The OEM advantage: Cutting through a crowded field

India’s TV landscape is a crowded space - it feels like there are more ‘players’ than in the cricket World Cup! But this is hardly surprising considering the fact that Indian’s spend more time streaming on Samsung Smart TVs than any other country in the world, according to Samsung data.

But the search for quality content to watch has also become more complex: on average Indian viewers today spend 7 minutes deciding what to watch and 49% take so long they don’t watch anything at all. Viewership fragmentation and difficulties with discoverability means it’s not as simple as it once was for brands to engage audiences on TV.

Few players in the market have the necessary vantage point to be able to address these multiple challenges, but Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have a unique view The TVs operating system and user interface can play a key role in recommending programmes and apps, improving discoverability for content owners and creating a more personalised user experience for viewers.

The Smart TV: more than just a device

Smart TV penetration is at an all time high. In 2022, 90% of the TVs sold in India were smart TVs according to Finecast. As the number of TV services continues to grow, TV viewers are seeing the value of a cordless set-up in which all their favourite apps are accessible through one device. In a recent global study, Is TV just TV?, Samsung found that access to streaming apps was the most important smart TV feature.

This puts smart TV manufacturers in an exciting position to enhance users’ experiences through advanced discoverability features. OEM home screens are the first interfaces smart TV users interact with at that moment deciding what to watch.

What’s more, content owners can capitalise on this unique opportunity. Through partnerships with OEMs, content owners can make sure viewers know about their premium offerings, without the viewer having to scroll excessively or search. These partnerships not only serve content owners , but they can also help viewers break out of cycles of familiarity and enjoy more of what their Smart TV has to offer.

Glass level insights

The OEM benefits don’t end there. In fact, perhaps the most impactful benefit to advertisers comes from Automatic Content Recognition (ACR). Samsung’s proprietary ACR technology, for example, is able to provide advertisers with access to large, deterministic data sets that reflect TV viewing behaviour, at a household level, through ACR. These insights can allow advertisers to identify audiences and the environments they’re watching in, giving them a clear picture of how audiences are spending their time so they can adjust campaigns and reach missed audiences to drive incremental reach.

This gives agencies and advertisers an even deeper level of understanding, with insights into what genres users prefer, the number of apps they are launching, how frequently they switch between linear and on-demand content, the type of games users might play on their TV and more.

Discovery is key

TV as a medium has never been more powerful. With the increase in content choice, the battle for discovery and attention is only just heating up.
The streaming landscape is expanding, attracting new users and new content providers every day. With Indian’s streaming more content than any other region, this seems unlikely to change anytime soon. As new content is released, content owners need to consider how to improve discoverability to stand out amidst this choice overload and generate viewer attention.

No more waste

Content discovery isn’t the only advantage of OEM CTV, there’s the improved ad waste prevention, too. Last year, GroupM found that CTV ads were being counted as viewed even when the TV was off, resulting in ad waste to the tune of $1 billion. OEM CTV ensures that apps that stream through OEM operating systems are shut down when the TV is turned off, ensuring more accurate viewability insights.

By Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director at Samsung Ads India