Contextually aligned campaigns deliver 28% more attention: Kartik Mehta, Channel Factory

India is at the centre of a structural shift in video advertising, with platforms like YouTube increasingly being treated as primary screens rather than digital extensions, according to Kartik Mehta, CBO & Head of Asia at Channel Factory.

With over 450 million users in the country, roughly 40% of the adult population, YouTube’s scale is now shaping how brands approach video planning.

“The most significant shift is that YouTube is now synonymous with TV. Brands are moving away from the ‘digital vs linear’ debate and treating YouTube as their primary screen,” Mehta said.

This shift is part of a broader reset across Asia, where video strategies are moving beyond scale-led planning to a sharper focus on context, attention and suitability.

 At the same time, changing consumption patterns are blurring format boundaries. With YouTube Shorts surpassing a trillion views globally, a growing share of short-form content is now being consumed on Connected TV (CTV) screens, signalling that format is no longer tied to device.

CTV itself has matured beyond experimentation. “The focus has shifted from whether to participate to how to optimise buying strategies,” Mehta noted, pointing to increasing sophistication in how brands approach video investments.

From safety to suitability

As scale and screens evolve, so does the definition of brand-safe environments.

“Suitability has evolved from a simple compliance checkbox to a core strategic priority,” Mehta said. “Rather than relying solely on blocklists, brands are embedding value alignment, contextual relevance and ethics into their media plans from the outset.”

Leading categories such as automotive, consumer durables, financial services and spirits are already moving in this direction, shifting from category-based targeting to persona-led strategies.

“Placing ‘auto ads on auto content’ is merely table stakes,” he said. “The differentiator today is understanding the audience mindset, not just what they watch, but the context in which they are consuming it.”

This has led to the adoption of semantic and multi-layer classification models, where high-quality environments are defined by fit, relevance and sentiment rather than just topic.

Measurement moves beyond CPM

As planning evolves, traditional metrics are being re-evaluated.

“We are seeing a shift toward tracking Suitable CPM,” Mehta said. “Nearly 28% of campaign impressions are misaligned, which means a standard Rs 100 CPM could actually translate to a Rs 140 Suitable CPM.”

Beyond cost efficiency, brands are increasingly focusing on attention, sentiment-scored environments and purchase intent lift. “Contextually aligned campaigns deliver 28% more attention than industry benchmarks,” he added.

The compounding cost of misalignment

Crucially, Mehta stressed that misaligned placements carry deeper, often invisible costs.

These include diluted signal from impressions that fail to generate attention, distorted optimisation driven by flawed data inputs, and a “false sense of safety”, where technically compliant placements still harm brand perception.

“Suspected AI-generated content reduces reader trust by nearly 50%, with a 14% decline in purchase consideration,” he said, noting that such effects compound over time and erode brand equity.

India nuance reshapes brand safety

In India, brand safety strategies are further shaped by cultural complexity.

“National brands believe they have a much larger responsibility, and if the brand is global, the stakes are even higher,” Mehta said. At the same time, “generic tools often miss local slang or cultural nuance, where regional advertisers tend to be closer to the context.”

The rise of misinformation and deepfakes has made adjacency a non-negotiable issue. “Brands should avoid this 100%. It erodes trust,” he said.

However, he challenged the assumption that safer environments come at a higher cost. “There is enough quality content available that brands can align with, without needing to pay a premium.”

Advertisers are also adopting more advanced verification systems, using multimodal analysis across video, audio and metadata, while increasingly building country-specific safety frameworks instead of relying solely on global guidelines.

Purpose meets performance

At the intersection of effectiveness and responsibility, “conscious advertising” is gaining ground.

Channel Factory’s youth mental health initiative is built around Positive Mental Health Inclusion Lists - expert-validated environments mapped to ten dimensions of well-being and backed by clinical validation.

For brands, the results are measurable. “Contextually aligned placements in these environments can deliver up to 82% higher ROAS compared to standard platform buys,” Mehta said.

More broadly, he emphasised the role advertisers play in shaping digital ecosystems.

“Advertisers fund the content ecosystem, and that ecosystem shapes what young people experience online,” Mehta said. “Conscious advertising proves that purpose and performance reinforce each other.”