Mumbai: India’s media consumption landscape is undergoing a rapid transformation as audiences increasingly embrace digital platforms, reshaping how brands plan reach, frequency, and media investments across the country.
Kantar’s Media Compass Report Q3 2025 highlights the growing importance of timely, data-led insights in navigating this evolving ecosystem. Built on a rolling sample of 87,000 consumers, the quarterly estimator offers updated intelligence on cross-media interactions, reach dynamics, and category-linked behaviours to support sharper media decision-making.
A key finding from the report is the accelerated rise of digital-only audiences. As of Q3 2025, digital-only users—those accessing the internet without watching linear television—account for 26% of India’s 15+ population, translating to 313 million individuals. This marks a 30% increase from 2024 levels. Notably, these audiences over-index among younger consumers and NCCS C/DE segments, with nearly three in four digital-only users residing in rural India.
While linear TV viewership has seen a marginal decline from 705 million in Q1 2025 to 689 million in Q3 2025, consumption patterns are becoming increasingly hybrid. The number of viewers accessing content across both linear TV and connected TV (CTV) has risen to 116 million in Q3 2025, representing a 17% growth over Q1 2025. Rural India continues to play a pivotal role in this shift, contributing 49% of incremental CTV viewers.
The report also underscores the expanding influence of digital commerce platforms, with 43% of Indians using online shopping platforms for discovery, research, and deal-hunting. This positions retail media networks as increasingly important upper-funnel touchpoints shaping early consumer preferences.
For brands and marketers, the findings signal the need to rethink traditional media assumptions. Digital is rapidly bridging reach gaps in historically underserved geographies, particularly rural markets, prompting a stronger focus on telecom-first strategies, mobile-led formats, and vernacular content. Additionally, retail platforms are emerging as critical storytelling and influence environments, requiring always-on, optimised content strategies.
Commenting on the findings, Puneet Avasthi, Director, Specialist Businesses, South Asia, Kantar, said, “Since its launch in June, Kantar’s Media Compass Report has enabled marketers to navigate the complexity of India’s media ecosystem with precision. 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. As media behaviour becomes increasingly multi-screen, Media Compass provides timely intelligence required to plan with precision, in line with shifting audience behaviour.”
