TV homes in India are growing faster than the number of homes as Indians continue their love for watching television, led by small towns and rural areas. While TV homes in the country have seen a 7.5 per cent jump, the growth of homes stood at 4.5 per cent, according to the Broadcast India (BI) 2018 Survey by BARC.

The total TV homes in India stand at 298 million compared to 286 million in the 2016 survey. “The survey showcases the changing face of India. However, what hasn’t changed is the fact that TV remains the most effective platform for both content creators and advertisers to reach their audiences,” Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India, said in a statement here.

“India is a country which is driven by family viewing and this shows in the increase in the number of TV households. With a penetration of just 66 per cent, there is still a huge scope of growth in the space,” he added.

The survey findings are based on a sample study of 3 lakh homes in the country. It showed that the number of TV viewing individuals has grown by 7.2 per cent to 836 million from the previous 780 million, while TV homes in urban and rural India grew by 4 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

The average time spent (ATS) by TV viewing individuals too has seen a 3 per cent growth and currently stands at 3 hours and 44 minutes. “This is driven by urban, which has seen an increase of 5 per cent in ATS (4 hour 06 min). ATS in Rural India has grown by 2 per cent and stands at 3 hours 27 minutes,” the report said.

The male-female split of TV owning individuals as per BI 2018 is: 429 million-407 million. Male viewers grew by 6.9 per cent, while female viewers saw a growth of 7.5 per cent, the survey added.