MEDIA SURVEY THROWS UP TV NUMBERS

A media survey has revealed that growth in Indian cable & satellite (C&S) TV penetration is coming from small towns with populations below 100,000 and that it has petered out in urban India. Growth in smaller towns is taking place in excess of 11.5% per annum.

The Indian Media & Market Studies survey - conducted annually by market research agency ORG-Marg and the Media Research Users Council - has said that there are about 5.3 million C&S homes in rural India. The survey was carried out in the period between December 1997 and June 1998 and covered 2,965 towns and villages and the sample size was more than 200,000. It covered readership patterns and habits, consumption of products, demographics, TV viewing and cable and satellite TV penetration.

It further revealed what everyone knows: DD's national network channel has turned up as the most watched channel with a 39.6% share of viewership. Hindi entertainment channel Zee TV tops in the most viewed satellite TV channel charts with a 6.9% viewership share. According to one industry estimate there are more than 22 million Indian C&S homes.