Retail-only viewership climbs to 313 million , 75% living in rural India: Media Compass Report
India has witnessed rapid rise in digital-only viewers. Digital-only audiences, those who access the internet but do not watch Linear TV, climbed to 313 million representing 26 per cent of the 15+ year old Indian population, as of Q3 2025, as per the latest report released by Kantar’s Media Compass Report.
Also, three out of four of these digital-only viewers reside in rural India. At the same time linear television viewership has seen a marginal dip from 705 million in Q1 2025 to 689 million in Q3 2025.
The report is a quarterly estimator, built on a rolling sample of 87,000 consumers, providing updated reach and frequency metrics, cross-media interactions, and category-linked behaviours.
The report noted that digital-only audiences has grown by 30 per cent in Q3 2025 from its baseline of 20 per cent in 2024.
While linear TV viewership might have seen some decline, the number of viewers who are watching content on both LTV and CTV has grown to 116 million in Q3 2025 up 17 per cent over Q1’2025.
Noting that digital media adoption in rural India is high and soaring, the report noted that three in four digital-only users reside in Rural India. At the same time, 49 per cent of the incremental CTV viewers are also from Rural India.
“Digital is rapidly bridging the reach gap in historically-media dark geographies and cohorts of the country, making it essential for brands to build flexible plans that seamlessly balance linear and digital investments in line with campaign objectives and target audiences,” it added.
Puneet Avasthi, Director, Specialist Businesses, South Asia, Kantar, said, “The sharp rise of digital-only audiences, now 313 million Indians signals a decisive shift in how content is being consumed across the country. With strong growth coming from rural and younger segments, brands must rethink how they build reach and relevance.”
The report also noted tht 43 per cent of Indians browse online shopping platforms for discovery, research, and deal-hunting. Thus, retail media networks are increasingly shaping preferences at the top of the purchase funnel
Published on December 15, 2025
