‘CTV's rise in India draws strong brand engagement and confidence’

In a recent round table discussion facilitated by JioCinema and e4m, industry magnates expounded upon the undeniable impact of Connected TV (CTV) within India's rapidly evolving media landscape. Discussion around the central theme - 'Growth of CTV Audience in India: Can Brands Lead The Way?' - led to the consensus that with its growing base of unique users, differentiated viewing experience and customizable advertising opportunities, CTV makes it a powerful tool in the hands of the marketers.

Krishna Rao Buddha, Senior Category Head at Parle products, accentuated the drastic evolution in India's content consumption, and that CTV is leading the change. "Fuelled by affordable data and democratisation of smart devices, the content consumption landscape has been reshaped. And now, with the rollout of 5G data, the potential of CTV is only going to grow," said Rao.

Giving a peek into the heightened viewing experience that draws the crowds to CTV, Shridhar Venkataramana of Viacom18 Sports said, "Before FIFA, if a viewer watched a match on linear TV or a CTV, it wasn't very different in terms of viewing experience. But with FIFA WC, we at JioCinema leveraged technology and made the viewing experience richer, exploring the potential of the platform. Then with IPL, we took it to a whole other level; consumers were able to watch the matches in 17 different feeds that included 12 languages & 5 interest feeds and could choose the camera angles they wanted to watch. All this made CTV as the primary big screen of IPL consumption for many viewers. Apart from viewers, advertisers too were gaining out of the innovations as they got to reach a large base of committed audience," said Shridhar. Indeed, the numbers speak for themselves; traditional HD viewership for IPL stood at 9.9 million households, while CTV boasted a staggering 29.9 million Devices, almost three times higher.

Sharing her insights on CTV's viability for impactful campaigns, Esha Arora of Info Edge, offered a fresh perspective on the cost-effective and expansive reach ensured by CTV. "In an era where content is consumed at individual convenience, CTV stands unparalleled. All brands can achieve synergy with CTV, especially due to the immersive content available on the platform. The IPL and the engaging content around it have demonstrated the remarkable capabilities of CTV," said Arora.

Ritu Gupta of Dell Technologies was particularly vocal and upbeat about the holistic opportunities CTV offers to brands. She emphasized CTV's transformation from an elitist luxury to a mainstream staple. Gupta spotlighted the affordability of data and CTV's appeal to a discerning audience as significant reasons for brands to regard it as a primary advertising medium. "CTV has an incremental, involved, and discerning audience that is choosing what it wants to see. Engagement with the audience from a brand-building perspective will be more impactful on CTV than ever before. The content consumption revolution so far is just the tip of the iceberg; it is just a matter of time that we will see more CTV households across different profiles, it will no longer be an elitist approach, and we will see mass audiences converging to CTV," she added. She further highlighted the potential of content customization, aligned with viewers' profiles, as a frontier yet to be fully explored.

Adding that CTVs are high-impact media that makes it a part of everyone's media plan, Prashant Paulose, Head of Media & Entertainment Partnerships, India and SEA, Google said that the CTV audience is committed to the content that it chooses to watch, making them the ideal group for marketers. "The CTV space has been further democratized with lower price barriers today from a purchase point of view. The rollout of 5G will improve viewing experiences and further boost this segment. The CTV audiences are invested in the content they choose to watch, intent-oriented and that is the kind of audience marketers want to reach out to" said Paulose.

Lastly, addressing the challenges and opportunities of CTV, Gupta acknowledged the tremendous potential that lies in content personalization. Pooja Sahgal, CMO at Raymond Consumer Care, championed the transformative power of customization in CTV, underscoring its ability to craft bespoke content and immersive advertising experiences.

Rounding off the discourse, Shridhar doubled down on Viacom18 Sports' dedication to provide content that allows marketers to reach their audiences effectively and also allow for transparency, assuring support for extensive data insights, enabling brands to gauge their CTV campaign efficacy comprehensively. With its dynamic capabilities, unparalleled engagement, and the promise of expansive reach, it's high time brands harness the full potential of CTV.