"News & Movies continued to drive the growth for TV" : BARC and Nielsen Report

This is the seventh edition of the report on ‘Crisis Consumption on TV and Smartphones’ jointly released by BARC India and Nielsen Media.

BARC India is the official currency on Television Measurement in India and Nielsen Media runs a 12000 strong smartphone panel in India passively capturing smartphone behaviour.

Some of the Key Highlights of TV and Smartphone consumption during the sixth week of Lockdown are as follows: -

• Total TV viewership grew over the Pre-COVID period by 29% & the week recorded 1.14 Trillion Viewing Minutes

• News & Movies continued to drive the growth for TV

• Mythological shows witnessed a huge increase across GECs – the re-runs of classics like Mahabharata and Ramayana on other channels continue to attract significant viewers and helped the channels increase the slot viewership.

• Retro music on TV seems to be playing more, with the 41+yr olds increasing time spent on music

• 10% increase in the count of brands advertising on Television, with 395 new brands coming into play

• Internet Penetration in India is now at 40%, with 504 Mn Active Internet Users (5+yrs)

• Time spent on Smartphone increased by 16% versus Pre Covid, the highest usage since the COVID-19 lockdown - resulted in 18.7 Bn minutes on the smartphone/day in the recent week.

• Gaming, Education Apps, Social Networking continue their trailblazing increase!