Do you have fights over the TV remote in your home? They must happen...in India, there is a war going on since ancient times for control of the TV.



But there is one image that is clear in everyone's mind during this war...on the TV, it is the wife who holds the control. Women's dominance has spread from soap operas to dubbed South Indian movies. Men can only have control of the remote during cricket world cups and IPL matches or during evening news.


Now, if we tell you that this image in your mind is false, then the situation is the opposite.


NFHS statistics show that men are ahead of women in terms of watching TV in India. According to NFHS-5, 55.9% of men in the country watch TV, while only 53.5% of women watch TV.


The statistics of NFHS-5 are between 2019-2021. But it is not new that men watch more TV.


The statistics of NFHS-3 are from 2005-06. And they show that men were even further ahead in terms of TV watching 15-16 years ago. At that time, 63.2% of men watched TV, while only 55% of women watched TV.


What does the National Family Health Survey reveal about the battle of viewership that has been ongoing since the invention of television... and why do men watch more TV than women?


First, let's find out how it is determined which households have more access to television.


During the National Family Health Survey, the exposure to television is measured.


The first National Family Health Survey was conducted in 1992-93. In this survey, the number of households with television is collected in order to assess people's economic status.


Additionally, people are asked about their access to media such as how often they read newspapers, watch television, listen to the radio, and go to the cinema/theater, in order to estimate their reach.


In the recent survey conducted from 2019-2021, the question of whether people have ever used the internet or not was also added.


Watching television at least once a week is considered television exposure. Men have more television exposure than women, according to this measure.


This means that there are more women in the country who do not watch television even once a week.


The trend of watching television was once increasing... but now it is decreasing.


There was a time when the reach of television was limited in India. It was only available in a few homes in urban areas.


As it slowly spread to villages, the number of people watching television also increased. But now, this number is gradually decreasing again.



Over time, the number of televisions has increased, but the number of viewers has decreased.


In 1992-93, only 20% of households in the country had a television, while by 2019-21, that number had reached 63%.


The number of households with televisions in villages has also increased rapidly along with cities. In the past, only the question of whether or not there was a television in the house was asked during surveys. Over time, this question also changed and people started to be asked whether there was a color TV or a black and white TV in their house.


Sociologists believe that while the number of households with televisions has increased, the number of people watching television has decreased because the easy availability of the internet has changed people's viewing habits.


Men have always watched more TV than women.


During the early two National Family Health Surveys, the focus was mainly on women. The figures for TV exposure in both surveys were only available for women.


In 1992-93, during NFHS-1, 31.8% of women in the country were watching TV at least once a week. This means that 68.2% of women were not watching TV at all.


By the time of NFHS-2 in 1998-99, the number of women who watched TV at least once a week had increased to 45.7%.


By 2015-16, access to TV for more than 71% of women in the country had been established. However, surprisingly, in the 2019-21 survey, this number decreased to around 53%.



During NFHS-5, the television exposure of men and women was observed in all 36 states and union territories of India. 

The national average indicates that 55.7% of men and 53.5% of women watch TV. Men are ahead in the national average, but in the survey, in 20 out of 36 states/union territories, fewer men watch TV than women.


Only 16 states/union territories are where the number of men watching TV is more than women.


In 20 states, women are ahead in watching TV... still behind the national average.


Where men watch more TV, there is a greater gap in TV exposure, which is why men are ahead in the national average.


There are some areas like Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Maharashtra, Ladakh, and Mizoram where there is a huge gap in TV exposure between men and women.


In Maharashtra, 64.5% of men watch TV at least once a week, while only 59.5% of women do so.


In Bihar, more than 38% of the male population has access to television, but only around 27% of women who watch television.


Due to such large gaps, women have fallen behind in the national average.


Goa has the highest TV viewership, while Bihar-Jharkhand has the lowest.


In terms of TV viewing, Goa is at the forefront. Here, on average, about 90% of the population watches TV at least once a week. However, even here, men are more prominent.


In Goa, 85% of women have access to television, while 93.5% of men watch TV at least once a week.


In Bihar and Jharkhand, only about 32% of the population has access to television. Surprisingly, even in such limited reach, men have more exposure.


In Jharkhand, about 29% of women watch TV, while more than 34% of men do so. In Bihar, around 27% of women watch TV, while around 38% of men do so.


After the advent of the internet, television exposure has decreased.


The number of households with televisions in India has been steadily increasing. On average, 67.8% of households in the country have a television. 66.7% of households have color TVs, while 2.3% still have black and white TVs.


In urban areas, 86% of households have color TVs, and 2.2% have black and white TVs. In contrast, in rural areas, 57.1% of households have color TVs, and 2.3% have black and white TVs.


Despite this, only 55% of men and 53% of women watch TV at least once a week. This number was over 77% in 2005-06.


Experts believe that this decline in TV viewership is due to the internet. Last year, a Reuters study showed that 89% of people in India get their information through digital media.


However, the media exposure of the people included in this report was higher.


Talking about NFHS-5, in this survey, the government has included internet exposure for the first time. According to this, 51.2% of men and 33.3% of women in the country have used the internet at least once in their lifetime.


Although the national average for women's internet exposure may appear low, there are 11 states/union territories where more than 50% of women have used the internet. While only 4 states/union territories have women's internet exposure less than 25%.