Programmatic Advertising · ServiceMOFU
OTT and CTV advertising: television reach, bought like digital
The short answer
Connected TV has become the fastest-growing premium video inventory in India, and it behaves like a hybrid: television's attention and living-room context, with digital's targeting and measurement. Cricket has driven much of the adoption — a major tournament now delivers audiences at a scale linear television struggles to match.
PMG plans and buys OTT and CTV with the discipline of digital: frequency deduplicated across channels, incremental reach measured against your existing media, and effect tracked through branded search and site traffic rather than pretending last-click will show it.
What CTV is good at
- Mass reach with targeting — demographic, geographic and behavioural precision linear TV cannot offer
- Unskippable attention in a lean-back environment with sound on
- Household-level frequency control, which is impossible on broadcast
- Incremental reach to audiences who no longer watch linear television at all
- Premium brand context without the fraud exposure of open-exchange display
How we plan CTV
- Define the reach gap. Who are you failing to reach on Meta and YouTube? That's what CTV should buy.
- Choose inventory on audience, not prestige. A cricket property is expensive because everyone wants it; sometimes a smaller platform reaches your buyer more cheaply.
- Deduplicate frequency across YouTube, OTT and any linear buy — this is where most waste hides.
- Adapt the creative. A 15-second vertical social cut does not work on a living-room screen. Sound-on, larger type, slower pacing.
- Measure the lift. Branded search volume, direct traffic and geo-based tests — not view-through conversions, which flatter every video buy.
Mistakes in Indian OTT buying
- Buying a marquee cricket property because it's prestigious rather than because it reaches your buyer
- Running the same creative across feed, YouTube and CTV
- No cross-channel frequency deduplication, producing absurd exposure for a small audience
- Judging CTV on click-through, a metric that barely exists on a television screen
- Ignoring regional-language OTT inventory, which is cheaper and less contested
- No pre/post measurement plan, so the campaign can't be evaluated at all
Ways to buy streaming and CTV inventory
| Route | Examples | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube on CTV | YouTube ads served to TV screens | Scale, Google targeting | Less premium content control |
| Direct with OTT platforms | Streaming apps' ad sales | Premium content, sponsorships | Higher minimums |
| Programmatic CTV | DSP buying across publishers | Flexibility, frequency control | Needs verification |
Measuring CTV without clicks
| Method | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Reach and frequency | How many households saw the ad and how often |
| Brand lift studies | Awareness and consideration changes |
| Search lift | Branded search increases during flights |
| Geo tests | Sales changes in exposed vs control regions |
| Cross-device attribution | Visits or conversions on other devices (modelled) |
CTV creative guidelines
- Designed for large screens and shared viewing
- Brand clearly visible throughout
- 15–30 seconds for most placements
- Strong audio, since sound is usually on
- QR codes or memorable calls to action for response
CTV by business type
| Business | Fit |
|---|---|
| Consumer brands | TV-like reach with targeting |
| Real estate | Premium audiences in key cities |
| Apps | Awareness supporting installs |
| Regional brands | State-level targeting |
A worked example
A consumer brand replaced part of its TV budget with connected-TV campaigns targeted to key cities, measuring branded search and site traffic in exposed regions. CTV delivered comparable reach at lower cost with better measurement.
Before CTV campaigns
- Full-screen video creative
- Audience and geography targeting
- Frequency caps
- Lift measurement plan
How a OTT & CTV Advertising engagement with PMG runs
- Audit (week 0–1). Accounts, analytics, tracking, website, CRM flow and competitors reviewed, with a written list of what's broken, what's wasted and the three moves we'd make first.
- Plan (week 1–2). Break-even ROAS or a target cost per lead, a measurement plan and a 90-day roadmap for OTT & CTV Advertising, with owners and dates.
- Launch (week 2–4). Clean structures, verified conversion signals, the first creative sprint and landing-page fixes.
- Optimise (months 2–3). A weekly test cadence, with budget following the cheapest incremental results rather than platform-reported ones.
- Scale (month 3 onwards). New channels, geographies and retention loops, added only when the economics hold.
Every week you get a one-page scorecard, a change log, the test board and a 30-minute call with your strategist. See how we work and pricing for details.
Why teams choose PMG for OTT & CTV Advertising
- Measurement first. Unit economics and clean tracking come before any increase in spend.
- You own everything. Ad accounts, data and creative stay in your name; ad spend goes straight to the platforms.
- Senior hands on the account. The strategist you speak to is the person running it.
- Weekly transparency. Scorecard, change log and test board — every week.
- Short minimum terms. We keep clients with results, not contracts.
- India and international. One Mumbai team running campaigns across Indian cities and overseas markets, Mon–Sat, 7am–9pm IST.
Where we run OTT & CTV Advertising
We manage OTT & CTV Advertising for businesses across India — including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad — and for companies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Germany. Campaigns are planned market by market, with language, currency, platform mix and privacy rules matched to each. See all Indian locations and international markets.
Free growth audit
Get a written audit for OTT & CTV Advertising.
No sales call required. Tell us where to look; a strategist replies within working hours and sends the written audit within 72 hours.
- Tracking check
- Pixels, Conversions API, GA4 events and offline conversions — what is firing, what is double-counted, what is missing.
- Wasted spend
- Search terms, placements, audiences and overlap that cost money without producing qualified leads or sales.
- Conversion path
- Landing page speed, message match, form friction and follow-up time — where interested people drop off.
- 90-day priorities
- The three changes we would make first, with the metric each one should move.
Frequently asked questions
Is OTT advertising affordable for mid-sized brands?
Increasingly yes. Programmatic access to OTT inventory means you no longer need a broadcast-scale budget, though meaningful reach still needs several lakh rupees a month.
How do we measure CTV when there's no click?
Branded search lift, direct traffic changes, geo holdout tests and brand-lift studies where the platform supports them. Plan the measurement before the campaign, not after.
Should we buy CTV directly or programmatically?
Direct deals give better inventory guarantees on premium properties; programmatic gives flexibility and cross-platform frequency control. Large campaigns usually use both.
Is CTV affordable for mid-sized brands?
YouTube on TV screens and programmatic CTV make it more accessible than traditional TV. Start with targeted regions and tight frequency caps.
Can CTV ads target specific cities?
Yes — CTV can be targeted by geography, audience and content, depending on the platform.
How does CTV work with other channels?
CTV builds awareness that search, social and retargeting convert. Plan it with the rest of the media mix and measure blended results.
What is connected TV advertising?
Ads shown on streaming content watched on internet-connected TVs.
Can CTV ads be targeted?
Yes — by location, audience data and content type, depending on the platform.
Can CTV be targeted by city in India?
Many platforms allow geographic targeting, including by city.
How long does OTT & CTV Advertising take to show results?
Tracking fixes and search campaigns often show improvement within two to four weeks; prospecting on Meta or YouTube usually needs three to six weeks of creative testing; SEO compounds over three to nine months. We agree leading indicators up front so progress is visible early.
Is there a long contract?
No. Minimum terms are short, because we would rather keep clients with results than with contracts.
Will we own the ad accounts and data?
Yes. Everything runs in your own accounts with partner access for PMG, and you can see it all at any time.
What do you need from us to start?
Access to ad accounts and analytics, your margins and order values (or deal values), brand assets, and a decision-maker available for a weekly 30-minute call.
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