IPL: CTV surges with digital ads, FMCG holds ground on linear TV

The Indian Premier League’s advertising ecosystem is becoming increasingly aggressive, with brands sharply differentiating their strategies across connected TV and traditional broadcast. Data from TAM Sports, covering the first 22 matches of IPL Season 19 between March 28 and April 14, shows a clear divergence in how advertisers are allocating spends and targeting audiences across platforms.

The findings, based on commercial advertising volumes across 25 linear TV channels and multiple connected TV feeds, indicate that streaming and broadcast are no longer competing mediums but complementary pillars in a multi-platform strategy.

At the headline level, JioHotstar has emerged as the dominant force on connected TV, commanding a 35.33% share of ad volumes. On linear television, Google leads with a 12.92% share, reflecting a more fragmented advertiser landscape. Together, these trends highlight a split market: digital-first brands are prioritising connected TV, while traditional mass-market categories continue to rely heavily on broadcast.

The divergence is most evident at the category level. Connected TV is overwhelmingly dominated by digital economy segments. E-commerce platforms spanning media, entertainment, and social media account for over a third of total ad volumes on CTV, at 35.36%. This is followed by other e-commerce services, smartphones, automobiles and air conditioners, indicating a strong skew towards high-value, urban consumers.

In contrast, linear television continues to be led by legacy categories. Mouth fresheners hold the top spot with a 13.65% share, followed by e-commerce services, digital wallets, financial institutions and paints. The contrast underscores how linear TV remains the preferred medium for reaching mass-market consumers with everyday products, while CTV is increasingly a premium, high-intent environment.

Despite these differences, some overlap remains. E-commerce services appear prominently on both platforms, reflecting the sector’s broad-based advertising push. More broadly, over 25 categories are active across both connected TV and linear TV, suggesting that advertisers are no longer choosing one medium over the other but are instead deploying integrated campaigns.

At the advertiser level, the contrast is equally pronounced. On connected TV, JioHotstar’s dominant share reflects its strategy of leveraging its own streaming platform for aggressive self-promotion during IPL. Google follows with a significant 19.75% share, underlining its confidence in CTV as a high-value advertising channel. Other prominent advertisers include Havells India, Renault India and Reliance Consumer Products.

On linear television, Google again tops the rankings, but with a far lower share than JioHotstar’s CTV dominance, indicating a more distributed market. Reliance Consumer Products holds the second position, followed by Vishnu Packaging, Havells India and K P Pan Foods. The presence of pan masala and FMCG brands highlights the continued importance of broadcast TV for mass consumption categories.

A key insight from the data is the growing importance of cross-platform advertising. More than 20 advertisers are running campaigns simultaneously on both connected TV and linear TV. Among the most prominent are JioHotstar, Google, Reliance Consumer Products, Havells India and Vishnu Packaging. Their presence across both mediums signals a shift towards dual-screen strategies designed to capture the full spectrum of IPL audiences.

At the same time, a significant number of advertisers remain exclusive to one platform. Connected TV has over 25 exclusive advertisers, while linear TV has more than 20. Each platform also hosts over 15 exclusive categories, reinforcing the idea that they serve distinct advertiser cohorts.

Connected TV’s exclusive categories include smartphones, astrology services, fast food outlets, hotels and credit cards. Advertisers such as Renault India, Tata Motors, Astrotalk Services, Jubilant Foodworks and Colgate Palmolive India are betting solely on the platform, reflecting its appeal among affluent, digitally engaged users.

Linear TV’s exclusive categories, on the other hand, include chocolates, branded jewellery, perfumes and deodorants, mortgage loans and hair care products. Advertisers like K P Pan Foods, Skoda Auto, Cadbury India, CaratLane Trading and Navi Technologies dominate this segment, relying on television’s mass reach and storytelling capabilities.

Beyond platform-level insights, historical data from TAM Sports also highlights how IPL drives a broader surge in television advertising. During IPL 14, ad volumes across sports channels more than tripled compared to the pre-IPL period. However, the impact extended beyond sports, with news, general entertainment, movies and music channels all recording significant increases in advertising volumes.

This suggests that IPL not only redistributes advertising budgets but expands the overall television advertising pie. Increased viewership during the cricket season appears to lift ad demand across genres, making IPL a systemic growth driver for the entire TV ecosystem.

The data for IPL 2026 reinforces several structural trends. Connected TV has firmly established itself as a premium advertising destination, attracting high-value categories and digitally native brands. At the same time, linear television continues to deliver scale for mass-market advertisers, particularly in FMCG and traditional sectors.

Perhaps most importantly, the emergence of a robust cross-platform segment indicates that advertisers are increasingly adopting sophisticated, dual-screen strategies. IPL, with its unmatched reach and engagement, provides a unique opportunity to combine the scale of broadcast with the precision of digital targeting.

As the tournament progresses, the interplay between connected TV and linear TV is likely to become even more pronounced, offering a glimpse into the future of advertising in India’s rapidly evolving media landscape.