Paid channels watch out! Free TV set to grow rapidly in India

The free TV market in India is set to grow rapidly, a study says, spurred by a significant rise in the number of TV households in India, an increase in the reach of Doordarshan's FreeDish, and availability of viewership numbers of rural audiences creating an environment for a rapid growth.

According to a report by consulting firm EY, the free-television industry (FreeDish and terrestrial) could grow to as many as 46 million households by 2020 compared with about 30 million at present.

''This change in customer behaviour will have a significant impact on FTA (free-to-air) and pay television channel uptake, and corresponding spends on subscription income,'' says the report titled India's Free TV market -A game-changing opportunity.

According to the study, broadcasters have opened up to the idea of providing many FTA offerings. For instance, the top four broadcasting networks - Star India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Sony Pictures Networks India and Viacom18 - have launched FTA channels in the mass genre, such as Hindi general entertainment and movies. The content on these channels is similar to that on the broadcasters' general entertainment pay channels but is dated by up to a year or even more.

These free channels have opened up avenues to advertisers who could not earlier afford higher ad rates of mainstream general entertainment channels. They can now target the middle and lower-income audience in a cost-effective way.

Broadcasters have launched FTA channels primarily to expand the reach in nonurban and rural areas, as the rural measurement proportion of BARC India, the viewership measurement agency, was increased significantly to 50 per cent of its panel size, The Economic Times reports. Today, rural TV viewership contributes 52 per cent of overall TV viewership.

The number of total TV households in India has seen a rapid increase from 119 million in 2011to 183 million in 2017, and it is expected to touch 200 million by 2020. In 2016, the market was split between pay direct-to-home companies (42 million), organised cable TV services (50 million) and other pay cable (56 million), apart from DD FreeDish (approximately 20 million) and terrestrial television (about 10 million).