India Overtakes US as the Second Largest Internet User

Last year a report by Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and market research IMRB claimed that the total number of Internet users in the India will reach 402 million by December 2015, of which 351 million will go online daily. The figure which meant India will surpass U.S on total web users.

A new report “Internet Trends Report 2016” by Mary Meeker, an Analyst at venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufied & Byers   reveals that India has surpassed the US as the world’s second-largest internet market,  as internet user growth remains consistent led by acceleration in India, but still behind China.

The report states that, India has low internet penetration — nearly 30 percent — among the population and also low cost of smartphones have resulted in slowdown of smartphone user and shipment growth. The average cost of a smartphone in India is $158(N31,000) which is among the lowest in the world. India has been branded as a mobile-only market as over 300 million of its estimated 400 million internet users access the Internet only through mobile devices.

It further explained that, just as internet advertising continues to grow, so also does ad-blocking, pushing the envelope on development of more innovative ad formats. “Internet will need to be overhauled as adblockers were installed on 420 million smartphones, growing at 94 percent year-on-year. This growth is driven by users in India, China and Indonesia.”