India’s festive season consistently drives a surge in advertising activity, with brands aiming to capture heightened consumer interest. Connected TV (CTV) has become an important part of this seasonal strategy, supported by its expanding household presence and ability to deliver targeted campaigns to defined audiences.
CTV - once associated as a pure play branding platform - is now emerging as a powerhouse for performance advertisers who want to leverage the engaging landscape associated with television advertising and combine it with the strengths of programmatic to drive conversions.
CTV: From Awareness to Action
Traditionally, television has been the storytelling medium for festivals—big screens, high emotions, and mass reach. But with audiences shifting to streaming, CTV is transforming that legacy into something much sharper: measurable, interactive, and performance-driven.
Advertising on CTV has been measured purely on impressions until recently. However, with CTV’s ability to deliver conversions, marketers are looking at it beyond impression metrics, moving beyond awareness.
As advertisers prepare for the season, CTV is finding a more deliberate place in media planning, complementing the broader mix with both reach and precision.
Festive Ad Surge Meets CTV Boom
Currently 35-45million households in India consume CTV, with streaming emerging as the default mode of content access. Streaming has become the dominant viewing format, with usage rising by 71% in Tier II and III cities. In parallel, OTT audiences in India reached 547 million in 2024, underscoring their place as mainstream destinations for seasonal and family viewing.
With dominant viewership moving towards CTV, it has emerged as a linchpin for performance-driven campaigns, with ad spend nearing ₹2,500 crore and climbing at a 21% annual pace (expected to hit ₹3,500 crore by 2027) —while CTV’s share of overall TV advertising is forecast to expand significantly, projected to account for nearly 35–42% of budgets by 2027 as more marketers shift festive allocations toward connected screens. CTV ad formats deliver completion rates above 95%, making the living-room screen an interactive and measurable space for brands.
Why You Need CTV for Your Festive Performance Mix
1. Precision Targeting at Scale
CTV allows advertisers to move beyond broad, undifferentiated reach by applying household and IP-level targeting. Campaigns can be planned around geography, language, and household profiles, while interest-based cohorts enable alignment with viewing preferences. This level of addressability helps festive campaigns deliver relevant messages to defined audience groups, while still operating at national scale.
- 2. Actionable Measurement & Attribution
Festive campaigns operate within condensed timelines, making clear measurement essential. CTV enables tracking of impressions, view-through rates, and conversions, while cross-device attribution connects exposure on the big screen to app installs, website visits, or even in-store footfall. The availability of real-time insights further allows advertisers to refine creatives, audience segments, and geographic focus to strengthen return on investment during the festive window.
3. Formats that convert
Festive period typically displays high co-viewing and elevated attention. Custom formats during tentpoles like festive entertainment slates, can be extremely beneficial for driving product views, installs, store visits, and checkouts while attention is highest.
- > QR-led “shop the story”: On-screen QR codes deep-linked to product pages or app store; pair with DCO to localize offers by city/retailer.
- > Interactive overlays & pause ads: Ideal for coupons, EMI calculators (BFSI), exchange/upgrade flows (durables/auto), and store locators (omnichannel retail).
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The CTV + Mobile Synergy
Approximately 60% of Indian viewers report using their smartphones while watching TV—a behavior that underscores how festive ads on CTV can quickly translate into mobile action. During the festive season, audiences frequently engage across screens, moving from connected TV viewing to mobile interactions in the same session. This cross-device behavior positions CTV as a bridge between broad storytelling and measurable performance outcomes.
CTV turns the living room into the top of a performance funnel and the mobile phone into the closing act. With mDSP CTV App Sync, this link is made precise through household IP mapping and integrations with leading MMPs. The solution enables retargeting of dormant users, synchronizes CTV with mobile campaigns, and delivers conversion measurement in real time.
As CTVs move from urban metros into Tier II and III households, and as attribution models evolve to capture every QR scan, install, and checkout, the festive campaign of tomorrow will look less like television and more like precision-driven commerce at scale. For marketers, the opportunity is clear: those who embrace CTV not just as a medium, but as a performance ecosystem, will set the pace for how India shops - in festive season and beyond!
