Mumbai: While the world continues to hail India’s rapid rise as the second largest and fastest growing smartphone market globally, advertisers to the rural market may continue to rely on an age-old medium: television.
According to market research firm Kantar IMRB, the television set continues to be the dominant information medium for the rural consumer, even though mobile phones are growing at a rapid rate in India, with 5.2% growth in calendar year 2016 (according to the International Data Corporation).
In a report titled STAR 2017, focused on data from rural Indian markets, Kantar IMRB said it found that 59% of all rural consumers surveyed watched television in the previous week before respondents were questioned for the survey, even though penetration of mobile phones among these consumers is high.
The report found that 79% of rural consumers now own a mobile phone, including 79% of those living in towns/villages with a population of 2,000-5,000, among the smallest in the country.
The penetration of mobile phones is highest in the north and south of the country, at 80%, while 78% consumers in the east and 75% in the west reported owning a mobile phone.
But television remains the dominant advertising medium. Kantar IMRB found that only 22% of rural consumers surveyed read a newspaper or a magazine in the four weeks or seven days preceding the survey. And, only 4% of consumers polled said they listened to the radio in the week preceding the survey.
This is in line with data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India. It collects data on TV viewership and the top advertisers on television across languages and genres, in both rural and urban India.
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