Connected TV and OTT growth in India: Opportunities and best practices

Mobile-first Indian consumers are rapidly shifting towards connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT). While CTV viewing has increased by 81% globally, CTV adoption in India is still in its infancy, but did grow by an impressive 31% in 2021. However, India is still a largely untapped market with enormous potential in this space. By 2025. It is estimated that there will be 80 million CTV households in India.

Many Indian consumers are replacing their traditional TV units with connected TV. One of the primary reasons for this change is the increasing preference for OTT platforms, as India's OTT market is one of the fastest-growing globally. According to a recent survey in India, over 65% of respondents subscribe to more than one OTT app. The leading eight OTT apps (Disney + Hotstar, Amazon's Prime Video, Netflix, Zee5, MX player, Sony LIV, VOOT, and Alt Balaji) in India make up 40%+ adoption. The market size of the OTT video streaming industry in India is projected to hit $5 billion by 2023, and it's predicted that India will become one of the top ten global markets with an estimated value of $823 million by the end of 2022.

Another prime factor for the growth of CTV in India is the affordable, low-priced smart TV brands available in the market. Consumers can buy a smart TV from ₹15,000 (approximately US$195) onwards in India. As of 2021, 78% of Indian consumers (who responded to an Affle survey) own a smart TV, and 93% of these smart TV users access internet-based content via the device. In addition to smart TVs, other devices for streaming content such as dongles are also widely available throughout the country now. Dongles (Firestick, Roku) and internet set-top boxes are popular because it is easy and fast to set up and access internet-based content.

With the high, and growing, penetration of CTVs in Indian households, advertisers can reach a vast pool of active buyers and influential decision-makers with high purchasing power. Although CTV offers sizable benefits to advertisers, they’re still getting used to this relatively new method of promoting their brands, and the ad spend has not fully caught up yet. The pricing of CTV is currently very competitive in India compared to other global markets. That's why this is the ideal time for marketers to enter this space and build an awareness-to-engagement funnel.

Connected TV presents advertisers with unique opportunities to get creative with their ad formats. At the Indian Television Digital Brand Fest 2022 Virtual Summit, Adjust's Director of Connected TV & New Channels, Gijsbert Pols, discussed the various possible CTV ad formats and best practices to achieve optimal results. You can watch the panel discussion in the video below or read on for the summary.

• Understand different behavior patterns: User behavior when engaging with CTV is significantly different to behavior seen in relation to traditional TV viewership. Once you know and understand these differences (essentially, passive vs. active viewing), you can create a much more interactive advertisement that will better suit the viewing style and prove much more likely to convert.
• Integrate marketing teams: At the moment, many brands are facing an organizational challenge. Marketing departments are usually divided into digital and TV. However, CTV has blurred the lines, making it crucial to integrate the teams.
• Cross-device measurement is key: Finding a measurement partner that allows you to measure cross-device is vital. The ability to track app conversions and events triggered by CTV ads would give campaigns on other channels a massive boost.

To learn more about the CTV ecosystem, you can read our guide to mastering it or download our all-in-one ebook for more. For even information on how you can leverage the channel to serve your brand with actionable and measurable results, check out our solution CTV AdVision here.