Stories
Rural India Drives CTV Boom: Audience Triples to 207 Million, Reshaping TV Landscape
- •India's CTV audience has surged to 207 million viewers across 62-65 million households, tripling since 2022, with rural India emerging as a major growth engine.
- •Rural India now accounts for 70 million CTV viewers, with audiences doubling in a year, shifting CTV's growth beyond urban premium households.
- •The distinction between urban and rural CTV audiences is moving from access to consumption habits, content preferences, and payment methods, with rural viewers favoring free or telco-bundled content.
- •Advertisers must adapt strategies for rural CTV, considering different product relevance (electronics, mobile phones) and the collective family viewing experience prevalent in these markets.
- •Regional content, along with agriculture, education, cricket, and Bollywood, is expected to drive the next phase of CTV growth, requiring increased investment in diverse programming.
Key Questions Answered
India's connected TV audience has reached 207 million viewers across roughly 62 to 65 million households, marking a threefold growth since 2022. The broader OTT audience stands at 664.9 million, while active paid OTT subscriptions reached 172.6 million in 2026.
Urban consumers are more willing to pay for premium subscriptions and watch a wider variety of content, whereas rural audiences lean towards frugal, free, or telco-bundled content. Furthermore, urban viewing tends to be personalized and individual due to nuclear families, while rural viewing remains a collective, shared household experience.
Rural CTV audiences doubled in a single year, with rural markets surging by 110% alongside significant growth in small towns and mini-metros. Regional programming, local cultural motifs, and useful categories like agriculture, education, and religion are expected to fuel this next wave of expansion.
