iWorld
Collective reach makes CTV key in regional India, says MiQ CCO Varun Mohan
MUMBAI: It is no secret that family is one of the strongest factors driving consumer decision making in India. The modern Indian household is no longer driven by singular decision makers like twenty years ago, but instead has split into every member’s preferences playing a role. For marketers, this presents a novel situation – requiring fragmentation of their messaging, but also presenting an opportunity to build multilateral brand appeal with members from different demographics and age groups within the same household.
This is where the Connected TV (CTV) revolution offers one of its most powerful messaging advantages. While other digital screens cater to individual tastes, the living room TV remains one of the few common spaces where grandparents, parents and younger viewers still come together, regardless of their comfort with technology. And as more homes upgrade to smart TVs, the CTV platform is inheriting this reach in the shared viewing environment – turning it into a uniquely powerful stage for brands, where a single message can shape the perspective of multiple decision-makers at the same time.
Over the past year, we have seen CTV adoption surge across India, supported by affordable smart TV options and growing OTT content across regional languages. As this footprint expands into Tier 2 and 3 markets, its value proposition is evolving – it is now a platform that combines the cultural familiarity of traditional television with the precision of digital reach. Unlike mobile advertising, which fragments audiences into isolated moments, CTV brings the household back into a shared media experience that naturally encourages conversation, influence and consensus.
This collective reach is especially important outside major metros – as family viewing habits remain stronger among regional audiences in Tier 2 & 3 cities. When a brand message plays during a popular regional film or show, it reaches multiple age groups and purchasing roles at the same time, creating a unified base of awareness that isolated channels alone cannot replicate. The large-screen environment of CTV also drives stronger attention – with clearer and more vivid visuals and focused messaging versus the fleeting nature of rapid scroll ads – to help brands deliver richer storytelling. This makes a much stronger impression for categories like appliances, automobiles, consumer electronics and home improvement where purchases are often discussed collectively, influencing the entire household’s perception in a single exposure.
For advertisers, this shift demands a different planning lens. CTV excels at building salience, cultural relevance and household-level memory structures. The most effective campaigns treat CTV as the spark that introduces an idea to the family; and use mobile, social and retail media to convert individual intent afterwards. CTV thus lays the foundation for that multi-layered path to purchase. Brands are also increasingly producing content in multiple languages, tailoring narratives to reflect local culture and festival moments – fitting naturally with household viewing patterns in non-metro markets.
For the regional household market, CTV offers precision and scale, without losing cultural depth. As aspirational consumption grows within India’s regional markets, CTV’s collective reach presents a unique strategic advantage that marketers can build on towards a new type of communication – one that shapes perceptions across generations and will shape the next phase of India’s consumer growth story.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
