46 Trillion Minutes Strong: TV’s unmatched dominance in content consumption

A panel of marketing leaders at the Pitch CMO Summit Mumbai 2025 explored the evolving role of television in today's multi-platform world. The discussion centered on TV's enduring power as a medium for brand building, despite the rapid growth of digital platforms and changing viewing habits.

The panelists included Anjali Madan Krishnan, Director - India Consumer Experience, AMEA Media at Mondelez India Foods Private Limited; Darshana Shah, Head - Marketing and Customer Experience at Aditya Birla Capital; Harshdeep Chhabra, Global Media Head at Godrej Consumers Product Limited; and Shubhra Sethi, Head -Strategy, Entertainment Ad Sales at JioStar. The session was chaired by Jai Lala, Chief Executive Officer - India at Zenith.

The discussion began with Krishnan sharing insights on TV's critical role for Mondelez, noting how the medium enables deep storytelling and consistently delivers strong results. "For Mondelez, TV has played a very critical role over the years. Our brands have a lot of storytelling to do and go deep down in the hearts of consumers. It's one of the mediums that always shows us great effectiveness in driving volume share," she said.

She acknowledged their significant investment in digital but emphasized that TV still contributes to more than half the reach of their media plans. You can't really build a completely digital campaign when you have a lot of brand messaging to do, TV is essential when you have equity building to do, you have innovation to drive on products, and you have storytelling," Krishnan added.

When questioned about TV's relevance to younger audiences, Chhabra highlighted the medium's massive reach. "The fact that TV is there in 210 million households, and it's largely a single TV household market means people are coming together and watching TV," he explained.

He acknowledged shifts in youth viewing habits but maintained their continued presence. "Are youth watching a lot less than what they were watching some time back? Yes, it is the case. But that doesn't mean that youth has gone off," Chhabra noted, adding that Connected TV is becoming increasingly important.

Krishnan concurred with much of Chhabra's assessment, emphasizing that TV remains a family viewing experience. "TV time is typically family time, and the evidence of that is no matter what your target audience is, if you run a plan on TV, the deliveries look very similar because everybody is consuming the same content," she said. She also noted that TV's relevance varies by target audience and market segment. "If you go to a tier 2 and a tier 3 and start moving down to rural areas, you cannot do without TV in your plan. Similarly, if there is a large sporting event like an Bigg Boss or IPL, all audiences tune in to watch that irrespective of age or strata," Krishnan explained.

Shah said that for financial services brands, TV works best for specific purposes. "Where it does work for us is when we're doing a new launch or a new conversation. News as a genre is still very big for BFSI," Shah said

Providing data-driven insights, Sethi challenged the notion that youth have abandoned television. "There are close to 300 million youth in the 15 to 30 age group. That audience has actually grown on television. On JioStar, we've seen the growth of youth penetration increase by 10% over the last two to three years," she stated. Sethi also emphasized the impact of co viewing, which accounts for 88% of television viewing in India. "Coviewing leads to shared experiences, and when you have shared experiences, you have conversations. What do most brands want? Brands want conversations and emotions. We've seen a 2x higher impact on brand outcomes from co-viewing versus solo viewing," she explained. She highlighted how the overall role of television is to build a brand, tell its story, expand its reach, and penetrate the target market. Citing an example, she mentioned a leading soap brand in Maharashtra that exclusively advertised on JioStar and achieved unprecedented household penetration and volume growth. It attained its highest-ever household penetration, increasing by 1.4 times compared to the previous January. This, she explained, demonstrates how television helps brands across the bottom of the funnel as well. The conversation then moved to the qualitative factors that influence media choices. Krishnan shared a practical example about marketing children's products. "I'm signed up to a no marketing to kids policy globally, so I cannot talk to kids. If the mother is the influencer that I want to reach out to, I am left with no other option but to go to TV as a platform," she explained

She also pointed to the viewing experience as a factor: "Watching an IPL match on your phone is great for catching up on scores when you're on the go. But if you have a television set in front of you, would you not rather watch a sporting event of that grandeur on a large screen?"

The discussion then turned to the future of television and its various forms. Chhabra referenced TRAI data showing a decline in pay TV subscriptions post-COVID, while DD Free Dish continues to grow in rural areas. "I was recently in Rajasthan where I went to six houses across various rural households, and DD Free Dish is everywhere. Connected TV is growing at the pay side. So, TV overall can continue to be at the numbers that we know, but the shift between pay and connected TV is the one to watch out for," he observed.

Sethi provided context about the scale of television consumption. "Today, the overall consumption on television is close to 46 trillion minutes. That is actually more than the combined consumption on your top UGC platform, social platform, and short video platform all put together." She explained how brands get attracted to television for the scale it provides. She further added that cord-cutting, remains minimal at less than 0.5%, concluding, "From a pay TV perspective or the size of the audience, it's not going anywhere."