YouTube’s new ad solutions: urban-rural targeting & immersive CTV mastheads

YouTube on Thursday introduced a range of new advertising solutions at Brandcast 2025 aimed at helping brands and creators connect more effectively with Indian audiences.

The offerings include immersive mastheads on connected TV, providing full-screen creative placement on the YouTube homepage; India-first urban and rural targeting that lets advertisers tailor campaigns to different geographies; a Creator Partnerships Hub within Google Ads to manage and discover collaborations with creators; and Peak Points, built with Gemini, which will allow brands to identify high-engagement moments in content for ad placement starting next year.

The company said these tools leverage YouTube’s scale, the trusted reach of creators, and AI-driven precision to help brands engage a dynamic and growing audience across India.

The announcements come as content consumption habits in India shift, with audiences increasingly expecting to watch what they want, whenever they want, on multiple screens. YouTube now offers long-form films, micro-dramas, creator-led shows, and short-form content through YouTube Shorts, which also appear on connected TVs.

YouTube Shorts in India has over 650 million monthly logged-in viewers, while YouTube reached more than 75 million people aged 18 and above on connected TV in April 2025. A company-cited survey found that 87% of Indian viewers are more likely to use YouTube daily than other online platforms or traditional TV and video-on-demand services.

Brands are responding to the platform’s reach. Insurance company Acko adopted a YouTube-first strategy across connected TV, Shorts, and Demand Gen campaigns, reporting 40% year-on-year business growth while cutting media costs by 82%. 

Ashish Mishra, Chief Marketing Officer of Acko, said, “By leveraging CTV and our first-party data, we’ve reached premium audiences with precision and scaled our business cost-effectively. We’re now building on this by exploring YouTube’s creator ecosystem and Google AI tools to tell the ACKO story in fresh ways and rethink how insurance is sold in India.”