Indian users spend far more time on Social Media than on OTT players and Gaming, according to a recently published working paper by technology and policy think tank The Esya Centre.Daily engagement on social media accounts for 194 minutes a day, far greater than the 44 minutes and 46 minutes spent on over the top (OTT) platforms and online gaming, respectivelyInterestingly, a median user spent under ₹100 a month and less than an hour a day on online gaming. On OTT platforms, the amount was far more, between ₹200 and ₹400 a month.The paper by Rajat Sharma and Vikash Gautam titled ‘New-Age Digital Consumption: A Survey of Social Media, OTT Content and Online Gaming’ also outlines that policy concerns around unwanted user actions, especially in online gaming, which are not supported by user time-spend or money-spend data.Sharma is an associate professor at IIM-Ahmedabad and Gautam is an adjunct fellow at The Esya Centre.The report said it has gathered data gathered through a comprehensive survey conducted across ten major cities including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Patna, and others with a survey of 2,000 respondents and analysis of in-app data of 20.6 lakh users on 143 mobile applications.It said nearly 80% of the survey respondents are graduates and 42% of respondents were of age group 25-35 years. The number of male respondents was 58% while women respondents also represented a considerable proportion of the sample.Users felt that a 30% increase in participation fee for online games may lead to a 71% dip in engagement, indicating a high price sensitivity. This number would only be 17% for OTT.While OTT is considered a significant stress buster, 28% of them consider online gaming important for their employment prospects.Amjad Ali Khan, director at the Esya Centre said “There is a lack of research examining both policy and user adoption trends in key digital markets. The findings of the report are very relevant. We hope that the insights from the report will help form a forward-looking policy stance that focuses on user protection over paternalistic interventions and blanket bans.”The report follows the GST Council’s meeting that changed the GST levied on the online gaming industry from 18% on gross gaming revenue (GGR) to 28% on deposits, leading to a 350-400% jump in the industry’s GST outgo.User addiction and loss of money were cited as some key reasons behind this steep hike. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology earlier this year published rules to regulate the industry. The ministry is soon expected to notify Self-Regulatory Bodies for the regulatory oversight of the industry. According to the report, user safety, grievance redressal and cumbersome KYC requirements are the three key points of concern for users across social media and online gaming. Users of OTT, however, describe their experience as smooth on almost all accounts, which is a testimony to the standardization of quality of service in an otherwise heterogeneous digital entertainment industry.