Television
Connected TV cracks the mainstream, reaching 166 million Indian eyeballs
Kantar’s Media Compass finds streaming pulling ahead of linear TV among the young, the urban and the upwardly mobile
MUMBAI: Connected television has stopped knocking on the door and simply walked in. Kantar’s latest Media Compass Report shows CTV reached 166 million monthly viewers aged 15 and above in the first quarter of 2026, a leap of 23 per cent over the same period last year — proof, if any were needed, that the big screen in Indian living rooms has quietly gone digital.
The findings, drawn from a rolling sample of more than 87,000 consumers, paint a picture of a platform that has outgrown its niche tag. Fifty-nine million viewers now watch content exclusively on CTV, representing 36 per cent of the total audience — people linear TV simply cannot reach, however aggressive the media plan.
Puneet Avasthi, director, specialist businesses, South Asia, at Kantar, called it a structural shift rather than a passing trend. “The CTV opportunity is not just about scale, it gives a sizeable 4 per cent incremental reach of audiences not available on LTV with a strong metro male skew,” he said, adding that Media Compass allows brands to move beyond siloed planning to maximise reach and cut duplication across TV, digital and print.
The audience CTV is pulling in is not incidental either. Sixty per cent of viewers belong to NCCS A, the top socio-economic bracket, making the platform a natural home for premium and high-consideration categories. Yet the growth is not confined to India’s metros: one in three CTV users now lives in rural India, suggesting the format’s appeal stretches well beyond the usual urban strongholds.
Demographically, CTV skews neither heavily male nor niche in age. The split is 53 per cent men to 47 per cent women, and viewers aged 25 to 44 — squarely in their peak earning and spending years — make up 46 per cent of the audience, a demographic dividend that categories from FMCG to consumer durables and technology will be eyeing closely.
The one brake on the acceleration is infrastructure. Only 46 per cent of CTV viewers currently have a fixed broadband connection at home, meaning much of today’s growth is riding on patchy mobile data rather than stable pipes. As broadband rolls out further, Kantar expects reach and engagement to deepen rather than plateau.
For now, the message to advertisers is blunt: linear TV alone no longer tells the full story, and the brands still planning as though it does are the ones being left behind.
