YouTube makes the future shoppable: Shubha Pai on CTV commerce

The advertising and marketing world has moved on from the quintessential short-form versus long-form debate. The new reality, as articulated by Shubha Pai, head of brand solutions at Google, is that consumers are watching everything across all screens, at different points. 

Leading this multi-screen universe is YouTube, particularly on Connected Television (CTV), a platform that's growing and revolutionising how brands connect with consumers every single day.

Addressing a panel titled ‘YouTube's Vision for Living Room Entertainment’ at the Marketers' Excellence Conference 2025 hosted by afaqs!, Pai said, "YouTube on CTV is the most watched streaming service and has been for the last 12 months. Internally, it's also our fastest-growing service for the last five years in a row."

The numbers have spoken for themselves: in just three years, the number of YouTube CTV viewers in India has quadrupled. 

This surge, Pai explained, isn't accidental; it's fuelled by an accessible ecosystem of affordable smart TVs, burgeoning app development, and a rich content landscape.

The four S's for the marketers

Pai explained how Google and YouTube uniquely empower marketers to engage consumers across the "four S's": Search, Stream, Scroll, and Shop. 

"Just look at your own behaviour in the last 24 hours. How many of those S's were you across?" she quizzed the audience. "And what is interesting is that YouTube and Google are the only platforms where, as marketers, you can actually get across all of these consumer behaviours." 

While these behaviours have long been part of consumers' lives, only now have they become fully digital. It’s the convergence of these four S’s on the big screen, particularly through YouTube, that presents unprecedented opportunities for marketers.

Pai also singled out commerce to be the key differentiator that makes CTV distinct from traditional linear TV. "So many times, so many of us used to watch an ad and be like, 'Can I run out to the store and buy this?' This is one thing that linear TV was unable to do."

However, with interactivity and commerce now coming to the big screen via CTV, it is possible to immediately purchase something from the TV ads without running out of the house. This interactivity, she explained, is now a powerful reality on CTV.

The omnipresent CTV consumer

One significant myth debunked by Pai is the notion of a discrete CTV consumer. "It's not a discrete consumer who's watching the connected TV and not doing anything else," she clarified. "They are interacting with content throughout their day, and a connected TV is just one part of that journey”. 

The goal for marketers, therefore, is to meet consumers "wherever they are, irrespective of the device type, regardless of the time, in the right way".

This integrated approach yields visible business outcomes. A case study with Sony revealed that by balancing exposures across different screen sizes, formats, and devices, they achieved a 2x growth in subscriptions at a 10% increase in efficiency.

What's trending on the big screen?

Which content are Indian viewers most frequently engaging with on YouTube CTV? "Some of it is intuitive, some of it is not," Pai remarked. 

Pai highlighted stand-up comedy, entertainment and travel and tourism as the most trending genres on the big screen.

She specified that travel and tourism are interesting for two reasons: “Because it's also a top content genre that is consumed on shorts. So it's very interesting that people are discovering something on (YouTube) Shorts, actively engaging in that content, and then passionately watching it on the big screen, spending more time on it."

Such behaviour demonstrates how short-form discoveries can ignite long-form engagement on YouTube.

YouTube’s toolkit for marketers

Immersive mastheads: These cinematic, edge-to-edge experiences are the first touchpoint when a user opens the YouTube app on CTV. With sound off by default, they are non-intrusive yet highly impactful, boosting completion rates by 30% and view-through rates by 10% compared to static mastheads.

Long-form ads: For brands such as Nestlé's Maggi, 30-second ads built for the big screen delivered remarkable results: 15 million reach in six states, 50% lower cost, and a 3x increase in brand recall.

Pause ads: These contextually relevant ads appear when a viewer pauses their content, offering an impression that registers powerfully upon their return.

Interactive QR codes: Launched last year, QR codes on CTV are now a best practice for driving immediate action, from website visits to lead generation. Kia, an auto brand, saw a phenomenal 3.66x increase in OTP verified leads and a 10x increase in CTRs by leveraging this feature for in-market car buyers.

Perhaps the most exciting development on the horizon is the integration of direct shopping capabilities.

Pai revealed that in the coming months, viewers will not only be able to post comments while binge-watching their favourite creators on the big screen, but they will also be able to directly shop by pointing their phone at the screen.

"This is truly the convergence of commerce on connected TV," she noted.

"So it's not just about replicating linear TV experiences. It's actually about taking the best of digital and taking the best of linear and then figuring out what you can do with it together," she added.

India's love affair with YouTube is undeniable. "By the time all of us go home, in about 24 hours, logged-in viewers in India would have watched 40 million hours of content on YouTube on the connected TV," Pai said.

According to a study done by YouTube, Indian consumers are watching content on at least three to five different OTT platforms, but YouTube’s ability to "get" its users, offering hyper-personalised recommendations, makes it a truly unparalleled streaming experience. 

"Honestly, there is just one YouTube," Pai said.

We’d like to thank our esteemed Powered-by Partner, Google for the afaqs! Marketers' Excellence Conference 2025.

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