Premium and credible news content big draw for CTV audience: Ritu Dhawan, India TV

Connected TV has evolved significantly due to the internet's power and penetration, and can deliver quality and personalised content, remarks Ritu Dhawan, Managing Director and CEO, India TV.

In an exclusive chat with e4m, Dhawan spoke about how CTV has opened revenue streams for the media and that it is set to increase further with more and more households turning towards this medium. 

Excerpts from the conversation:

About 20 to 22 million households in India have internet-enabled connected televisions. How big is this number for advertisers?

Earlier, the large screen experience was limited to DTH/Cable and channel subscriptions. Now with CTV, it has evolved with the internet's power and can deliver quality and personalized content, which is also easy to access. Its popularity is based on content experience too. Advertisers can maximise ad exposure on CTV. With around 22 million devices, CTV reaches over 90 million viewers with an average time spent per viewer being higher as compared to linear TV. For India TV, the average time spent by viewers per week is 35 minutes on linear TV, while on the smart TV app, it is 41 minutes. 

Now, advertisers have two prominent requirements from a media vehicle - where is the affinity of the media vehicle and what is the size of the media? And both these requirements are well fulfilled by internet-enabled connected TVs, both for premium brands and for those who are looking for actual buyers for the brands. 

How are you going to capitalize on the rising CTV numbers? What has been your strategy? 

Yes, reports suggest that by 2025 over 50 million households will have access to CTVs and the viewership will touch 300 million. That means the market will witness 100% growth. Considering this exponential growth, it is mandatory for us to expand our content windows in the CTV space. India TV will soon produce audience-oriented content, especially for CTV. We are sure that with our content planning and execution, we will be able to make a strong impact among CTV users. In 5 years, this number will increase as old TV sets will be replaced by new smart TVs. This makes it vital to connect with the CTV ecosystem. 

How are ad dynamics evolving on connected TV platforms? What kind of brands reach out to you for CTV? 

The way digital advertising has increased its market penetration across the ad industry and advertiser verticals, CTV is becoming a preferred medium for advertisers. As CTV is enabled with the power of the internet, ad opportunities and ad formats have increased for advertisers. They are willing to spend more on CTV as multiple ad formats can deliver more impactful measurements, ad influence, and instant calls to action. Also, CTV penetration in the NCCS A market is 39 per cent, which is a big opportunity for advertisers who want to target this segment of the audience. Linear TV has 27% penetration in the said market. 

Is the investment large compared to traditional mediums? 

The CTV viewing eco-system is different from linear TV and it requires a lot of investment to acquire the mind space of the right viewer. When bigger players like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney Hotstar invest a lot to provide features on the first screen of CTV along with the remote, you also need to put in some capital. However, we feel that if you give premium and credible news content you can rule the CTV audience. 

What are the various revenue avenues open due to CTV? 

Apart from linear TV capabilities of ad performing, CTV has also provided digital benefits like Geo-targeting, In-Streams ads, Pre-rolls, and Mid-rolls. Additionally, other impactful features for revenue generation are also available. Sponsored content and impact features in ad formats are also important for advertisers as they can target connected audiences separately. 

How is connected TV changing the Tier 2, and 3 audiences' content patterns? 

The CTV market size is building on the same trend lines as smartphone penetration has in the past. Availability of internet and low-cost CTV devices are shaping Tier-II and Tier-III markets. Additionally, the Finance Minister’s announcement that the government will be focusing on laying optical fiber cable (OFC) in the rural parts of the country where the electricity has just arrived will help a lot. The growing number of smartphone users in India is also driving a need for smart TVs as users look to continue streaming content consumption on bigger screens when at home. 

What are the different innovations in the Connected TV space?  

Capabilities of digital ad formats are key drivers for ad innovations in CTV. Rich media ads and their ability to instant call-to-action are attracting advertisers' and viewers' eyeballs. Also, from the broadcasters’ perspective, CTV will break the boundaries of limited content broadcast with a 24x7 concept. These are great opportunities for content creators to facilitate structured content in multiple ways in the ecosystem.