New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS): A total of 89 per cent of Indian car purchases in 2017 were digitally influenced -- up from 75 per cent in 2016, a new report said on Wednesday.

According to the report released by Google India and market research company Kantar TNS, the auto shoppers exhibited three key digital behaviours. Nearly 96 per cent of them searched online, 80 per cent watched online videos and 88 per cent of them preferred to research on their smartphones.

"Online video has emerged as the biggest disrupter for the four-wheeler industry in India. YouTube has over 225 million Indian smartphone users watching online video every month, auto content itself has witnessed a 225 per cent year-on-year watch time growth," Vikas Agnihotri, Industry Director, Google India, said in a statement.

The report shows that in the last two years, there has been a 2.5-time increase in consumers who are taking only two months to buy a four-wheeler.

"Concurrently, the number of dealer visits have also dropped by 50 per cent in the last three years. Finally, two-thirds of digitally influenced buyers are searching and discovering dealers online. Together, all of these are leading to shorter, more efficient buying cycles," the report said.

The percentage of online video usage in the process of buying a car in 2017 nearly doubled -- to 80 per cent from 43 per cent in 2016.

The report also provided the break up of the types of videos that consumers watched.

Forty one per cent of the people watched vehicle safety tests, 41 per cent saw technology and features of the car, 38 per cent saw videos that were on performance and 33 per cent watched customer reviews.