Why Connected TV Is Growing in India and What It Means
India's connected TV audience jumped 60% in a year as smart TVs got cheaper and smaller towns logged on. Here's what that changes for brand planners.
For years, television in India meant one thing: a set wired to cable or DTH. That binary is breaking. Millions now open Netflix, YouTube, JioHotstar or Prime Video on the same living-room screen, and the screen itself is increasingly connected to the internet.
India’s big screen isn’t fading—it’s switching sources
Connected TV, or CTV, is simply television viewing through a screen that has an internet connection. That can be a smart TV with connectivity built in, or a regular TV connected through a streaming device, set-top box or gaming console. If the content arrives by DTH, it is linear TV. If it arrives over the internet, it is CTV. What matters is the source, not the set.
The growth is substantial. FICCI-EY data puts connected TV units at about 40 million in 2025, up from 30 million in 2024. Ormax Media estimates the CTV audience jumped from 129.2 million in 2025 to 206.9 million in 2026—a 60% increase in one year. That suggests more viewing is moving onto connected large screens, not just replacing one TV box with another.
The behavioural shift: big screen for big moments
Streaming has walked into the living room. Phones carry short video through the day, but movies, cricket, premium series, reality shows, news and children’s programming pull people to a larger screen. A 55-inch television is suddenly a window to the internet, and Samsung Ads data shows CTV households spent substantially more time with OTT than linear TV on connected screens in 2025. The same data found 66% of viewers used CTV for both OTT and linear content.
The shift is also spreading beyond metros. Mint reported that more than 60% of CTV viewers who do not watch linear television are from smaller towns and rural markets, citing Kantar data. Affordable smart TVs and better broadband have made internet-connected television a default rather than a luxury.
Free, ad-supported streaming makes CTV attractive
Not every household wants to pay for several subscriptions. That has accelerated advertising-based video on demand and free ad-supported streaming television. According to Samsung Ads data cited by EY, ad-supported platforms accounted for the majority of streaming hours on connected TVs in 2025. For a market accustomed to free or low-cost entertainment, the proposition is simple: watch free, accept ads.
From channel plans to audience plans
For advertisers, CTV sits somewhere between television and digital. It offers the big-screen impact of TV with more granular data about reach, frequency and environment. The planning question is changing from “Which TV channels should I buy?” to “Which audiences should I reach, across which screens and platforms?”
- Audience-based briefs: target people interested in cars, affluent households or young families rather than a channel list.
- Measurement leans closer to digital data than traditional channel estimates.
- Planners can combine linear TV, YouTube, OTT and social video instead of choosing one medium.
Linear TV is not disappearing. FICCI-EY puts weekly linear-TV reach at around 745 million people. CTV is best understood as an additional layer: a household can watch live cricket on a DTH channel one evening and stream a series on the same screen the next.
What to do with CTV now
Start with audience targets rather than channel lists. Test a small budget on ad-supported CTV before committing to premium buys. Track how CTV extends reach into smaller towns, and don’t assume it is only a metro play.
India may not have to choose between television and digital. The future of television could be both, on the same screen.
Source: Afaqs!
