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A report by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has predicted that the number of TV viewers in India will cross 1 billion by 2029.
The growth and expansion are largely expected from rural and lower-income states as their income levels move closer to the current levels of higher income states.
The growth in the TV viewers, the report claims, will be driven by "increasing internet penetration, rising rural and low-income incomes and gradual improvements in literacy and ageing demographics."
Using statistical regression framework, the report analysed variations in TV audiences across markets over multiple years. The model evaluated key covariates including the number of internet subscribers, Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) per capita, literacy rates, dependency ratio, income levels, and access to micro-credit, among others.
"An increase in income levels will lead to a greater number of TV audiences. However, this result is highly significant to rural India and states which are below average on per capita income," the study claims.
Providing examples, it states that increase in income levels in Mumbai may not necessarily lead to an increase in TV audience but an improved economic condition in a village in Nashik district in Maharashtra or states such as Bihar, whose per capita income is below the national average, would lead to a greater increase in TV audience.
Authored by two professors -- Viswanath Pingali, economics area, and Ankur Sinha, operations & decision sciences Area -- states that TV consumption is likely to increase with the increase in internet subscribers and "TV becoming more attractive."
Oindrilla Banerjee, an academic associate, has assisted in the study.
The study suggests with the growing number of internet subscribers, a significant increase in TV viewership is expected.
"As the number of people who watch TV content increases, both consumption of online programs as well as traditional programs would increase significantly. We do not have data to bifurcate this further, but we believe that even traditional TV, which is the vogue in rural and low-income regions, would increase as well," the professors have concluded.