Indian television is at a genuinely fascinating crossroads. On one side stands a century-old broadcast tradition rooted in public service, regional storytelling, and mass reach. On the other, a rapidly maturing digital ecosystem is rewriting the rules of content creation, distribution, and monetization. What makes India’s situation unique is not that television and streaming are competing-it’s that both are growing simultaneously, serving a population so vast and varied that no single screen or platform can claim to represent everyone.
Table of Contents
- A television market of staggering scale
- The OTT surge and what’s driving it
- The rise of regional content
- The content quality debate
- Traditional television: Not dead, but adapting
- The technology reshaping the screen itself
- D2M: The next frontier of broadcast technology
- Regulation, responsibility, and creative freedom
- Serving India’s diversity: The real challenge ahead
A television market of staggering scale
To understand where Indian television is headed, it helps to appreciate just how large the industry already is. By 2025, the Government of India reported 918 operational private satellite TV channels, serving a nationwide audience of more than 900 million viewers. Television households are projected to grow from 190 million in 2024 to 214 million by 2026. Alongside this, India’s OTT streaming market-with over 55 players-is currently valued at approximately USD 2.3 billion and is projected to nearly double to USD 4 billion over the next five years, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2025-29. This is not a story of one medium dying and another thriving-it is a story of coexistence, collision, and convergence.
The OTT surge and what’s driving it
The shift in viewing habits has been dramatic. Surveys as of late 2025 indicate that around 65% of Indian consumers now prefer streaming services for their entertainment needs, driven by the flexibility and convenience of on-demand content. Three structural factors explain this preference: the world’s cheapest mobile data, widespread smartphone penetration, and a growing generation of cord-cutters-particularly young, urban consumers-who are abandoning traditional cable and DTH connections for streaming flexibility.
As of late 2025, approximately 700 million individuals in India had access to the internet, representing a penetration rate of around 50%. The OTT market is projected to grow at a 15.62% CAGR from 2025 to 2035, with subscriber numbers expected to more than double by 2030. OTT households are projected to increase from 43 million in 2023 to 65 million by 2026, with an estimated 138 million subscriptions-an average of around two subscriptions per household.
The rise of regional content
Perhaps the most important structural shift inside Indian streaming is the dominance of regional language content. Regional-language content now accounts for over half of all OTT viewership in India. Platforms like Aha (Telugu and Tamil), Hoichoi (Bengali), and Sun NXT (South Indian languages) have built profitable, niche businesses by doubling down on local storytelling rather than competing head-on with Netflix or Amazon. The market has seen a 40% increase in regional language content as of late 2025, catering to audiences across different states who increasingly seek content that reflects their own cultural identities. ZEE5 has reported that non-Hindi languages account for over 65% of total viewership on its platform, with more than 40% of its audience now coming from Tier II and III markets-a clear signal that the next wave of growth lies beyond India’s metros.
The content quality debate
More money and more platforms have not necessarily meant more content. After peaking at 383 original properties in 2023, the number of streaming originals in India dropped by 18% in 2024 and a further 13% in 2025-going below the 300-mark for the first time since 2020. Platforms have grown more cautious after years of aggressive spending with uneven results. As one senior filmmaker noted to Exchange4media, commissioning has tightened significantly, making it far harder for new shows to get greenlit. The focus has shifted from “growth at all costs” to profitability and differentiated content. In parallel, 2025 marked the breakout year for micro-dramas in India, with cumulative downloads crossing 250 million, signalling a new appetite for short-form, mobile-first narratives built around high-frequency engagement.
Traditional television: Not dead, but adapting
Reports of traditional television’s death are greatly exaggerated. Linear TV continues to serve a massive audience, particularly in semi-urban and rural India, where connectivity remains uneven and DTH remains the primary source of entertainment. Doordarshan, established in 1959 and still operated by Prasar Bharati as India’s public broadcaster, now operates 35 satellite channels and reaches over 90% of India’s population. Its free-to-air DTH platform, DD Free Dish, serves approximately 49 million households-providing access to entertainment without any subscription cost, which makes it indispensable to lower-income viewers.
The government has also been actively upgrading the public broadcasting infrastructure. Under the BIND Scheme, 28 regional Doordarshan channels are being migrated to High-Definition program production capability, and 31 regional news units are being upgraded with modern equipment. Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati has launched a pilot initiative to bring underrepresented regional language channels-including Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bangla, Assamese, and Odia-onto DD Free Dish free of cost, prioritizing regional news services and aiming to deepen linguistic inclusion in public broadcasting.
The technology reshaping the screen itself
Beyond content, the physical screen is evolving rapidly. India’s Connected TV viewership surged by 87% year on year to around 129 million households in 2025, with smart TVs replacing traditional sets as consumers seek larger screens and better display technology for streaming. The Indian TV market-valued at USD 13.74 billion in 2025 and expected to reach USD 37.80 billion by 2034-is being reshaped by AI integration, adaptive picture optimization, voice controls, and app ecosystems that blur the line between a television and a connected computer. AI is now embedded in everything from content recommendation engines to real-time picture enhancement, changing how viewers discover and experience content.
D2M: The next frontier of broadcast technology
One of the most ambitious developments on the horizon is Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) broadcasting-a technology that could redefine how content reaches India’s population. D2M delivers live TV, video, audio, and text messages directly to mobile phones without requiring Wi-Fi or internet access, functioning like FM radio for the digital age. Led by Prasar Bharati, D2M trials are currently underway in over 19 cities, and a national rollout is expected by mid-2026 with commercial services to follow. MIB Secretary Sanjay Jaju has described D2M’s potential to “democratize content access,” particularly for rural and remote areas with limited internet connectivity. IIT Bombay has also entered the ecosystem, collaborating on the next evolution of D2M called Broadcast-to-Everything (B2X), which extends beyond mobile phones to IoT devices, vehicles, and 6G networks.
Regulation, responsibility, and creative freedom
As Indian television evolves, so does the regulatory environment around it. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting banned 25 OTT apps in July 2025, citing obscene and undesirable content, continuing its pattern of asserting oversight over the streaming space. Platforms are required to self-classify content and maintain grievance redressal mechanisms. At the same time, the government has been invoking Section 69A of the IT Act to block platforms deemed non-compliant. These measures raise genuine questions about where the line sits between content regulation in the public interest and the erosion of creative freedom that has allowed Indian OTT platforms to tell diverse, boundary-pushing stories.
The commercial challenge is equally significant. With over 55 OTT platforms competing for subscribers in a price-sensitive market, average revenue per user remains low. Platforms are experimenting with ad-supported free tiers (AVOD), subscription models (SVOD), and hybrid pricing to remain financially sustainable-all while investing in original content to differentiate themselves in a crowded field. Industry consolidation is also underway: the landmark merger of Star India and Viacom18 (controlled by Reliance Industries) in 2024, creating JioHotstar, is a clear signal that only well-capitalised players can sustain the content arms race long-term.
Serving India’s diversity: The real challenge ahead
The future of Indian television will ultimately be measured not just by subscriber numbers or market valuations, but by how well the industry serves the extraordinary diversity of India’s 1.4 billion people. A viewer in rural Assam, a family in urban Bengaluru, and a young professional in Delhi have profoundly different content needs, language preferences, and economic circumstances. No single platform, format, or technology can serve all of them equally. This is why the coexistence of free-to-air public broadcasting, regional private channels, and subscription-based OTT platforms is not a temporary transitional state-it is likely the permanent architecture of India’s media ecosystem.
What gives this moment its importance is that decisions being made now-about content investment, technological infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and regional representation-will shape Indian television for the next two decades. The industry has an opportunity to use digital tools not just to maximize commercial returns, but to amplify voices, languages, and communities that have historically been underserved by mainstream media.
What do you think? As streaming platforms compete aggressively for subscribers, is there a risk that smaller regional languages and communities get left behind in favour of content that appeals to the widest possible audience? And can India’s public broadcaster, Doordarshan, reinvent itself meaningfully in the digital age-or will it remain primarily relevant to those without access to paid platforms?
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_India
- https://www.exchange4media.com/media-tv-news/ott-at-inflection-point-how-2025-redefined-streaming-power-formats-policy-and-scale-150466.html
- https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/india-ott-market-12696
- https://www.ibef.org/blogs/the-rise-of-streaming-services-transforming-the-indian-entertainment-landscape
- https://www.thestreaminglab.com/p/the-regional-ott-playbook-2025-part
- https://www.ormaxmedia.com/insights/stories/supply-trends-indian-streaming-originals-in-2025.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doordarshan
- https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=155203&ModuleId=3
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- https://www.abu.org.my/2025/12/02/prasar-bharati-to-onboard-popular-regional-channels-on-dd-free-dish/
- https://www.imarcgroup.com/india-television-market
- https://www.storyboard18.com/digital/d2m-phones-laptops-to-showcase-the-future-of-broadcasting-at-waves-2025-63782.htm
- https://www.storyboard18.com/amp/digital/exclusive-govt-to-rollout-d2m-broadcasting-by-mid-2026-commercial-services-later-83443.htm
- https://www.storyboard18.com/television/exclusive-d2m-broadcasting-gets-iit-bombay-boost-as-it-outlines-b2x-opportunity-for-india-88869.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-top_media_services_in_India
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