Women users are emerging as a key force shaping urban India’s digital attention economy, according to the ‘India Digital Behaviour Report 2025-26’ released jointly by VTION and the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
Based on behavioural data collected from more than 100,000 consented smartphones representing over 407 million urban Indian users, the report examines shifting engagement patterns across categories including entertainment, social media, payments, AI applications and e-commerce.
One of the report’s key findings is that women users are spending more time than men across several high-engagement digital categories, particularly entertainment, messaging and e-commerce or quick commerce platforms. The study found the sharpest difference in engagement levels within commerce-focused platforms.
According to the report, women in urban India spend an average of 82.4 minutes per day on entertainment platforms, with engagement highest among women aged 25-34, who average 86.3 minutes daily.
The report also noted significant differences in e-commerce and quick commerce engagement between male and female users in urban centres. Women aged 25-34 in mega cities spent an average of 35.2 minutes per day on e-commerce and quick commerce platforms, compared to 24.8 minutes among urban male users in the same demographic. This reflects a 42% higher engagement rate among women users.
The findings suggest that digital commerce platforms are increasingly becoming high-attention environments for urban female audiences, particularly among younger consumers in larger metropolitan markets.
The report further highlighted how demographic, geographic and income-based behaviours are shaping India’s broader digital ecosystem. Categories analysed in the study included AI apps, entertainment, payments, commerce and social media.
AI applications emerged as one of the fastest-growing categories in the report, recording growth of more than 100% between April 2025 and March 2026. Urban users spent an average of 11.3 minutes per active day on AI platforms, indicating growing integration of conversational AI into everyday digital habits.
The report found that AI adoption is currently strongest among users aged 18-34 and higher-income urban households. It also suggested that AI tools are increasingly influencing online product discovery and brand research behaviours, with users turning to AI platforms before accessing traditional search engines or e-commerce websites.
For the purposes of the study, urban India was divided into four geographic zones. The North region included Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The South zone covered Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Puducherry. East India included West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and Northeast states, while the West region comprised Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa.
The report also highlighted behavioural trends among younger users. Urban consumers aged 18-24 recorded the highest levels of social media engagement, averaging 120 minutes per day compared to the overall category average of 97.9 minutes daily.
Meanwhile, users aged 35 and above were identified as the strongest contributors to entertainment platform engagement, averaging between 77 and 78 minutes per day.
In the payments category, the report found relatively consistent engagement trends across income segments. Users across higher, middle and lower-income urban households displayed similar payment app session patterns, suggesting that UPI-based payments have become fully embedded into everyday digital behaviour rather than remaining an emerging technology product.
According to VTION and IAMAI, the report is based entirely on passive and privacy-compliant behavioural measurement sourced directly from active app usage data gathered through VTION’s consented smartphone panel.
The findings reflect how digital consumption patterns are becoming increasingly segmented across audience cohorts, creating more targeted opportunities for marketers, digital platforms and advertisers seeking engagement-led consumer strategies.
