MAM
The South leads the way for growth in television sets
MUMBAI: The South is the driver for the growth in
television sets with a 33 per cent share in colour television sets. Marketers need to note that the rural share of durables growth is high. For television sets rural India has a share of 64 per cent.
Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research held a forum on Indian Readership Survey (IRS) Starcom MD Ravi Kiran made a presentation on the changing habits of consumers. He attempted to scratch the surface. Issues he addressed were – Has the market place changed? Has the consuming class changed? Has it
widened or narrowed? If so, what are the implications for marketers, media owners and planners?
The basic findings were –
– Rural socio economic structure improving and has driven growth for many consumer durable categories
– Housewives getting more educated CWE education on the rise
– 5 std – SSC is the key to the future
– There is an opportunity for growth of print; particularly special interest titles
Quoting data from Hansa Research he noted that any media reach for Urban areas is 89 per cent compared to 60 per cent in rural. The reach of TV in Urban India is 80 per cent. 54 per cent can be reached through Cable & Satellite (C&S) TV alone. In Rural India the penetration of c&s is 15 per cent. Non-C&S channels reach 29 per cent. V gets more fragmented – niche channels gain mass
In Urban India the print media has remained stagnant over the last 4-5 years. However, some language dailies register impressive growth that compensates the loss of readers of certain set of magazines. Radio has gathered some bit of mass, thanks to private FM
stations. Cinema loses overall patronage with reach drop from 38 per cent to 31 per cent since 1998. Awareness of Internet is up from 14 per cent to 23 per cent in last four years.
English language title readers have dropped by 67 lakhs since 1998. Magazines lose share. In terms of growth for dailies the North and South show the way. Kannada dailies have grown in penetration by 42 per cent. The consumption of Malayalam dailies have grown in Kerala by 30 per cent. By contrast Tamil dailies have grown by just two per cent since 1998. In Delhi, English dailies have grown by 99 per cent. The Hindi dailies have grown by 31 per cent. The Rural penetration growth for two wheelers is dramatically higher. In the refrigerator segment however it is Urban India that is driving growth.
The readership of daily publications has grown to a 48 per cent share from 33 per cent in 1998. The monthly publication i.e. magazine readership has dropped from 32 per cent to 27 per cent. The number of 12+ literates have grown by 45 MM. There are huge opportunities for the print medium to expand. Malayalam publications have made the biggest gains reaching 62 per cent of 12+ individuals versus 52 per cent in 1998. English publications have still a long way to go. Their reach has only slightly increased to 14 per cent from 13 per cent. Kannada publications have a 35 per cent penetration in 2005 versus 31 per cent in 1998.
For packaged goods Rural India has a 76 per cent share in hair oil goods. As far as all India is concerned the number of television households has grown from 55 mm in 1998 to 83 mm in 2005. The number of colour television sets has shot up from 131 lakhs in 1998 to 406 lakhs in 2005. More importantly is the fact that
two out of every three Television sets sold is happening in rural India.
One revealing statistic is that the number of homes earning between Rs. 10-40 lakhs has grown by 47 per cent since 1998. Rural India is also pumping iron. It is becoming more affluent. There has been a 32 per cent growth in the homes earning over Rs. 500,000. Full time employment has grown from 45 per cent in 1998 to 48 per cent in 2005. This reflects both rural and urban areas. The literacy level has also grown. 31 per cent more of housewives are more educated in terms of studying beyond the 5th standard.
What has not changed is the fact the number of homes that own a house (89 per cent), rented nine per cent. Also 60 per cent of housewives do not work. However Housewives’ Education is growing. They are moving towards branded goods. When they buy products they consider health, hygiene and nutrition to be extremely important.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
