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CTV advertising in India

India’s attention has a new address: Connected TV

WPP Media, in partnership with The Trade Desk, presents new research exploring India’s rapidly evolving CTV landscape, revealing how viewing behaviours are changing and what this means for marketers today.

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The real size of your CTV audience — and why it’s bigger than it looks

India’s CTV has a scale story. What’s inside it changes how you plan.

70 million of those viewers are in rural India, where audiences doubled in just a year. Rural CTV growth has outpaced the metros faster than most marketing plans anticipated. For marketers, that’s where incremental reach now lives.

And when that screen switches on, it doesn’t reach one person. It reaches the whole room — 2.5 viewers per impression on average. Unlike mobile, where 72% of viewing happens alone.

Key results

M
Indians are watching CTV
M
new viewers in one year
%
growth in rural India
%
of CTV viewing happens with others
 in 3
viewers have no active linear connection
Source: The Trade Desk x WPP Media, The Connected TV Era: India’s New Prime Time, August 2026.

Prime time on CTV.
The audience behind the moment.

At 8 to 10 p.m. on weekdays, India’s most valuable prime-time window, 78% of CTV users are actively on the big screen. Same time. Same room. Different choice.

CTV viewing concentrates at prime time — audiences lean back, pay full attention, and gather around premium content including live sports.

What India watches on CTV challenges the short-form assumption. Web series lead at 69%, cricket at 64%, and films at 63%. All long-form, all made for the big screen.

Behind that attention is an audience worth knowing in detail.

  • Person relaxing on a couch, smiling while using a TV remote in a modern living room.
    The Affluent Consumer

    44% are NCCS A households – India’s top consumer tier

    NCCS stands for New Consumer Classification System and A is the highest income group.

  • Person shopping online with a smartphone and credit card while viewing a product on a tablet.
    The Active Shopper

    86% shopped online in the past month

  • Person sitting on the floor using a laptop while holding a smartphone beside a sofa in a bright living room.
    The High Earner

    40% own a credit card, nearly 3x the urban average

  • Person photographing a sunrise through an airplane window with a smartphone during a flight.
    The Traveller

    52% have taken domestic air travel in the past year

  • Three friends watching TV together on a couch, reacting with excitement during a movie or sporting event.
    The Gen Z Streamer

    Gen Z CTV viewers spend 3.1 hours a day on CTV

After the CTV ad – audiences search

  • ⠀

    Many believe India’s audiences tune out advertising. On CTV, the data says otherwise. 83% of viewers search for more information after seeing an ad.

    Among premium CTV viewers, that rises to 89%. Not occasionally. Consistently. They’re the most ad-responsive segment on the channel.

    The big screen doesn’t end the journey. It starts it. Web and AI search, website visits, purchase consideration — measurable from first impression to final decision.

The Connected TV Era: India’s New Prime Time

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