Making Festive Journeys Seamless: 10 Best Practices for CTV-to-Mobile Campaigns

Connected TV has become a steady fixture in how audiences consume content. Over the past two years, advertising investment in this space has expanded from approximately ₹450 crore to ₹1,500 crore—an indicator of growing confidence in both reach and performance. Current adoption spans more than 45 million households, with monthly active sets exceeding 50 million and usage rising nearly 30% year on year.

During festive peaks, campaign performance continues to mirror this momentum. Completion rates typically exceed 90%, and viewability remains above 95%, supported by full-screen delivery formats. Independent brand studies have recorded video completion at 94%, alongside measurable improvements in awareness and recall. Forecasts suggest that Connected TV is expected to take on a far more prominent role in media planning. It is also expected the overall CTV ad spend could rise from under 5% today to between 35–42% within the next few years,  a shift that highlights deeper integration into mainstream festive budgets.

With this evolution, CTV is also expected to evolve into a more stronger channel for performance with large-screen visibility and mobile outcomes — installs, registrations, in-app events, which become especially critical during festivals when shopping windows are short, and purchase intent is heightened.

As the festive season kicks off, let’s dive into key best practices for setting up a successful CTV campaign:

10 Best Practices for Effective CTV-to-Mobile Festive Campaigns

1. Track Multiple Conversion Events

Optimization improves when campaigns capture more than just installs. Adding events such as registrations, purchases, or subscriptions supplies algorithms with richer signals, helping them learn faster and identify high-value users. Defining at least five meaningful events and choosing one as the main optimization target ensures a clearer path toward long-term growth.

2. Adapt Attribution to a Click-Free Channel

Unlike mobile ads, CTV has no click path. Attribution therefore requires a different approach. Probabilistic IP matching allows impressions on the television screen to be linked to activity on the corresponding mobile device, while view-through attribution credits installs or transactions that follow exposure.

Without these mechanisms in place, a large share of CTV’s contribution goes unrecorded. Enabling both ensures that impressions can be matched to outcomes with sufficient accuracy to guide campaign decisions. Together, these methods form the foundation for measuring a channel that is designed for influence rather than interaction.

3. Define Attribution Windows Carefully

The length of an attribution window directly influences how credit is assigned. Short windows can understate the influence of CTV, while excessively long ones risk inflating results. Balanced structures help capture the true effect without bias.

A practical framework often includes 24-hour windows for same-device conversions, 72-hour windows for cross-screen activity, and a short equal-priority window of around six hours. This combination ensures that CTV is considered fairly alongside clickable channels, while still keeping reporting realistic. Establishing these distinctions with measurement partners is key to accurate performance assessment.

4. Incorporate Assisted Conversions

Conversions rarely happen after a single exposure. Assisted reporting helps identify where CTV impressions influenced outcomes, even if they were not the final touchpoint. This perspective highlights incremental value, showing how television strengthens the impact of other channels and contributes to user behavior over time.

5. Refine Creative Length and Quality

Creative execution matters deeply on CTV. Short, 15-second ads are often most effective, delivering messages with clarity while keeping attention. High-resolution visuals are essential to avoid weakening brand perception, and with AI-driven upscaling tools, existing assets can often be transformed into broadcast-quality formats without heavy production costs.

6. Leverage Dynamic Video Formats

Strong creative execution matters—on CTV and beyond. Using dynamic video formats optimized in real time ensures your ads remain engaging and contextually relevant, without requiring extra production effort.

7. Display App Identity Clearly

Branding should remove friction, not add it. Using the exact app logo found in the store and including badges for iOS and Android makes the app instantly recognizable, guiding viewers smoothly from exposure to discovery without confusion.

8. Make QR Codes the Cross-Screen Bridge

Persistent QR codes are the simplest and most powerful connector between CTV and mobile. When they remain visible throughout the ad and are paired with clear calls to action, they turn attention into measurable installs or app activity. With direct attribution from scans tied back to campaigns, QR codes become the signature feature that transforms television visibility into mobile performance.

9. Maintain Cross-Platform Measurement

CTV audiences span across devices, and advertisers cannot predict which operating system any individual viewer uses. For this reason, measurement integrations must remain active across both Android and iOS.

Omitting one platform introduces blind spots in reporting, skewing results and complicating optimization. Full coverage ensures every conversion is counted, providing a reliable dataset for evaluating performance and refining strategy.

10. Respect the Learning Curve

CTV-to-mobile campaigns don’t achieve efficiency overnight. Instead of treating this as a manual learning curve, lean on AI-driven optimization cycles. Campaigns progress through exploration, refinement, and scale phases, with algorithms continuously reallocating budgets and placements based on performance signals. This structured approach accelerates learning and builds confidence for scaling outcomes sustainably.

Building Continuity in a High-Stakes Season

As festive campaigns grow more competitive, success lies in connecting the dots between storytelling and measurable outcomes. CTV sets the stage by capturing collective attention, while mobile translates that influence into installs, registrations, and purchases. By applying these best practices across attribution, creative, and cross-device measurement marketers can turn seasonal spikes into sustained momentum. Ultimately, the real win isn’t just in festive conversions, but in building a performance model that continues to scale long after the celebrations end.

If you’re ready to simplify your CTV-to-mobile journey and unlock stronger results this festive season, connect with our team today to explore how programmatic precision can transform your campaign performance. Connect with us: https://mdsp.co/contact