India's TV Industry Remains Resilient Despite Cord Cutting

While some say that traditional, linear TV is dying, that is not the case in India, with the number of TV households forecast to keep on growing in the coming years.

Analysts find in the 2022 KPMG India report “Sports Broadcasting on TV: A Match Made in Heaven” that out of India’s 314 million households in 2022, 226 million owned a TV. By 2026, this figure is expected to rise to 248 million out of a total of 344 million households. These estimates take into consideration so-called “cord cutters”, who are viewers that have switched entirely from cable or satellite television to watching content via internet based streaming services such as Netflix.

According to the report, much of the TV household growth in the coming years is expected to come from rural markets, which currently have a low penetration rate at 61 percent of the total rural households. Although cord cutting is taking place in India, it is not at the same pace as in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.