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Asia Pacific now has 446 mn multichannel TV homes
MUMBAI: The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) has released its annual estimate of Asia Pacific Multichannel TV homes, reinforcing the overall healthy state of the market.
Casbaa CEO Simon Twiston Davies said, “Now with 446 million multichannel homes and a 57 per cent penetration of all TV homes, the Asia Pacific remains a global engine room for the multichannel TV sector. Even as the rest of the world worries about overall economic indicators, the Asia pay-TV market remains in robust health”.
What the data also says:
- Multichannel TV homes in the Asia Pacific grew by 39m in the last 12 months
- 53 per cent of global multichannel homes are found in Asia
- 70 per cent of viewers in the Asia Pacific watch multichannel TV, even as terrestrial TV viewership continues to shrink
- Affluent Asian multichannel TV audiences are early adopters and comfortable with pay-TV advertising
- TV in general remains the dominant advertising medium accounting for 61 per cent of global ad spend
The TV ad spend in India, China, Indonesia and Hong Kong is positioned to fulfill aggressive growth predictions made for 2012 while new markets such as Myanmar, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Cambodia are becoming central to the positive growth story.
Meanwhile, technology is relentlessly changing the way people view HD, 3D, VoD and OTT platforms – and the third screen is “Everywhere” with global sales of tablets expected to pass 127 million in 2012, up from 82 million units in 2011.
“The opportunity to significantly enhance viewer interaction with TV programming through companion screens is re-energising viewer engagement,” added Twiston Davies.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
