TV content consumption increasing despite burgeoning OTT mkt: BARC

Mumbai: Content consumption on television is increasing despite the burgeoning Over the top (OTT) industry, according to television rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC).

Linear TV from 600 billion man minutes in 2015 has grown by 67 percent to 1 trillion in the last four years.

There are 100 million homes yet to own a TV and still the size is two and a half times. Even from consumption standpoint, consumer consumed 3 hours and seven minutes of television on a daily basis in 2015 and this has gone up to 3 hours 53 minutes," BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia said at the Asia Video Industry Association event.

This is despite all the plethora of OTT invasion that has happened in the last three years, Ramgarhia said.

It has all been additive to television viewing and digital has eaten into leisure time, travel time and sleeping time, he noted.

Television consumption remains rock solid. There is a sizable growth in consumption, he said. He noted that 93 percent of all video content consumption happens on linear TV while all OTT combined account for 7 percent.

Almost 613 million viewers tune in to watch TV each day, just at 67 percent penetration.

Regional has increased massively in terms of consumption he said, while noting that 75 new channels were added in 2018, of which 52 were regional.

Regionalisation is what we see as s massive opportunity and a massive thrust that has happened on TV, he said.

Ramgarhia said tier II towns are the next engine of growth for television. Advertising led video on demand is going to be the primary growth driver for the OTT sector. From 9 platforms in 2012 to 32 platforms in 2018, with more being added each year.

Advertising led video on demand continues to drive the market, still 82 percent of revenues advertising led and 18 percent is what is subscription led video on demand, he said.

The OTT space is estimated to be USD 500 million and expected to grow 10 times to USD 5 billion in the next five years, he said, adding that of the USD 500 million, 80-85 percent is advertising led video on demand.

Advertising led video on demand is going to be the primary driver as far as India is concerned. Its a very price sensitive market. Advertising led video on demand is going to be a mainstay for some time to come, he said.

He added that measurement would be a catalyst for advertising ecosystem on OTT space and there is a need for uniform currency matrix.

BARC India also plans to launch its digital measurement service Ekam soon and is currently talking to industry stakeholders building

consensus.