From reels to the big screen: Why influencers are eyeing CTV and FAST channels

India’s creator economy could be heading for a new distribution shift as Connected TV (CTV) turns into a mainstream viewing platform, giving influencers and content creators an opportunity to move beyond the mobile screen and build programming for the big screen.

A report by WPP Media and The Trade Desk, executed by Ormax Media, shows that Gen Z — often considered the most mobile-first generation — is increasingly engaging with CTV. The report describes Gen Z CTV viewers, aged 15 to 29, as consuming content across two screens, with the cohort spending around 3.1 hours a day on CTV.

The shift could have significant implications for influencers, particularly as creators look beyond social platforms for additional reach, monetisation and longer-form content opportunities.

Tejinder Gill, VP India and SEA of The Trade Desk India, said FAST (free ad-supported television) should essentially be viewed as another distribution channel for content rather than an entirely new content category.

“FAST is essentially another distribution channel. The content remains the same. Whether you put that content on social media or distribute it through FAST channels, the underlying content can be similar,” Gill said.

He added that as creators and technology evolve, creators are likely to explore platforms beyond traditional social media, including FAST and other connected-TV distribution channels.

“As content creators evolve and technology evolves, there will simply be more platforms on which that content can be made available. So, I definitely see creators expanding beyond traditional social platforms and exploring FAST and other connected-TV distribution channels,” Gill said.

Gen Z is no longer a phone-only audience

The report challenges the assumption that Gen Z has largely abandoned the television screen.

According to the study, Gen Z is the youngest CTV audience, comprising viewers aged 15 to 29, and is described as digital-native. Yet the cohort “out-watches every other generation on the big screen” and predominantly watches CTV with other people, particularly siblings or parents.

The report says 77% of Gen Z CTV viewing happens with friends or family, while 23% watch alone. It also finds that 46% of Gen Z viewers have increased their CTV usage over the past 12 months. The cohort spends about 3.1 hours a day on CTV, accounting for 49% of the audience time represented in the cohort snapshot.

Smart TVs are particularly important to this audience. 68% of Gen Z viewers prefer watching OTT apps on a smart TV, while 62% say they prefer the flexibility offered by OTT apps, including the ability to watch at any time, pause, rewind and binge content.

For influencers, that means the opportunity is not simply to take an existing social-media video and place it on television. The bigger opportunity could be to rethink how creator-led content is packaged for a shared, lean-back environment.

From influencer as a mobile personality to creator as a TV property

Beyond the opportunity for creators, the rise of CTV is also opening up new possibilities for brands, particularly smaller businesses looking to tap into premium video audiences.

Saurabh Golani, Senior Vice President, Branding & Head of PrsmX by Mobavenue, said CTV is also democratising access to premium video advertising for smaller businesses, allowing MSMEs to target audiences by geography and interests and optimise campaigns according to budgets and objectives.

“Even with lower budgets, MSMEs get the same kind of recall and brand exposure on CTV as a large, well-known brand would,” Golani said.

Vishal Khanna, sales strategist and connected television expert, said the fundamental difference between mobile and CTV is the scale and context of consumption.

“On mobile, an influencer is a thumb-stop — three seconds, one viewer, one screen. On CTV, the same creator is a family event — four people, forty minutes, one shared screen,” Khanna said.

He likened the transition to moving from the Ranji Trophy to Test cricket: the underlying skill may be the same, but the format and temperament required are different.

The distinction is important because the report finds that CTV is overwhelmingly a shared environment. More than 80% of CTV viewers watch with family or friends, while an individual CTV impression reaches approximately 2.5 members of the household.

For Gen Z specifically, the report says the majority of CTV time is shared, mostly with siblings or parents. It recommends that advertisers reach Gen Z through the household rather than treating the consumer purely as an individual mobile user.

This could force a rethink among influencers whose businesses have historically been built around short-form, vertical content optimised for individual consumption.

FAST could turn creator archives into broadcast assets

The growth of FAST channels could provide another route for creators to enter the television ecosystem.

The report defines FAST as free, ad-supported television that combines linear and on-demand programming. These channels are increasingly built into smart-TV operating systems and do not require a subscription. One-third of CTV viewers are already aware of FAST, while one in five watches FAST for close to 50 minutes a day.

Khanna believes this could fundamentally change how creators view the content libraries they have accumulated over several years.

“FAST is the Doordarshan of this decade — free, linear, lean-back — except the channel owner can now be anyone with a content library,” he said.

That means a creator who has spent years producing videos may already possess the raw material for a television proposition, even if the creator does not currently regard that archive as a broadcast asset.

The challenge, however, will be programming rather than simply distribution.

“The creators who win will stop thinking in ‘posts’ and start thinking in ‘schedules’,” Khanna said, arguing that FAST rewards volume, consistency and a repeatable format.

That could push influencers towards building structured content libraries rather than treating each social-media upload as a standalone piece of content.

Gen Z's CTV habits create a bridge between creator content and commerce

The opportunity becomes more interesting because CTV viewing does not necessarily end when the television screen does.

The broader CTV study found that 88% of CTV viewers engage with a second screen while watching, typically a smartphone.

Gill describes this as a dual-device consumer journey, particularly relevant to Gen Z.

“The CTV creates the initial trigger, the phone becomes a research and discovery device, and another member of the household eventually converts that intent into an action. So, Gen Z consumers have become increasingly dual-device consumers rather than being purely phone-only consumers,” Gill said.

For influencers, this could provide a bridge between the reach and storytelling capabilities of television and the direct-response mechanics of mobile.

A creator-led CTV programme could therefore create awareness on the large screen while directing viewers towards a smartphone-based action, whether that involves searching for a product, scanning a QR code or visiting a digital property.

The report itself finds that CTV audiences are highly responsive after exposure to advertising: 83% seek more information after seeing a CTV ad, with the figure rising to 89% among premium CTV audiences.

Creators may need to learn a different grammar

The transition from social video to CTV, however, is unlikely to be a straightforward repurposing exercise.

Experts argue that creators must adapt their production language to the television environment. Vertical, 60-second videos designed for mobile consumption may not work when stretched across a 55-inch television screen.

Experts recommend reformatting before repurposing: create horizontal versions, extend the duration, add title cards and adopt what he calls “TV grammar” rather than “Reels grammar”.

The distinction is particularly relevant for Gen Z because, despite its strong association with short-form digital consumption, the report shows that the cohort is spending significant time with long-form programming on CTV.

The top three CTV formats for Gen Z are cricket (64%), web series (64%) and theatrical films (60%). That content mix suggests that the big screen is being used for intentional viewing rather than simply as a larger version of the mobile feed.

The opportunity may be regional and collaborative

Khanna also believes creators could have greater success by building channels collectively rather than attempting to create standalone 24-hour propositions.

His suggestion is to bundle multiple creators within a genre — such as food, devotional content, children's programming or regional comedy — into a single channel.

Such an approach could allow creators with complementary libraries to collectively provide the volume and consistency required for a FAST proposition.

The report's broader CTV data supports the potential of moving beyond the largest metros. While Gen Z-specific geographic data is not separately provided in the report, the overall CTV ecosystem has expanded sharply outside major cities, with rural CTV audiences doubling in a year.

For creators, this could make regional programming particularly relevant as CTV adoption expands beyond the traditional urban television audience.

Experts also argue that creators should think carefully about the commercial architecture of their programming, including building sponsorship into their FAST blocks and designing calls-to-action around the smartphone rather than a traditional television response.

CTV is becoming another screen in the creator journey

The broader shift is happening against a rapidly expanding CTV ecosystem. India is estimated to have 62-65 million CTV households and 207 million CTV viewers, representing threefold growth since 2022.

The report also finds that CTV has retained television's strengths — the large screen, long-form storytelling and shared viewing — while adding digital characteristics such as audience choice, addressability and measurement.

For Gen Z, this makes CTV less of a replacement for mobile and more of an additional screen within a connected media journey.

The report explicitly advises advertisers targeting Gen Z to reach the audience through the household rather than just the handset, and to align campaigns with the genres Gen Z gravitates towards.

For the creator economy, that could broaden the pool of advertisers willing to experiment with influencer-led CTV programming.

The opportunity, ultimately, is not simply for influencers to become television celebrities. It is for creators to treat CTV as another distribution and monetisation layer — one where their existing audiences, content archives and brand relationships can potentially be transformed into more structured programming.

As Gen Z increasingly moves between the phone and the television, the creator economy may have to do the same.