Kantar has worked with Google to roll out the first edition of its 'India in Search' reports.
 
According to the report, cricket as a whole had 223.4 million monthly searches, 16 million of which were for women's cricket.

Search for kabaddi (75%) and hockey (40%) also increased. 

In the entertainment and music domain, traditional 'action movies' have seen a decline in searches. Live music concerts have seen an increase of 43% in searches with events artists and bands like Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Vijay Antony, and Diljit Dosanjh dominating.

In mobiles, Chinese mobile brands account for 52% of all searches. The fastest-growing phone models on Google search were Redmi 13C 5G with 10 lakh searches (up by 44K%), Nothing Phone 2A with 8,23,000 searches (+37%), and Motorola Edge 50 Fusion with 6,730,000 searches (+30%).  

In 'health and wellness', searches for sensitive skin solutions crossed 50 lakh searches on Google. Obesity and weight management was a big search trend too, with consumers looking at apps to manage this as well as personal trainers. 

The news category comprised 41% of all searches. Stories included Ratan Tata’s passing to Sunita Williams stranded in space. Interest in Sensex and NIFTY fuelled business news consumption while political news interest surged due to general elections in 2024. 

In the travel and mobility category, offbeat destinations were the flavour of the year. Lakshadweep saw a massive rise in interest with 268% more searches for the island. Internationally, Azerbaijan (268%) and Kazakhstan (226%) are growing significantly as well. 

Soumya Mohanty, managing director and chief client officer- South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar, said, "The ‘India in Search' report offers invaluable insights into the evolving search behaviours of Indian consumers. By leveraging Kantar’s search and social analytics capabilities, brands and marketers can better connect with their audiences and create more impactful strategies that resonate with the dynamic Indian market.”

The report covered 400 validated Google Search topics between November 2023 and October 2024.