Xiaomi has released a rather interesting Patchwall Replay 2020 report that provides insight into how Xiaomi Mi TV users in India have been interacting with their TV, what have they been watching, the most popular categories, regional language content and what kids have been watching. Xiaomi says that the data comes from 14 billion interactions that users have done with the PatchWall content curation layer on Xiaomi Mi TVs. The company confirms that more than 5 million Mi TVs have been sold since the line-up first went on sale in early 2018. At this time, Xiaomi’s Mi TV line-up is 10 models strong, priced between Rs 14,999 and Rs 54,999. Xiaomi says that more than 85% of the Mi TVs sold in India are made in India.
The Xiaomi Patchwall Replay 2020 data covers the entirety of 2020, which includes the months spent indoors due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Kids viewing statistics, also driven by the need of virtual learning through the year, indicate that the edutainment category saw a 177% jump in views. Nursery rhymes and DIY videos saw a spike starting March and peaked during the summer months of May and June. I am absolutely not surprised that Baby Shark was among the most popular followed by Wheels on the Bus, Tales of Akbar and Birbal and Bal Ganesha. The Xiaomi Patchwall Replay 2020 report says that there were more than a million Kids Mode sessions registered and there has been a 205% increase in views in the kids category alone, during the year. The most loved characters, and I completely agree with this based on my little one’s viewing habits, are Princess Elsa and Princess Anna from Frozen, Chhota Bheem, Winnie The Pooh and Woody.
The Xiaomi PatchWall includes all popular video streaming platforms in India, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, Jio Cinema, Sony Liv, Alt Balaji and more.
The Xiaomi Patchwall Replay 2020 data says that 2.5 times more people watched movies on weekdays compared with 2019, perhaps another fallout of having to stay at home due to the pandemic. It turns out that PatchWall also clocked solid numbers for the Box Office releases, which included content from Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex, Zee5 and Amazon Prime Video. Xiaomi says, “for a Friday release, PatchWall generates the same traffic as a houseful first day first show across all 3k+ multiplex chains in India.” Movie viewing spiked in August, after a consistent upward trend from March onwards. There seems to a lot of appetite for original TV shows as well. The Xiaomi Patchwall Replay 2020 data indicates that there was a 133% increase in views for original TV shows in 2020, compared with 2019. The popular shows included Mirzapur 2 and Paatal Lok on Amazon Prime Video and Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story on Sony Liv.
Mythology reruns were again in focus, particularly in the months from April to June. That could be indicative of the mass anxiety, due to the uncertainty of the pandemic and how long the lockdowns and the economic instability would continue. Something familiar from a happier time from the yesteryears put people at ease—the reruns of Mahabharat, Ramayana, Devon ke Dev…Mahadev and Shaktimaan clocked more than 3 million interactions. Regional language content saw a 56% increase in views through the year. On PatchWall on Xiaomi Mi TVs, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam and Kannada were the most active when it came to content in other Indian languages. Having stayed indoors and binged their way to an unhealthy lifestyle, Xiaomi Mi TV users recorded a 93% increase in views in fitness category content.
With recent updates, Xiaomi has added a lot of features to the PatchWall in the Mi TV line-up. The new features and functionality include Live TV, smart recommendations, a Kids Mode, universal search and a user center. Xiaomi says that as many as 87 million views were clocked for users interacting with the new features on PatchWall on their Mi TVs. The popular content-based features included an India Top 10 Today which is updated regularly, a Celebrity Watchlist and something called Collections that are content buckets based on a topic or theme.