The Connected TV (CTV) and Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) landscape is no longer a nascent experiment. It’s rapidly becoming a key touchpoint for brand storytelling and digital media strategy. A combination of growing smart TV adoption, cheaper broadband, regional content demand, and lean-back viewership habits is powering a steady rise in impressions and engagement.
Jay Ganesan, Senior Vice President, Asia-Pacific at Amagi, believes local content and language diversity are central to this shift. “One of the significant drivers of FAST adoption globally, including in India, is the increasing demand for culturally relevant local content and language-specific channels. News and entertainment remain dominant content categories, accounting for 41% and 23% of viewership.”
But perhaps the most telling trend is where this viewership is rising. “CTV penetration in India has seen notable growth in states with lower GDP per capita, highlighting the widespread readiness of the ecosystem for brands and advertisers,” Ganesan adds.
This expanding base is showing up in the data too. According to Amagi’s 14th FAST report, India’s share of global CTV ad impressions is still modest, but the country is seeing a rise in inventory and viewership – especially in genres like news, music, sports, and movies. These are no longer one-off media experiments. Advertisers are starting to make CTV a recurring component of their digital planning mix.
Beyond Branding into Performance Territory
Shailendra Singh Mehta, Head – Paid Media at AdLift, reflects on this transition. “Initially, CTV in India has been viewed more as a brand awareness play – great for visibility, storytelling, and mass reach, especially among premium, urban audiences. This was particularly true for FMCG, automotive, and D2C lifestyle brands.”
But the equation is shifting. He notes that thanks to smart TV penetration across all geographical tiers, even performance-led sectors like fintech, gaming, and e-commerce are beginning to explore CTV as a user acquisition channel. “In the last year or so, the smart TV penetration in all geographical tiers of the country has pushed app marketers to treat CTV as a performance channel.”
This rise is especially pronounced in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Russhabh R Thakkar, Founder and CEO of Frodoh, says, “We have seen a clear surge in CTV consumption from Tier 2 and 3 cities, driven by cheaper smart TVs, fiber broadband rollouts, and bundled data plans. While Tier 1 audiences lean towards on-demand OTT viewing, Tier 2/3 cities are showing high stickiness for scheduled content streams—especially in sports, news, and religious/spiritual programming. Co-viewing on CTV is common in non-metros, leading to longer session durations and higher ad recall.”
CTV’s performance benefits aren’t just theoretical. According to Thakkar, “Video completion rates on CTV typically exceed 90%, with viewability consistently above 95%, thanks to its full-screen, non-skippable format. In terms of cost efficiency, the cost per completed view (CPCV) is generally 20–30% lower than on mobile or desktop, driven by higher viewer engagement and reduced bounce rates.”
Barriers to Scale: Measurement, Fragmentation, and Trust
Yet, for all this promise, structural limitations continue to hold back its full potential. Sahil Chopra, Founder and CEO of iCubesWire, outlines the big three: measurement, fragmentation, and hesitation.
“When it comes to measurement, what brands want is clear ROI, but we haven’t seen much progress with current tools yet. Then comes inventory fragmentation—with content distributed across so many platforms, it’s becoming harder to plan at scale, which gives advertisers a strong reason to be cautious,” says Chopra.
For now, CTV may still be primarily viewed through a brand-building lens. “CTV remains very much in the branding zone. Marketers count on it to narrate stories made for a lean-back environment. The ecosystem doesn’t yet offer the preciseness in its level of targeting, tracking, and scale needed to make performance marketing on CTV feel credible.”
And Chopra cautions that if expectations are not met, advertisers will fall back on safer bets. “Advertisers would be willing to pay a premium, only if results are delivered. If CPMs keep gaining momentum without a proportional return, it’s only natural for brands to go back to platforms that offer more certainty. YouTube and Meta may lack the big screen appeal, but they do offer data, scale and attribution.”
Still, forward-looking brands are carving out CTV as a dedicated hybrid channel—part digital, part television. Thakkar points out that once regional brands experience “TV-style delivery with digital-style attribution,” they begin diverting traditional TV spends toward CTV—especially during regional or religious programming spikes.
But trust in metrics and transparency is essential for this shift to scale. Manish Solanki, COO and Co-founder at TheSmallBigIdea, notes, “Measurement has continued to be the biggest hurdle. Unlike traditional TV, CTV does not have a consensus third-party measure through which advertisers can see everything with clarity.”
He also flags ad fraud as a growing concern, particularly with premium CPMs in play. “Invalid traffic and spoofed impressions have become real contributors when supply paths are not confirmed. Brands are pushing for verified inventory, using ad verification tools and establishing direct partnerships with platforms. But this calls for industry standardization as a priority.”
With India on track to cross 50 million connected TV households by 2025, and regional stickiness driving both brand lift and performance efficiency, CTV is poised to become more than a trend. As infrastructural upgrades continue and measurement tools mature, brands are beginning to see CTV not just as a lean-back experience but a lean-in opportunity. The next leap will depend on solving for transparency, standardization, and credibility at scale. And if those pieces fall into place, the future of television in India may look far more connected than anyone predicted.