CTV Is the centrepiece of India’s TV revolution in 2026

The story of television over the last few decades in India has been closely linked to a number of key cultural changes – on both technological and societal levels. 

As the exciting new entertainment centre, and at the time, also a major household purchase for most family homes, TV viewing brought families together in shared living rooms, kick-starting a generation-spanning ritual of entertainment and connection that is going strong to this day.

Outside the home, TV was similarly transformative for the larger marketing industry. By establishing predictable viewing routines around scheduled programming, it gave marketers a reliable way to communicate with their intended audiences through a linear communication format.

This routine of fixed viewing cycles was fundamentally disrupted in the mid-2010s, when the rise of high-speed internet and wide smartphone adoption opened the door for streaming platforms to bring entertainment to the palm of your hand. 

It eliminated schedules in favour of on-demand access – anytime, anywhere. In response, the traditional TV evolved into the Smart TV – a place to stream from all available channels to one screen.

While once expensive, the Smart TV continued to become increasingly affordable and feature-rich, appealing to the same breadth of consumers as its elder cousin – and today, has transformed into the even smarter Connected TV (CTV) ecosystem.

With on-demand entertainment emerging as the new norm, CTV has transformed the consumer experience of the modern entertainment landscape. 

Viewership on traditional TV has been declining while the audience moves online, adopting a truly multi-screen experience that encompasses their CTV, mobile phone and other tertiary devices.

MiQ’s recently launched Advanced TV report found that even while 93% of Indians watch video content on their mobile phones, a strong 71% still continue to use TVs – showing that they hold key relevance. 

In addition, India’s CTV user base has grown by over 85% year-on-year since 2024, reaching over 129 million users, adding over 35 million new viewers in 2025 alone, bringing about a sort of renaissance of the shared TV viewing in the Indian living room, powered by internet-led television.

These trends have not only changed how consumers are watching television but also how the larger marketing industry must adapt to the CTV world. Ad budgets that once sat almost entirely in traditional broadcast now need to work across a converged video ecosystem spanning digital video, CTV and social video. 

Marketers have to plan at the level of households, devices and content categories and actively manage audience overlap, frequency and spend so every impression contributes incremental reach instead of waste. 

At the same time, they’re reconciling two different measurement worlds: legacy TV currencies like TRPs on one side and impression-based, digital-first metrics on the other.

In practice, advertisers are navigating a world where linear TV remains important but no longer stands alone, and digital video continues to grow faster year after year. 

Within this world, they must plot a unified plan of reach and measurement while preventing ad fatigue and driving meaningful interactions with the brand.

Thus, this second coming of India’s television revolution needs to be navigated in a unique manner, with new playbooks and clear understanding – encompassing streaming and OTT within its umbrella. 

This modern avatar of the CTV still holds the same central place in homes for collective entertainment – bringing together streaming attractions like live broadcasts and on-demand content, with bonus add-on features like games, multilingual support, smart apps and more. 

The combined strength of these two ranges of offerings comes together on the CTV platform, making it an unshakeable cornerstone of the modern Indian household.

As we enter 2026, the future of television in India lies in a hybrid landscape. Its active base of over 129 million users is driving rapidly rising ad spends and has helped Connected TV move from a niche to a central pillar of India’s marketing ecosystem. 

In the coming years, we can expect to see it evolve to further integrate OTT and broadcast services, alongside bringing a variety of additional offerings, strengthening the cultural importance of the large screen in Indian households.

For marketers, this screen presents a new canvas with a wider variety of tools to capture their audience’s attention, backed by the precision and flexibility of digital. 

As the next chapter of India’s TV revolution is written across multiple screens and on-demand platforms, the living room screen will be both the centrepiece of family entertainment and the proving ground for the marketers of tomorrow.

(Sachi Gurudanti is the Director of Product at MiQ Digital India, where she leads Advanced TV, YouTube, and Video solutions at the intersection of media, data, and technology.)