According to National Readership 2006 data published in September last year, average weekly viewership of satellite TV across the country grew from 207 million individuals in 2005 to 230 million individuals in 2006. The number of cable and satellite (C&S) homes showed an increase of 12 per cent from 61 million to 68 million in 2006, even as total TV penetration touched 112 million, a growth of 3.2 per cent over last year. Also, India's poor showing at the World Cup cricket has raised the stakes of general entertainment channels (GEC). NRS 2006 revealed that the pattern of growth in India's C&S TV homes continued its buoyancy for another year and created a strong momentum for further growth going forward.
"Ad rates have been lagging and the changes are corrections, not increases," said Paritosh Joshi, president, advertising, sales and distribution, Star India. "If audience growth remains strong, a 15 per cent annual correction should be the minimum threshold."
Media planners, however, do not share the broadcasters?optimism about increased eyeballs. "We must look at net increase in eyeballs, that is, fragmentation of ratings plus increase in TV homes," Gowthaman Ragothaman, MD, MindShare. "The average primetime rating of general entertainment channels (GEC) has come down from 3.3 per cent in 2002 to 2.7 per cent in 2006. Urban homes, meanwhile, have grown from 22 million in 2002 to 30 million in 2006. The net effect is the growth in GEC reach from 0.7 million in 2002 to 0.8 in 2006, which represents a six per cent drop in GEC eyeballs."
