A research initiative by Agency Reporter | Publishing September 2026
The problem this report solves
India’s CTV ecosystem is growing at 85% a year. The trust in it is not.
Connected TV advertising in India crossed Rs. 9,900 crore in 2025 and is on track to double by 2027. Every major brand, agency, and platform has a CTV story. What no one has is the data to back it up.
Every existing CTV report in India is built the same way: aggregate publicly available numbers, add industry quotes, and package it with a logo. The result is a market-sizing exercise dressed up as insight. None of them answer the questions that actually matter to people spending money on CTV every day.
How much of the reach you are buying is real?
No report has asked advertisers this directly and published the answers.
What do agencies actually think — versus what brands believe?
The gap between these two groups has never been measured in India.
Which OEMs and platforms give you real device-level data?
No India-specific transparency ranking exists for the CTV supply chain.
What does co-viewing mean for reach in Indian households?
Every measurement framework counts one device as one viewer. In India, that is wrong.
What are real CPMs and completion rates by category?
Benchmarks agencies and brands can actually plan against do not exist publicly.
What happens when you run a TV creative on CTV?
The performance penalty of repurposed creatives has never been quantified for India.
Why this report is different
Every other report describes the market. This one interrogates it.
01
Primary data, not recycled numbers
Built entirely on original survey data from brand marketers, media agency planners and buyers, and CTV technology and publisher partners across India. No other report has done this at this scale for this market.
02
Three sides of the same transaction
Most reports talk to one group. This report surveys the buyer (brand), the intermediary (agency), and the seller (tech partner and publisher) separately — then cross-examines their answers. The contradictions between these groups are where the real story lives.
03
A confidence score, not a forecast
The central output is an industry-first India CTV Confidence Index — a composite score measuring how much the people spending money on CTV actually trust what they are buying. This number does not exist anywhere else.
04
India-specific, not APAC averages
Global and regional reports treat India as a footnote inside an APAC chapter. This report treats India as the subject — co-viewing patterns, OEM behavior, regional content dynamics, and household targeting realities specific to this market.
Why this report can be trusted
The people who built this report are the people who run India’s CTV ecosystem.
Direct access to decision-makers
Agency Reporter runs India’s leading CTV and programmatic industry events. Contributors are CMOs, agency heads, platform leads, and technology partners who shape where India’s CTV budgets go — not anonymous panel respondents.
No sponsor influence on findings
This report has a presenting sponsor for distribution and production costs. Sponsor involvement ends there. No finding, ranking, or benchmark is subject to sponsor review or approval before publication. The findings are editorially independent.
Named contributors and verified responses
Every response is tied to a named individual and a named organisation. This is not an anonymous panel. Contributors are verified industry professionals. Technology partner data is attributed by company name where consent is given.
Live event data, not just online surveys
A portion of the data is collected via live audience polling at the CTV Asia Symposium 2026 — where participants respond in real time, in a professional setting, without the anonymity bias of an online form.
How the report is built
Three data sources. One methodology. Zero recycled research.
1
Structured surveys across three stakeholder groups
Separate questionnaires for brand marketers, media agency planners and buyers, and CTV technology and publisher partners. Each survey is designed to surface operational realities — not generic opinions — in that group’s experience of CTV.
2
Live audience polling at CTV Asia Symposium 2026
Five snap questions put to senior brand, agency, and platform professionals on 8 May 2026. Real-time responses from a room of decision-makers, captured in aggregate and cross-referenced against the survey data.
3
Named data contributions from technology partners
CTV technology companies, DSPs, SSPs, and OTT publishers contribute one verified benchmark from their India CTV data — completion rates, IVT estimates, device verification percentages. Each contribution is attributed by company name.
4
Cross-examination and synthesis
The most revealing output is what happens when brand responses, agency responses, and technology partner data are placed side by side. The gaps, contradictions, and unexpected alignments between these groups are the foundation of every finding.
What the final report presents
Six findings the Indian CTV industry has never seen in one place.
01
The India CTV Confidence Index
A composite trust score measuring how much brands, agencies, and partners trust CTV’s measurement and delivery. Broken down by segment and stakeholder group. India’s first CTV trust benchmark.
02
The Waste Map
An estimate of how much CTV ad spend in India is lost to unverifiable impressions, invalid traffic, and opaque supply paths — by channel type, buying method, and platform category.
03
OEM Transparency Rankings
The first India-specific ranking of smart TV manufacturers by the quality and openness of device-level data they provide to advertisers. Based entirely on agency and partner survey responses.
04
The Co-Viewing Gap
What co-viewing means for reach planning in India — the gap between device-counted reach and actual household audience reach, translated into rupees of misspent budget.
05
The Creative Penalty
The performance gap between native CTV creative and repurposed linear TV ads, quantified for the Indian market for the first time. The number brands and agencies need before planning their next campaign.
06
Category Benchmarks
CPMs, video completion rates, and reach efficiency by advertiser category — auto, FMCG, BFSI, D2C, real estate, and others. The planning benchmarks Indian agencies have been asking for.
Your input shapes this report.
Select your category below and share your perspective. Responses are confidential. Contributors receive the full report before public launch in September 2026.
Brand Marketers
CMOs, marketing heads, and brand leads at consumer companies
Deadline: 22 April 2026
Survey — Brand marketers
Media Agencies
Planners, buyers, and agency heads at legacy and independent agencies
Deadline: 22 April 2026
Survey — Agency planners and buyers
Tech and Publisher Partners
CTV ad tech, DSPs, SSPs, verification companies, and OTT publishers
Deadline: 25 April 2026
Survey — CTV tech and publisher partners
