CTV takes centre stage as brands chase attention on the biggest screen

As viewing habits continue to evolve across devices and platforms, connected television is emerging as a key bridge between the shared experience of television and the precision of digital advertising. That shift formed the core of a discussion at the Pitch CMO Summit 2026, where marketers and media leaders debated how the medium is redefining attention on the largest screen in the home.

The panel brought together Kartik Mahadev, Chief Marketing Officer at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Nishit Kanchan, General Manager and Head of Revenue at Samsung Ads India, Shekhar Saurabh, Head of Marketing at TATA AIG General Insurance, Sonam Pradhan, Head of Media and Digital Marketing South Asia at Kellanova and Toranj Mehta, Vice President Marketing India at De Beers.

For marketers, the starting point remains a simple but important insight about consumer behaviour. Despite the rapid growth of digital platforms, television continues to hold a central place in how Indian audiences spend their leisure time.

“The audience is the same. Consumers still want to spend their leisure time watching something at home,” said Shekhar Saurabh. “The formats may evolve and the platforms may evolve, but the good part is that people still love watching television at home.”

He noted that while content delivery has changed, the role of television as a shared entertainment medium remains largely intact. “TV continues to be the key entertainment medium in Indian homes even today despite the intrusion of mobile and everything else happening around us,” he said.

For broadcasters, the transformation lies not in the disappearance of television audiences but in how those audiences now navigate across multiple platforms. Kartik Mahadev pointed out that viewers increasingly move between linear television, streaming platforms and social media, creating a more layered viewing ecosystem.

“You don’t really have new audiences. The audiences are the same,” Mahadev said. “What has changed is the multiplicity of experiences. You might watch something on linear TV, catch up later on a streaming platform if you miss it and then engage with that same content on social media.”

According to Mahadev, connected television is helping restore something that had begun to diminish during the early years of digital viewing.

“With CTV the restoration of the collective viewing occasion as an immersive experience has really come back,” he said. “Content that is cinematic and immersive is meant to be experienced on a large screen and CTV brings that experience back.”

At the same time, connected television introduces capabilities that traditional broadcast television could not offer. For advertisers, the platform combines the reach of television with the targeting and measurement tools of digital media.

Sonam Pradhan highlighted how that combination is influencing campaign planning for brands with diverse consumer segments.

“CTV gives us the benefits of linear television which is scale and reach, along with the precision of digital,” she said. “Earlier we had only demographics and geography to go by. Now you can create cohorts, retarget audiences and build the entire funnel.”

She also pointed to changing adoption patterns across India. “We are seeing green shoots in tier two cities as well because smart TV penetration has grown significantly,” she said. “It is not just about mass reach anymore. It is about precision targeting with reach and frequency.”

For premium brands, the targeting capabilities of connected television have opened up new possibilities. Toranj Mehta explained that CTV allows marketers to control campaigns in ways that traditional television never could.

“There is a lot of flexibility with CTV because everything is controllable,” she said. “You can target certain cities, certain households or even certain devices. That level of targeting was simply not possible with linear television.”

The platform also offers a premium viewing environment that aligns with the positioning of luxury brands. “Our team was among the early adopters because it made sense for us as a luxury brand to be present in a medium that offers a high quality viewing experience and sharper targeting,” Mehta added.

From the advertising technology side, Nishit Kanchan emphasised that connected television works best when viewed as a complement rather than a replacement for traditional television.

“CTV brings together the impact of television and the precision of digital,” he said. “Advertisers can understand exactly where their money is being spent and manage things like frequency capping and audience cohorts.”

He added that the perception of connected television being limited to metropolitan audiences is already changing.

“Initially CTV was seen as a tier one phenomenon,” Kanchan said. “But today almost 30 percent of our audiences are coming from tier two cities. People are becoming comfortable with app based viewing and video on demand.”

Even as the platform expands, most speakers agreed that connected television is unlikely to replace linear television in the near future. Instead, the two are increasingly being used together within media strategies.

Mahadev pointed out that audience overlap between the two platforms remains substantial.

“From what we see in content viewing patterns, only about 15 percent are purely CTV or digital viewers,” he said. “Around 85 percent of viewers still overlap with their linear TV connections as well.”

This overlap makes measurement across platforms one of the industry’s next major challenges. “Cross platform measurement and deduplication of households is something that needs to be addressed,” Mahadev added.

For advertisers, however, the current advantage lies in the incremental reach that connected television can deliver. Saurabh noted that campaigns have already demonstrated that benefit in practice.

“When we started advertising on connected TV platforms we began reaching audiences that were difficult to reach through linear television,” he said. “It helped add incremental reach, especially among premium households.”

Looking ahead, the panel believes the expansion of India’s affluent households will further accelerate the growth of connected television.

“Today there are around 32 million higher income households in India and in the next five years that number could grow to about 67 million,” said Mehta. “That itself indicates that the scale of premium audiences will increase significantly.”

As that growth unfolds, connected television is expected to play a larger role in how brands reach these consumers.

For the panelists, the broader takeaway was that the future of television will not be defined by a single platform. Instead, it will be shaped by how different screens and formats work together to capture consumer attention.

As Kanchan summed up during the discussion, “The audience is the same. What has changed are the touchpoints and the way content is consumed. CTV simply gives marketers another way to reach that audience more precisely.”