A majority of viewers prefer streaming online content on their TVs with 76 per cent using it over smartphones, tablets and laptops for watching OTTs, a report suggests.

As many as 97 per cent of the respondents are streaming over-the-top (OTT) content on television through streaming sticks, smart TVs, and set-top-boxes, according to the NielsenIQ study for Amazon’s TV streaming trends.

Parag Gupta, Director and Country Manager, Amazon Devices India said online video streaming has come a long way since its inception, and so have the streaming habits of consumers.

Television has remained a constant in our preference to view content, as it is the biggest screen in our homes, he added.

Notably, the streaming shot up over the weekend, with 66 per cent of the respondents watching more OTT for as many as five hours daily over the weekend. This was down to less than three hours over the week.

Comedy emerged as the most popular genre of content watched by respondents, closely followed by sports, thriller, romantic, horror, international TV shows, and news.

The survey recorded views from 800 respondents belonging to 12 major cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad in the age group of 25-45 years.

The shift to streaming on television has been attributed to broadband connection availability, better video and sound quality, and ease of viewing comfortably.

Consumers sought features like lag-free streaming (39 per cent), followed by a wide range of OTT apps at 24 per cent. They also preferred voice assistance for searching content, and being able to toggle between online content and live TV shows from DTH channels on a single screen.