: the hyperconnected consumers have the most intense usage on their smartphone during the traditional media opportunity window.
“This study has uncovered an emerging category of connected consumer who is embracing and actively opting for digital modes of lifestyle,” highlighted Nikhil Mathur, Managing Director for South Asia at GfK. “This evolution of the ‘hyper’ segment takes consumers’ connectivity level up by a notch, proving that digitization is indeed taking place at a rapid pace, with smartphones being instrumental in the process.”
Hyperconnected consumers spend more than half (61%) of their total time using smartphone for communication and social networking. WhatsApp and Facebook together account for 54 percent of the time spent on the smartphones. Compared to the average consumer, hyperconnected consumers access Instagram thrice as much, use taxi apps more often (1.3 times), and downloaded 6 more apps to total 16 new apps in the last month.
