MAM
GUEST COLUMN: Five ways digital attribution can improve CTV & OTT advertising return on ad-spend
Mumbai: CTV/OTT viewership has exploded in India since the start of the pandemic, opening a new market of opportunities for advertisers. Combining the best of digital and traditional linear TV advertising, CTV/OTT advertising has become marketers’ favourites because of its ability to reach the right audience at the right time. These platforms provide advertisers with easy access to a vast pool of active buyers with high purchasing power.
It is estimated that more than 500 million Indians are already consuming OTT content. The number of CTV (connected TV) users is expected to reach 80 million households or nearly 320 million users by 2025. As linear TVs continue to lose viewers’ attention, advertisers are scrambling to make the most of the rising CTV/OTT viewership. This has also led to an increase in the amount of money spent on advertising on CTV/OTT, especially by B2B marketers.
In the OTT and CTV spaces, marketers have the advantage of clear targets, ideal buyer profiles, and clear-cut targeting strategies. While some other factors may affect the overall impact of CTV and OTT campaigns, these platforms also help in improving the return on ad spend (ROAS) through the right digital attribution.
Here are five ways in which digital attribution can help improve the ROAS:
Identifies customer touchpoints better
Marketers have to engage with customers at multiple touchpoints for successful conversions. In video campaigns, it is not easy to identify the exact touchpoint at which the viewer decides to convert.
Advertisers must have a comprehensive understanding of the customers’ journey for better ROAS. This issue can be mitigated by adopting multi-touch digital attribution for CTV/OTT, as it will enable the advertiser to locate the touchpoint that triggered the conversion. Such knowledge will empower them to reduce ad spend wastage.
Filters out non-performing tactics
Through conventional attribution, specific campaigns walk away with sales and conversion credit without giving an insight into what parameters actually worked. This technique fails to take into account that some of the sales may be due to repeat customers or old customers who may have restarted their services. For CTV/OTT, conventional attribution will fail to give the real picture as advertisers use multiple tactics to drive conversions. Digital attribution can help identify the exact ways that resulted in sales on CTV/OTT. It will enable advertisers to focus more on winning tactics and avoid unnecessary ad spending on non-performing strategies.
Real-time optimisation
CTV/OTT metrics provide real-time data on customer responses to ad campaigns, allowing marketers to make in-the-moment adjustments. If something is not working, advertisers can withdraw the campaign and launch its alternative or improved version in real time. Digital attribution plays an important role here by enabling advertisers to identify the highest-performing tactics and make adjustments in real time. For example, during live streaming of a new movie on CTV/OTT, if a 30-second video ad is outperforming a 60-second creative, the advertiser can use this data to allocate more budget towards the better-performing 30-second campaign rather than giving in to the length of a video campaign.
Targets the right audience
The CTV and OTT streaming markets have exploded since the pandemic. As a large part of the population was confined indoors due to lockdowns, the demand for new entertainment platforms and content also increased. The availability of cheaper data across the country further amplified viewership on OTT and CTV. The surge in OTT/CTV content demand gave advertisers access to a massive new audience.
However, it has also become important to segment audience attributes for better targeting. With the right attribution, advertisers can easily segment customer databases to identify at which stage of the purchase the customer is actually converted.
Identifies “buy signals” more accurately
One of the most common differentiators between a successful and unsuccessful marketer is their ability to identify the “buy signal” from a prospective customer. The “buy signal” on CTV/OTT is an action or behaviour indicating a viewer is ready to become a customer. The actual sale often takes place much after the campaign is over. The right attribution can help in identifying the buy signal correctly. It will further enable marketers to match their strategy with sales insights to optimise the campaign for better results.
To sum up
Converting sales from a digital campaign requires slick digital attribution. This beats conventional ad-based tracking. It not only provides precise data points where the customer is most likely to convert, but it also provides insights into consumer purchasing behaviours. A modern world needs more contemporary digital attribution techniques, and we are already ready with one.
The author is VDO.AI founder and CEO Amitt Sharma.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
