“We are seeing an uptick in the reach of connected TVs this year. At the end of five weeks, CTVs will have over twice the reach of HDTVs. We also made IPL streaming free for all network subscribers this year. The removal of a paywall extended our reach,” Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj told ET.
Madison World Chairman Sam Balsara said CTV is a great proposition because it gives marketers the brand-building capabilities of television along with the sharper targeting of digital.
“For IPL, CTV was sold based on total coverage; it at least gave you the option of reaching out to a limited audience, arguably with much greater purchasing power. This is a new and important development in this year’s IPL. Until last year, the CTV numbers were very small, but now we have reasonably good numbers for CTV,” he said.
Affle-owned Mediasmart’s VP India, SEA, and Middle East, Nikhil Kumar, said CTV has gotten a boost from free streaming of the IPL given the fact that cricket is akin to a religion in India and the IPL is one of the most watched sports events in the country.
“It is expected that the streaming of IPL via CTV and OTT platforms like Jio Cinema will lead to a further surge in CTV adoption. The emergence of a new segment of viewers who are tuning in to IPL on Jio Cinemas via their CTVs is likely to be a driving force behind this growth,” he added.
In a recent interaction with ET, Finecast Global CEO Nicola Lewis said that WPP’s specialised media arm is bullish about CTV’s growth in India. “The total number of CTV households is expected to grow from 25 million this year to 45 million by 2025,” she stated.Nicola also said 28% of new clients that came into the Finecast ecosystem globally came from India. Finecast, which launched in India last year, helps advertisers capitalise on the popularity of broadcast content across TV and digital landscapes.
Jayaraj said over 40 advertisers across categories like international brands, financial services, e-commerce, and autos are advertising exclusively on CTV.
“From 78 spots (average ad spots per match) in week one, it has reached 94 spots (per match) in week four, which represents a 20 percent growth,” he stated. JioCinema has priced its CTV ad spots at Rs 6.5 lakh per 10 seconds for the IPL.
Mediasmart’s Kumar said the IPL has the potential to attract new advertisers to the CTV universe, as many advertisers today are already digitally native.
“We are seeing that shorter ads between overs continue to be the norm, with 6-second and 15-second shutter ads ruling the dynamics of advertising on CTV IPL. This is in line with the fact that CTV advertising on live TV gives limited scope to longer ads,” he noted.
