MUMBAI: After a gap of four years, the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), which documents the growth of the media industry, has been released for 2017. The survey methodology was criticised in 2014 and, therefore, was halted for an upgrade. This time, the sample size has been increased by 34 per cent to 3.2 lakh households. The entire process was audited by E&Y.
The study found that there has been an overall 14 per cent increase in TV ownership in Indian households. TV ownership, according to the 2011 census, stood at 47 per cent but the IRS study found it to be 61 per cent in 2017. Tamil Nadu had the highest TV penetration with 93 per cent followed by Kerala at 90 per cent. Punjab and the National Capital Region of Delhi tied at third position with 88 per cent. The census numbers for these states were 87 per cent, 77 per cent, 83 per cent and 88 per cent, respectively. The lowest reach, as per the IRS, was of Bihar with 22 per cent and 15 per cent as per census. TV ownership was lowest in Tamil Nadu with less than 10 per cent. The number of no TV homes was highest in Bihar with more than 75 per cent.
The percentage reach for TV in the last one month in the age group of 12 + (L1M) was 75 per cent, 10 per cent higher than IRS’ 2014 study. In this, urban reach was 88 per cent, 3 per cent higher than 2014 and rural reach was 68 per cent, 14 per cent higher.
The DTH or digital TV market was up from 26 per cent to 45 per cent. Punjab leads with close to 55 per cent homes with DTH followed by Himachal Pradesh with 50 per cent.
Colour TV ownership stood at 61 per cent in 2017 up from 55 per cent in 2014.
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