Three in four digital-only users now live in rural India, underlining how smartphones and mobile data are redrawing the media map in the country.Kantar’s latest Media Compass Report for Q3 of CY2025 notes that India has seen a sharp rise in digital-only viewers, led by Rural India.
What does the data say?
These digital-only audiences, 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, in Q3.
| Evolving Media landscape | ||
| Segment | Q1CY25 | Q3CY25 |
| (figures in mn) | ||
| Linear TV | 705 | 689 |
| Linear TV+CTV | 99 | 116 |
| Digital-only audiences: Urban v/s rural | ||
| Total (Q3CY25) | Urban | Rural |
| 313 million | 25% | 75% |
| Source: Kantar Media Compass Report |
Where did the television audience go?
Linear television viewership, meanwhile, has seen a marginal drop 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.
