The year 2025 has marked a turning point for India’s advertising and programmatic landscape. Brands have moved beyond uncertainty and embraced smarter growth strategies, prioritising creative ambition and data-driven measurement. With consumers increasingly reachable through diverse screens and formats, the industry has shifted towards more integrated campaigns that combine storytelling with measurable impact. MiQ, under the leadership of Varun Mohan, Chief Commercial Officer India, has been at the forefront of helping brands navigate this transformation, leveraging technology and insights to drive more human and effective marketing experiences.
Programmatic advertising has gained maturity, enabling brands to operate in a more predictable and privacy-conscious ecosystem. Advertisers have started to demand greater transparency, better measurement, and tighter integration between creative and media strategy. This evolution has led to campaigns that are more targeted, more accountable, and capable of delivering meaningful business outcomes across multiple touchpoints.
Connected TV (CTV) has emerged as a key growth driver in 2025. With increasing household adoption, CTV has become a medium that reaches millions of viewers across languages, cities, and levels of technological comfort. Brands are recognising its ability to create shared attention among families, turning living rooms into decision-making spaces and offering new opportunities for regional and high-growth consumer brands.
Looking ahead to 2026, the focus will be on fusing the emotional scale of CTV with the precision of programmatic advertising. Brands that can combine high-impact storytelling with data-driven targeting and privacy-first workflows are expected to deliver stronger engagement and measurable outcomes, positioning them for continued success in a more complex and competitive environment.
Connected TV Emerges as a Game-Changer
The advertising and programmatic ecosystem in India has been evolving rapidly, as brands moved past uncertainty and sought to combine creativity with measurable outcomes. Advertisers increasingly prioritised understanding consumer behaviour, planning campaigns based on insights, and integrating media measurement as a core part of their strategies rather than an afterthought. These changes have created opportunities to balance ambition with accountability.
Reflecting on this shift, Mohan highlighted the significance of the year’s transformation, stating, “2025 has been a defining year for the advertising and programmatic ecosystem. We saw the industry move past uncertainty and lean into smarter, more deliberate growth and invest in creative ambition. The focus on media measurement became the norm and part of the brief, which I believe is a big step in the right direction for the industry.”
He emphasised that these developments have prompted brands to explore new ways to engage audiences effectively, making measurement and insight central to campaign planning. By doing so, marketers are able to build richer narratives while optimising reach and performance across multiple channels.
CTV Adoption Surges Across Markets
One of the standout trends in 2025 was the rise of Connected TV (CTV), which has transformed video consumption in India. CTV has enabled advertisers to reach families collectively, turning the living room into a shared decision-making space and opening opportunities for regional and high-growth consumer brands. This trend has been particularly notable in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, where adoption has expanded significantly.
On this evolution, Mohan explained, “A standout trend has been the rapid rise of Connected TV: its adoption jumped dramatically this year, bringing household-level reach to millions more viewers and turning the living room into a shared decision space for brands to perform. It became a true household-level medium reaching families across languages, cities and tech comfort levels. That collective attention is opening new doors, especially for regional and high-growth consumer brands.”
He further added that the growing adoption of CTV is reshaping campaign strategies, allowing brands to integrate storytelling across big-screen and mobile-led channels for more effective audience engagement.
Programmatic Ecosystem Gains Accountability and Predictability
Alongside CTV growth, the programmatic ecosystem has matured, becoming more predictable, privacy-ready, and accountable. Brands now have the ability to plan campaigns with higher confidence, ensuring creative messaging reaches audiences in the most relevant and transparent way.
Mohan noted, “The programmatic ecosystem also became more accountable, more privacy-ready and much more predictable, which has strengthened trust across the industry. Taken together, these shifts mean campaigns are becoming both more human and more measurable: better stories placed in high-attention environments, supported by transparent tech.”
These developments have encouraged advertisers to integrate creative and data-driven approaches seamlessly, using insights and technology to reach audiences effectively while maintaining brand credibility and transparency.
Looking Ahead: 2026 and Beyond
As the ecosystem continues to evolve, the next phase of growth will be defined by the ability to combine CTV’s emotional storytelling with programmatic precision and privacy-first data. Brands that achieve this balance are expected to deliver highly impactful, measurable campaigns in 2026.
Reflecting on the road ahead, Mohan said, “The next phase of growth in the ecosystem will come from how well brands fuse CTV’s scale and emotional power with programmatic precision and privacy-first data. When storytelling and systems truly work in sync, that’s where real impact will follow in 2026 and ahead.”
He further emphasised that the industry’s progress in measurement, adoption of new technology, and understanding of audience behaviour will underpin campaigns that are both engaging and accountable, setting the stage for smarter and more deliberate growth.
