[CA] Television viewers in India is more than the European population

Television was always big in India. It only got bigger this year - perhaps as big as the entire continent of Europe. BARC India, the country's TV viewership monitoring agency, has increased its estimates for audience size and television penetration, saying the medium now is watched by 780 million citizens in the South Asian nation. By comparison, Europe has a population of about 745 million.

After the update, the homes with a television set in the country have gone up to 183 million from 154 million, implying an increase in TV penetration to 64%, from the earlier estimate of 54%.

The marked increase follows the latest Broadcast India Survey, the largest ever research study undertaken to ascertain TV universe and television viewing habits in India. Fieldwork for the Broadcast India survey was carried out between November 2015 and February 2016, covering 300,000 homes across 590 districts, touching about 4,300 towns and villages.

One of the interesting changes is in the urban and rural split, which was 50:50 earlier. As per the new universe, rural India now has 99 million TV owning homes, contributing to 54% of the total universe, while urban India has 84 million TV homes, constituting the remaining 46%. 

The survey also highlights that India has more nuclear families without elders than ever before, and it is also the dominant family group among TV owning homes.

evision penetration, saying the medium now is watched by 780 million citizens in the South Asian nation. By comparison, Europe has a population of about 745 million.

After the update, the homes with a television set in the country have gone up to 183 million from 154 million, implying an increase in TV penetration to 64%, from the earlier estimate of 54%.

The marked increase follows the latest Broadcast India Survey, the largest ever research study undertaken to ascertain TV universe and television viewing habits in India. Fieldwork for the Broadcast India survey was carried out between November 2015 and February 2016, covering 300,000 homes across 590 districts, touching about 4,300 towns and villages.

One of the interesting changes is in the urban and rural split, which was 50:50 earlier. As per the new universe, rural India now has 99 million TV owning homes, contributing to 54% of the total universe, while urban India has 84 million TV homes, constituting the remaining 46%.

The survey also highlights that India has more nuclear families without elders than ever before, and it is also the dominant family group among TV owning homes.