One in three smart TV users now lives in rural India, a Kantar report shows, as streaming moves from the smartphone to the shared living-room screen
The smartphone powered India's first streaming wave. The next one is playing out on the living-room screen, and it is happening well beyond the big cities.
Connected TV, or CTV, is no longer an urban story. A recent Kantar report estimated that one in three CTV users lives in rural India. Entertainment industry executives said audiences in smaller towns are spending longer sessions on the platform, watching live sports, regional movies and family programming together. That makes those viewers a high-priority target for content studios, streaming services and the brands trying to reach them.
India's CTV base reached 68 million unique sets connecting to the internet each month in 2025, according to the latest Ficci-EY media and entertainment report. About 40 million of those connected weekly, up from 30 million in 2024. Active CTV homes are expected to rise to 67 million by 2028 as broadband access grows to over 90 million homes over the same period.
"Connected TV is rapidly evolving from a premium platform into a true mass-reach medium," said Puneet Avasthi, director of specialist businesses for South Asia at Kantar. "Our latest findings show that more than 60% of CTV viewers who do not watch linear television are from smaller towns and rural markets."
How people engage with CTV differs by market, Avasth added. In metro cities, the viewing is built on established streaming habits, multiple OTT subscriptions and more personalized consumption. In smaller towns and rural India, CTV is often the first large-screen digital experience, with family co-viewing playing a bigger role. Much of that small-town viewing centers on linear TV shows and regional movies. In urban areas, web series are more popular.
Russhabh R. Thakkar, founder and CEO of ad tech company Frodoh, estimated that connected TV penetration in tier-2 and tier-3 cities is around 32-37%. Those towns often have bigger living spaces and larger TV screens. "The advent of regional OTT platforms that create content appealing to a certain dialect and celebrity-led movies makes this a natural shift," he added.
The growth is being driven by a mix of structural and consumer factors. Rohit Dalmia, chairman and managing director of entertainment financing platform CineNow, pointed to affordable smart televisions, improving broadband, low-cost data and bundled entertainment packages. He noted a shift from individual mobile viewing to shared living-room consumption. Regional content, sports and free streaming services are accelerating the transition.
Saurabh Srivastava, chief operating officer for digital business at Shemaroo Entertainment, said CTV consumption across the company's YouTube ecosystem has recorded over three-digit percentage growth. "Technology alone isn't doing all the work," Srivastava said. "The actual trigger, more like the real catalyst, is relevant content. Today, consumers want entertainment that matches their language, their culture, their tastes."
Mobile phones and traditional television had distinct content. CTV changed that, said Radha Govind Indwar, assistant professor of marketing at IMI Kolkata. "The TV first strategy has replaced the mobile first ethos," Indwar said. "The fast expansion of regional programming and FAST channels catered to India's growing non-metropolitan and rural population is perhaps the biggest emergent possibility."
Brands increasingly see CTV as a medium that combines television's emotional impact with digital's precision and measurability, industry executives said. The lean-back, big-screen experience keeps audiences more engaged for longer. That is reflected in stronger CPMs, making CTV attractive for companies looking for both reach and measurable outcomes.
Arjit Sachdeva, co-founder of ad tech company VDO.AI, said metros still deliver the highest volumes and view completion rates of 95-96%. But smaller towns consistently deliver VCRs around 85%, and campaigns there rarely see rates drop below 80%. Nearly 40% more brands are actively looking to include CTV in their media mix than a year ago, particularly in broad-appeal categories like fast-moving consumer goods, consumer durables, home appliances and automotive.
"The sharpest shift is vernacular-first creative built for CTV specifically, not repurposed from TV or digital," said Amit Dhawan, co-founder of Crack'd & Vibetheory.AI. "Brands are increasingly running genuinely different creative for rural versus metro audiences on the same CTV inventory." Categories that were traditionally linear-TV-first for reaching non-metro India–financial services, consumer durables, auto–are showing up more deliberately on CTV plans now, he added.
The rise of streaming has also extended the reach of traditional television soaps. Television staples such as Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (4.9 million views) and Anupamaa (3.1 million views) ranked among India's 10 most-watched OTT properties during the week of 13-19 July, according to media consulting firm Ormax. Industry executives said the migration is reshaping how shows are written and distributed.
Drafted by a large language model from the source reporting linked above, then screened by automated publishing checks. It is not read by a journalist before publication. Some articles cite our Alpha Score. Verify prices and figures against the original source. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.