95 per cent homes in 5 southern states own TV sets: BARC India

The Broadcast India 2018 survey carried out by television rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) noted that the number of TV owning individuals in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala are 259 million, up 8 per cent from 2016. This also means that 31 per cent of total TV owning individuals are present in these 5 states, it said.

The TV owning individuals in north is 209 million, west is 221 mn and east is 146 mn. The survey covered 3 lakh households, approximately 4,300 towns/villages and 68 per cent of the urban market. “While total TV penetration in India currently stands at 66 pc, TV penetration in South India is as high as 95 pc. This can also be attributed to the fact that electrification in South is around 99.9 pc and one of the first durables which people buy having electricity is TV,” BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said.

South has been seeing a year on year growth in average time spent on TV, with 8 out 10 people sampling TV daily and a high time spent of 4 hrs 10 mins. The region also generates viewership of around 12 bn impressions at a weekly level and 31 per cent of the TV individuals in south contribute to 40 pc of total TV viewership.