Total TV viewership goes up by 12% in BARC’s Broadcast India 2018 Survey

BestMediaInfo Bureau   Delhi, July 26, 2018

BARC India has released the findings of its Broadcast India (BI) 2018 Survey, based on a sample study of 3 lakh homes in the country. As per the latest BI 2018 Survey, TV homes in the country have seen a 7.5% jump, outpacing the growth of homes in India which grew at 4.5%. India currently boasts of 298 million homes, of which 197 million have a TV set, having an opportunity of almost 100mn more TV homes in the country. 

BI 2018 offers data and insights that go beyond TV ownership and viewing habits. The survey also contains a wealth of granular insights on consumer profiles and behaviour, making it a valuable ready reckoner for marketers and advertisers. This year, except field-work/data collection, all the other major parts of the study like sample and instrument design, data quality check, weighting and the software etc has been conducted by BARC themselves. 

Two big takeaways from BI 2018 survey is the rise of the middle class and the increase in the number of Flat TV screens. As per the Survey, with 123 million TV homes belonging to the Middle Class, NCCS B & C accounts for 63% of TV homes in India. Together NCCS ABC or the affluent TV owning homes form 84% of TV Homes in the country. The fact that homes falling under the low-socio economic class (NCCS D/E) have seen a 13% drop, highlights the improving disposable income of an Indian home and is in line with the rising economic growth and prosperity.

Some interesting trends that have emerged with BI 2018 Survey are:

• Number of TV viewing individuals grew by 7.2% to 836 million from the previous 780 million. However, viewership increase in week 29 vs Previous 4 weeks is 12%.
• TV homes in Urban and Rural India grew by 4% and 10% respectively. Viewership uptake in Urban India is 10%, while that in Rural India is 13%. 
• The Average Time Spent by TV viewing individuals too has seen a 3% growth and currently stands at 3 hour 44 minutes. This is driven by Urban which has seen an increase of 5% in ATS (4 hour 06 min), ATS in Rural India has grown by 2% and stands at 3 hour 27 minutes.
• Both HSM and South markets have seen a spike in viewership. HSM saw an increase of 12%, while South grew by 10% in week 29. 
• The Male-Female split of TV owning individuals as per BI 2018 is: 429 million-407 million. Male viewers grew by 6.9%, while female viewers saw a growth of 7.5% over BI 2016. 
• In terms of viewership, in week 29, Male viewership has seen a 11% growth, while Female viewership has increased by 12%.
• Viewership contribution of the affluent class (NCCS AB) grew by 15%.
• The daily TV tune-ins in week 29 saw a healthy growth of 8% and currently stands at 614 million viewers. The previous 4 week average was 569 million viewers. 

“With BI 2018 we have been able to showcase 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. This years’ Survey is also special to us since we have been able to bring it in-house. We have been investing heavily on technology and talent and moving this almost entirely in-house is a proof of our capabilities. As for the trends, BARC India has maintained that 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%, there is still a huge scope of growth in the space,” said Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India.

The changing face of Indian TV homes

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