The future is connected: 80% of traditional TV viewers want to switch in a year says Finecast Kantar

• Traditional TV viewing is rapidly declining in India with the rise of smart TVs and rising popularity of OTT services.
  
• Flexibility of medium, ease of search options and content variety is making Indians switch to connected TVs.
  
• India is planning to spend $395 million on connected TV advertising by 2027.
  
• Subscription revenue for traditional TVs in India fell by 6.2% in 2021, resulting in a loss of six million paid TV homes.
  

India is set to become the third largest TV advertising market within the next two years due to a rise in digital natives and emergence of smart TVs and OTTs, as per Changing Landscape of Indian Television report 2022 by GroupM Finecast and Kantar.

Most of that growth will be fuelled by a rise in Indian customers switching to smart TVs and devices, giving rise to connected TVs (CTV), the report said. India’s smart TV shipments grew 38% year-on-year in Q3 2022, with 90% of units sold being smart TVs.

“The future of TV in terms of advertising looks bright as the emergence of new technologies like CTV creates even more room for customisations,” Prasanth Kumar CEO - South Asia, GroupM said.

Connected TV (CTV) is connected to the internet either directly or indirectly through: smart TVs, external streaming devices such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV Sticks etc, internet-enabled gaming consoles and Blu-ray/DVD players. Linear TV, on the other hand, refers to traditional television viewing where TV is accessed either free of charge or via subscription to cable, satellite, or IPTV services.

Close to 80% of linear or traditional TV users are intending to switch to connected TVs in the next one year, the Finecast Kantar report said. This is in line with a March 2022 EY-Ficci report that said subscription revenue for linear TV fell by 6.2% in 2021, with the loss of six million pay TV homes.

Connected TV advertising is set to grow rapidly in India with a 47% CAGR by 2027, the report said. India plans to spend $395 million on CTV advertising by 2027, it stated.

What is driving the Indian audience to connected TVs?

There are three primary reasons for preference of connected TVs- flexibility in switching channels, variety in content catalogue and ease of search.

The report also said that 63% of connected TV users think the ads shown to them are more personalised. There is also a perception that CTV offers uninterrupted content and less ads, the report said.

“If convenience is driving audiences towards connected TV, addressability is driving advertisers to connected TV,” the report said.

While Indian families prefer to watch documentaries, kids shows, daily soaps, sports and movies together, this was not the case with web series which people want to watch alone, the report found.

However, duration of TV consumption was not dependent on the mode of connection as both connected and linear viewers spent about 12 hours per week watching TV. In terms of pan-India preference, West India preferred connected TV and the East opted majorly for linear TV viewing.

Smart appliances and connected TVs

The report said that connected TV users tend to have 1.2 times more household income than linear TV watchers and are twice more likely to own smartphones that cost almost ₹40,000. Connected TV users are known to be more brand conscious, often enjoy premium lifestyles. This included owning smart home appliances, surround sound systems, membership of health clubs and resorts with premium credit cards.

As compared to Linear TV respondents, Connected TV users were more likely to go out frequently, scroll through social media, meet friends and family and even binge watch TV shows on weekends, the report revealed.

The rise of connected TV is gradually phasing out the traditional/linear TV viewers. The Indian TV advertising target audience is also growing. Today, there are 20-22 million addressable TVs homes in India, which is estimated to reach 40 million by 2025. Addressable TV advertising is the ability to show different ads to different households while they are watching the same content.

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