Mumbai, Jul 26 (IANS): Television viewership is on the rise in India with a 7.5 per cent increase in TV homes in the country, according to a Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India survey.

The Broadcast India (BI) 2018 Survey, based on a sample study of 300,000 homes in the country, showed that total TV viewership in India is up by 12 per cent.

TV homes in the country have seen a 7.5 per cent jump, outpacing the 4.5 per cent growth of homes in India.

India currently boasts of 298 million homes, of which 197 million have TV sets. The country has an opportunity of almost 100 million more TV homes in the country.

"With BI 2018, we have been able to showcase the changing face of India. However, what hasn't changed is the fact that TV remains the most effective platform for both content creators and advertisers to reach their audiences," Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India, said in a statement.

"India is a country which is driven by family viewing and this shows in the increase in the number of TV households. With a penetration of just 66 per cent, there is still a huge scope of growth in the space," Dasgupta added.

Two highlights of the survey are -- the rise of the middle class and the increase in the number of flat TV screens.

As per the Survey, there are 123 million TV homes belonging to the middle class, which accounts for 63 per cent of TV homes in India. Together, the affluent TV owning homes form 84 per cent of TV Homes in the country.

TV homes in urban and rural India grew by 4 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Viewership uptake in urban India is 10 per cent, while that in rural India is 13 per cent.