The advertising landscape in India has undergone an irreversible seismic shift, with the needle heavily leaning towards digital advertising. Led by the world’s highest internet penetration levels and an insatiable demand for online content, digital advertising is steadily gaining more influence in the country than traditional advertising.
Just last year, digital media led the Indian advertising sector with Rs 40,685 crore, accounting for 44% of total ad spends. This visible shift, from traditional to digital advertising has resulted in the dominance of connected TV (CTV) advertising.
The Rise of Connected TV Advertising
While CTV advertising has been around for some time, it is still viewed as the newest kid on the block given that the real surge in advertising on connected TVs began in India in around 2020-2021. Connected TVs (CTVs) are smart devices connected to the internet that enable users to stream content including on OTT platforms, browse websites and apps, play games, and so on.
Connected TV Advertising (CTV Advertising) consists of broadcasting instream video ads or displaying banner ads on the home page and content pages within an application.
A GroupM report on The Changing Landscape of Indian Television 2024 says, “The Connected TV (CTV) advertising spends in India are expected to grow at a CAGR of 47% in the next five years to reach $395 million by 2027”
Even as the messaging in both traditional and CTV advertising might be similar, the two are radically different when it comes to the level of personalization advertisers can offer on the latter. CTV advertising provides advertisers with the relevant metrics that allow display of highly customized ads that create enhanced viewing experiences. These campaigns can be designed to measure impressions and ROI.
All these factors, coupled with the rapidly growing demand for over-the-top (OTT) platforms led by the young, tech-savvy user base in India have supercharged the rise of CTV advertising.
The report further highlights that “47% of households possess a Smart TV, and among these, 65% rely on Smart TVs as their primary device for television viewing. In contrast, only 27% of households own a regular TV, and 47% of them favor using these sets for watching TV content.”
These expansions are also driving the growth of CTV advertising whilst revolutionizing the traditional advertising landscape in India.
Diving deeper, let’s focus on some important capabilities of CTV advertising capabilities that are contributing to the emergence of this new medium:
- Empowering Targeted Advertising
As audiences evolve over the years, brands match the pace with their changing tastes with regards to advertising. One such effective feature of advertising on connected televisions is data-backed, targeted advertising which tailors the ads based on the preferences of viewers. This way, viewers don’t have to suffer viewing ads they are not interested in. For brands, they can use their advertising budgets wisely, targeting the consumers that are interested in the kind of products or services that are on offer. This way, fitness enthusiasts can be shown health-centric ads, and companies who offer fitness- related goods or services can only target interested viewers, something that advertising on traditional media cannot.
- Ensuring Measurable ROI
Most CTV devices aid OTT-based advertising, which guarantees an immense return on investment for existing advertisers, whilst also attracting potential advertisers to partake. Making this feature one of the key differentiators that sets CTVs apart from traditional television. Moreover, CTV can be capitalized for retargeting audiences and providing real-time measurement to track ad performance.
The longer viewing times fuelled by today’s rapid binge-watching culture also serve as an advantage for CTV Ads as they ensure higher ad-completion rates while broadcasting ads in 4K viewing quality. Furthermore, with cutting-edge smart TV screens serving as a large canvas to digitally advertise, CTV advertising maximizes a brand’s opportunities and opens the possibility of innovation and creativity that optimize their ad campaigns.
- Integrating Innovative Technologies
The integration of the latest technological innovations like 5G, also helps refine the user’s overall experience. New and improved technologies serve as a great hook not just in the way of customer satisfaction but also for customer retention. Additionally, it is based on the ability of Smart TVs to integrate with modern advancements like voice assistance, personalized content recommendations, etc. that users feel the urge to cut the cord and shift to streaming TV to enjoy a more premium viewing experience.
Connected TVs have seamlessly immersed themselves into the digital space only to redefine how content is consumed by users. Equipped with the possibilities of CTV, advertisers can reach their desired audiences while initiating better and more meaningful engagement with the users. The horizon of opportunities for innovation stretches infinitely for CTVs today.
While leaving its mark on the digital advertising industry, it’s clear that Connected TV ads are a pivotal influence on this convergence of Tech and Advertising.
With all of this at play, we’re surely witnessing nothing short of the next generation of advertising that is set to cause remarkable waves of impact in the digital advertising landscape!
