Lintas Media Guide 2008: Urban and rural reach of advertising media

The Indian economy is booming and consequently, the various advertising and communication media are booming too. India will have more than 500 channels in the next two years and may well become the largest television market in the world by 2015. At the same time, literacy has risen to encompass 551 million people and more people in both rural and urban areas are reading newspapers and magazines. According to current estimates, the print media reaches 316 million people.

Radio is estimated to provide 1.5 million hours of content for 300 channels at present. The medium forms 3 per cent of total ad spends this year, and is expected to grow to 5 per cent in 2008-09. The OOH industry is growing at a rate of 17 per cent per year and is expected to grow from Rs 1,000 crore at present to Rs 2,150 by 2010. The Internet also shows a lot of promise and has grown 43 per cent in terms of advertising revenue.

With all advertising media showing healthy growth, the Media Guide 2008, released by the Lintas Media Group, analyses the penetration and reach of each medium of communication. The population distribution shows that of the 1028.7 million people in the country, 65.4 per cent are literate. Around 29.1 per cent live in urban areas and 70.9 per cent in rural areas. Males form 51.8 per cent of the total population and females, 48.2 per cent.

Urban reach

Television has the highest reach in urban areas and reached more than 75 per cent of the urban population in 2007. These viewers watched TV at least three days a week. The print medium has the second highest reach in urban areas, with 35 per cent penetration. The percentage reach for the print medium denotes average issue readership. After print comes radio with 20 per cent reach and then comes cinema with close to 12 per cent penetration. The percentage of the population mentioned listened to the radio at least three days a week and went to the cinema at least once a month.

On the basis of sex, the penetration of all media remains less for females than for males in both urban and rural areas. In urban India, TV reaches 75 per cent of males and 74 per cent of females. Press permeates to 46 per cent males and 27 per cent females. Radio has 24 per cent and 19 per cent reach for males and females, respectively. Cinema reaches 10 and 3 per cent males and females and the Internet reaches 6 per cent and 2 per cent males and females, respectively.

Looking at statewise reach in urban areas, television has the highest reach in all the states, including Chandigarh, Delhi and Goa. All three states reveal 87 per cent penetration. TV has the lowest reach in Bihar, with only 49 per cent penetration. Print has the highest penetration in Kerala and the lowest in Orissa. Reach figures for both states are 71 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively.

Radio has the highest reach in Tamil Nadu – 40 per cent – and the lowest reach in Punjab – 9 per cent. Cinema is most successful in Andhra Pradesh, with 20 per cent reach, and least effective in Goa and Himachal Pradesh, with only 1 per cent reach in each state. The Internet is most useful as a medium in Delhi and Goa, with 12 per cent reach in each state, and the least used medium in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, with just 2 per cent reach in each state.

Rural reach

The penetration of all these media is relatively different in rural India. Television continues to be the medium with the highest reach, but penetrates only 38 per cent of the huge rural population in the country. Radio overtakes print in rural India and becomes the medium with the second most reach. Radio reaches 18 per cent of the rural population. The penetration of print is 15 per cent. Cinema, like in urban India, has the lowest reach in rural India – it reaches a mere 5 per cent of the rural population.

Looking at the reach of the various media on the basis of sexual division, TV’s penetration in rural areas is 39 per cent for men and 35 per cent for women. Radio reaches 22 per cent males and 13 per cent females. Print reaches 20 per cent males and 7 per cent females. Cinema reaches 4 per cent males and 1 per cent females.

Statewise reach is highest for television in Goa, with 83 per cent penetration; it is the lowest in Bihar, with 11 per cent penetration. Radio, like in urban India, has the maximum reach in Tamil Nadu (40 per cent) and the minimum reach in Andhra Pradesh (3 per cent). Print is most effective as a medium in Kerala again, with 62 per cent reach, and least effective in Madhya Pradesh, with only 4 per cent reach. Cinema follows the same trend in rural India as in urban India and has the highest reach in Andhra Pradesh – 20 per cent. The medium has the lowest reach in the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal – 1 per cent penetration in each of these states.