Rural penetration will be key driver for the next wave of growth in CTV: Siddharth Dabhade

In conversation with Adgully, Siddharth Dabhade, Managing Director, MiQ, traces the growth of the Connected TV market in India, the factors contributing to this growth, the growth of AVOD and FAST outpacing SVOD, and much more.

How would you describe the current state of the connected TV industry? Is cord-cutting catching up big time in India?

Connected TV (CTV) is fast-emerging as the most promising media channel in India, with CTV households projected to double to 50 million by 2025. With access to a wide array of content, streaming is becoming the default viewing choice for people, and with more households cutting or shaving the cord, CTV growth will accelerate in India beyond the metro cities.

According to industry insights, the viewership and ad spots for tentpole sports events like IPL is growing on CTV and the growth of AVOD and FAST outpacing SVOD, CTV is a win-win for both TV viewers and advertisers as there is a higher acceptability for ads. CTV also makes digital-like targeting, retargeting, incremental reach and frequency control possible on TV, which can be leveraged by brands using a data-driven TV planning and buying approach.

What are some key trends or developments that you have observed in the connected TV industry recently?

• Brands are taking an audience-first data-driven, approach in their TV/ video campaigns by connecting data to find and target their audience on the big screen.
• Advertisers can target TV audiences based on the content they are watching using ACR data or using contextual signals.
• Brands have been able to drive full-funnel impact with CTV ads, reporting a 19% uplift in brand awareness and 10% uplift in purchase intent. We highlighted this in India’s first brand lift study on CTV in partnership with Havas Media Group.
• Advertisers are achieving incremental reach, better targeting & higher ROAS with data-driven CTV strategies, CTV enables big screen access to an elusive, young and affluent audience that are be reached through linear TV.
• Programmatic CTV ad inventory is increasing as streaming viewership is on the rise and breaking records during tentpole sports events like IPL, FIFA World Cup, etc.
• AVOD and FAST categories will outpace the growth of SVOD Consumers are likely to switch between OTT apps with higher acceptability for ads.
• Advertisers are experimenting with targeted, personalised and immersive ad formats, which can drive higher brand lift and engagement.
• YouTube has over 470 million users in India, the highest in the world. We see an increasing number of viewers using YouTube to learn, plan their travel or investments. This makes YouTube an essential part of a brand’s video mix.

How has the streaming service landscape evolved in response to the increasing popularity of connected TVs?

The Indian TV viewer has a wide array of content to watch and streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, ZEE5, SonyLIV, and Disney+ Hotstar, recognise the need to differentiate themselves in a competitive and price-sensitive market. As a result, they are investing in producing original content, including TV shows, movies, and documentaries for India. Ad-supported streaming services (AVOD) or FAST are gaining popularity as free or low-cost streaming options. But with a boom in national, regional, and international content, the TV ecosystem is also very complex. Content is fragmented, and a few bundling and aggregation services have emerged. These services aimed to consolidate multiple streaming platforms into a single interface, allowing users to access multiple streaming services through one platform, for example, JioCinema, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, and others.

Large parts of India, especially the hinterlands, still consume linear TV. What are the main roadblocks when it comes to the adoption of connected TV in India?

Yes, TV penetration is lower in rural India, but I think as Internet coverage increases with the reduction in the cost of smart TVs, adoption will accelerate for years to come. Smart TV shipments have been rising QoQ, regional content OTTs have increased and India has a large young population, which will reap its demographic dividend. I think rural penetration will be a key driver for the next wave of growth in CTV, which is a huge opportunity for brands.

What role do content partnerships and collaborations play in the success of a streaming service on connected TVs?

Content partnerships make the content more accessible, diverse, and localised. Streaming services need to scale their technology to provide a seamless user experience. This integration can range from content licenses, an in-app user interface, voice control features, or deeper integration within the TV’s operating system. We can say that partnerships lead to an enhanced user experience and help in attracting and retaining subscribers.

How is it possible to ensure a seamless user experience across different connected TV platforms and devices?

From an advertiser’s perspective, it is important to plan your reach and frequency to avoid overexposing your subscribers. From a brand perspective, it is important to personalise and innovate for the CTV/OTT platform you are advertising on. For example, ad integrations with the star cast of a show, etc.

How can marketers gather and analyse user data to gain insights and improve the performance of streaming services on connected TVs?

CTV inventory gives brands the best flexibility in terms of reach, quality, brand safety, context, and price, depending on marketing or video campaign goals. MiQ Advanced TV Solutions gives marketers and advertisers a single point of access to all their programmatic buys, through a platform that allows for coherent activation. Because we are connected to multiple DSPs, we can access unique CTV inventory without limit – we can layer on CTV data via our multiple automatic content recognition (ACR) TV viewership data integrations, so we can activate CTV campaigns based around the TV your audience is watching, as well as when and how they are watching it.

ACR technology recognises the content playing on a connected TV screen, which can then be used to retarget users based on the commercials and content that a user has played on the CTV screen. This can be used to capture competitors’ audiences and retarget TV audiences on other devices. With this, we can target cord cutters to provide incremental reach on top of a TV campaign. With MiQ, advertisers also get detailed insights into your campaign delivery, and utilise analytics tools to collect and analyse user behaviour data within the streaming service.

We have developed a CTV playbook for marketers and advertisers that helps them build a data-driven CTV strategy.

Will Programmatic CTV media buying overtake linear TV, and what does the future look like?

This trend is already taking place in mature markets; programmatic CTV in the US has already overtaken Linear TV. In the UK, the rise of AVOD and FAST (Free Ad Supported TV) channels has disrupted the traditional broadcasting and streaming landscape. One thing is clear: if the future of TV advertising is CTV, then AVOD and FAST are part of the future of CTV advertising. Tentpole events like the IPL being aired for free on JioCinema and exclusive content being produced and released on OTT will serve as a growth driver for CTV advertising.

Given the diversity of content, broadband and smart TV penetration in India, it will take a few more years before CTV advertising overtakes linear TV, but the trends and data show that eventually more and more audiences will move to CTV.