Indians Among The Biggest Couch Potatoes

Indians spend the third most number of hours watching television.

An Indian on an average spends 3.44 hours a day consuming content on TV, according to a report by Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd. Only Japan and the U.S. are ahead where people watch TV for 4.34 and 4.02 hours, respectively, in a day.

Viewership and penetration are expected grow in India, mainly led by rural markets, the report said. Household TV penetration rose from 47 percent in 2011 to 66 percent in 2018. The number of homes having a television increased 7.6 percent in three years through March to 19.7 crore.

While TV consumption in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar continues to remain low, time spent watching TV would increase provided there are no electricity issues, the report said. Penetration continues to rise in central and eastern India.

Tamil Nadu in the south also offers a strong growth opportunity with 1.2 crore analog systems. The shift to digitisation will be slow given the subdued offtake of set-top boxes.