India’s connected television market is moving beyond metro cities, with rural users now making up one in three viewers. This shift is reshaping how brands spend advertising money, as companies increasingly target non-metro audiences on big screens. The market, estimated to reach ₹8,000 crore in advertising revenue this year, offers new opportunities but also challenges traditional media business models.
Connected television, or CTV, has transitioned from an urban-focused trend to a mainstream medium in India. By the first quarter of 2026, monthly active users reached 166 million, a 23% increase compared to the previous year. What stands out for market observers is the geographic shift: one in every three CTV viewers now resides in rural India.
This expansion is driven by the availability of affordable smart TVs, often priced under ₹15,000, and the wider reach of fibre broadband. As internet connectivity improves, viewers in smaller towns and villages are bypassing traditional cable and satellite setups to watch content directly on their living room screens. This change is not just about technology; it is changing how entertainment is consumed and, importantly, how companies spend money to reach these consumers.
The New Ad Revenue Engine
The advertising industry is paying close attention to this migration. Analysts project that the CTV advertising market in India will grow to approximately ₹8,000 crore by the end of 2026. Brands in sectors like consumer goods, automobiles, and home appliances, which previously relied on linear television, are now diversifying their budgets to include CTV.
For businesses, CTV offers a mix of television's emotional impact and the data-driven precision of digital ads. Unlike mobile screens, the big screen encourages family viewing, which remains a preferred habit in non-metro markets. This allows brands to run advertisements that are better tailored to local languages and regional tastes, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach.
Challenges for Media Companies
While the growth of CTV provides new revenue streams, it also creates pressure for traditional media companies. Broadcasters are facing a two-fold challenge: the need to scale their digital offerings quickly to capture this shift and the difficulty of tracking viewers. Currently, the market suffers from fragmented measurement, where it is hard for advertisers to track how many people watched an ad across different platforms, streaming apps, and smart TV interfaces.
Furthermore, the sector's growth is heavily dependent on the popularity of ad-supported streaming tiers. If consumers start to prefer ad-free, subscription-based models, the potential ad revenue could be impacted. Traditional media houses are now under pressure to unify their advertising teams and strategies to ensure they do not lose market share to newer, digital-native content platforms.
Investors tracking the media and entertainment sector should monitor the ad revenue growth of major broadcasters and their ability to transition viewers from traditional cable to their own digital platforms. The key performance metrics will include the adoption rate of ad-supported content and whether companies can successfully improve their digital reach in rural India to offset the gradual decline in traditional cable television viewership.