MUMBAI: BARC India, the audience measurement body, has revised its weekly viewing figures, which in future will be based on an updated Universe Estimate that reflects recent developments in the consumer and viewer landscape.

Accordingly, total TV impressions jumped 18%, from 22.7bn in week 7 to 26.7bn impressions in week 8.

Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India, explained that the figures were the result of the findings of the Broadcast India Survey, which covered 300,000 homes across 590 Districts and 4,300 Towns and Villages.

"BI 2016 is one of the biggest surveys done in the country so far," he said. "The TV universe in India is ever growing and changing and so is the profile and choice of a TV viewer.

"The last survey done was in 2013 and the last Census was in 2011," he added. "The consumer and viewer landscape is changing rapidly, with electrification, prosperity, changing modes of signal and digitization … The new reality is TV viewership is rapidly growing and how. "

The study also highlighted shifts in the country's demographics; The proportion of TV households has grown faster in NCCS (New Consumer Classification System) B and C – from 24% to 27% for the former and from 31% to 32% for the latter – indicating an increasing share of the middle class. NCCS A, meanwhile dropped from 22% to 21%, while NCCS D/E slid from 23% to 20% cent.

These trends are in line with fragmentation of family sizes (leading to lower average family sizes) and rising economic growth and rising prosperity the report said.

Dasgupta expected that the survey – which contains granular data and information on the media consumption habits of Indians, as well as select durable ownership and packaged goods purchase profiles – would assist subscribers and the eco system align strategies for better targeting.

Data sourced from BARC India; additional content by Warc staff