What's Happening?
A new report, 'The Connected TV Era: India’s New Prime Time,' by WPP Media and The Trade Desk, with research by Ormax Media, reveals that India's Connected TV (CTV) ecosystem has reached 207 million viewers across 62–65 million households. This represents
a threefold increase in the CTV audience since 2022, with average daily consumption at 2.9 hours. The growth is particularly pronounced in non-metro areas, with rural audiences growing by 110% in a year, mini-metros by 46%, and small towns by 55%. The report indicates a shift in CTV from a premium urban niche to a mainstream component of television planning, emphasizing its role as an 'intelligent layer of television' rather than merely an additional screen. Smart TVs are identified as the primary gateway for 82% of CTV users, accessing streaming content through built-in apps.
Why It's Important?
This surge in CTV viewership in India has significant implications for the global advertising industry, including U.S. companies looking to expand their reach in international markets. The report highlights that CTV offers both mass reach and premium audience concentration, with 44% of the CTV universe belonging to NCCS A households and the remaining 56% from NCCS B and below. Premium urban CTV viewers, estimated at 21 million, spend around three hours daily on CTV, and 89% seek more information about a product after seeing a CTV advertisement. This indicates a powerful platform for advertisers to engage with a diverse and active consumer base. The shift towards a 'Total TV' approach, combining linear television and CTV, suggests new strategies for media planning and budget allocation for U.S. and international brands.
What's Next?
The report anticipates that India's CTV ecosystem will evolve from a scale-driven market to an intelligence-driven one, with future developments including AI-led, interactive, and shoppable formats. This will connect big-screen storytelling with search, inquiries, add-to-cart actions, store visits, and purchases. Targeting is expected to advance beyond geography and affluence to privacy-safe signals such as household life stage, language, content preferences, and shopping behavior. The industry will also focus on developing platform-agnostic, cross-screen measurement frameworks to provide a consistent view of exposure, reach, frequency, and outcomes across linear TV, CTV, and other screens. This evolution will likely influence how U.S. ad tech companies and brands approach their global advertising strategies.
Beyond the Headlines
The report challenges the perception that younger audiences have abandoned television, noting that Gen Z viewers (15–29) spend 3.1 hours daily on CTV, with 77% watching with friends or family. This suggests that marketers targeting Gen Z should consider household-level engagement rather than solely focusing on individual mobile devices. The high co-viewing rates (over 80% of CTV viewers watch with family or friends) mean that a single CTV impression reaches approximately 2.5 household members, necessitating a rethinking of reach, frequency, and measurement around the household. Furthermore, the strong correlation between CTV consumption and digital commerce (86% shopped online in the previous month) positions CTV as a crucial component of a full-funnel marketing strategy, moving beyond mere brand-building to drive consideration and action.
