IGI Logo

Television continues to remain the largest media platform in India with regard to its reach and consumer engagement in terms of time spent. TV has always found a place in the Indian household, both in urban and rural regions, and as per KPMG Analysis 2022, the number of TV households in India is expected to reach 250 million by the end of 2026 from 210 million in 2020.

This is a 19% increase in the number of TV households in the country over a period of 6 years. A major driver in the steady growth of the TV and broadcast industry in India is sports, having the highest reach among all genres on TV at 722 million in the first 9 months of this year.

Sports TV broadcasting has also seen renewed interest from both traditional and new-age businesses with the segment charting revenues of INR 7560 crore in FY22. The TV + digital sports market has clocked revenues of INR 9500 crore in FY22, as per KPMG India.

The difference between the number of TV users compared to the number of users in the digital space in 2022 is highly substantial, with TV enjoying an overall reach of 900 million compared to the 450-500 million monthly active users of digital.

This is a significant margin in terms of the consumers of sport, indicating that TV broadcasting still remains the number one channel in providing content to viewers.

"Sport on TV is an unrivalled aggregator of shared viewing experiences. It is highly enriching and unique as it brings together the 'lean back' nature of TV viewing with the highly immersive engagement of live sport. No other platform or content genre offers this rare combination of virtues, which beyond attracting 550+ million viewers, also serve as the ideal vehicle for brands trying to reach and engage consumers."

"There is immense headroom for growth for Sports on TV with viewership still under-indexed compared to other content genres, constrained primarily by the paucity of relevant supply. Viewership for sports like kabaddi, football and wrestling reaching critical mass and the growth of Women's Cricket have served as strong signals for the upward trajectory of sports on TV," said Sanjog Gupta, Head - Sports, Disney Star.

Sports broadcasting has remained impervious to the impact of Covid-19 since 2019 and is expected to scale the pre-pandemic numbers by the close of this year. Furthermore, there has been a strong interest in the advertising space in sports broadcasting due to the increased viewership and demographic reach offered by various sports properties.

The report from KPMG also delves into the key drivers of why there is such a significant difference between the number of users of TV compared to digital, attributing these numbers to factors such as age, groups and gender along with TV being more inclusive and spanning various NCCS. It would take a fair while for the digital space to catch up with these numbers, with the TV still having a vice-grip on the Indian viewership records.