Kantar flags CTV’s reach gap as India advertisers seek unified video measurement

Kantar says India had 166 million monthly Connected TV viewers in Q1 2026, with more than one-third unavailable on linear TV. The measurement gap is driving duplicated reach, ad fatigue and media wastage, strengthening the case for audience-first, cross-screen video planning.

— Source publishedTue, 21 Jul, 2026, 12:46 IST·First seen Wed, 22 Jul, 2026, 19:58 IST·Source ET BrandEquity

What happened

Kantar says India’s growing Connected TV audience is pushing advertisers toward audience-first video planning. Puneet Avasthi highlighted the lack of unified

Key facts

  • 166 million monthly Connected TV viewers in Q1 2026
  • more than one-third of Connected TV viewers unavailable on linear television

Why this matters

The fragmented measurement landscape makes CTV identity, attribution and unified-video analytics providers attractive partnership or acquisition targets.

What to watch

  • Launch or material adoption of an India-specific cross-publisher CTV and linear-TV measurement standard.
  • Major broadcasters, streamers or agencies agreeing to common audience currencies or third-party deduplicated reporting.
  • Retail media networks adding CTV inventory, clean-room integrations or closed-loop CTV-to-sales attribution.
  • Evidence that CTV frequency rises materially faster than incremental reach for large FMCG, electronics and fashion campaigns.
  • Privacy or consent rules that constrain household identity matching across TV, streaming, retailer and mobile datasets.
  • Agency trading models moving from GRP and impressions commitments to incremental-reach or outcome guarantees.
  • Build a cross-screen reach-and-frequency dashboard combining linear TV, CTV, online video and retail media exposure, even if early reporting relies on modeled deduplication.
  • Use retailer loyalty, app and CRM audiences to create CTV suppression lists, limiting repeat exposure among recent purchasers and heavily exposed households.
  • Require CTV partners and agencies to report incremental reach versus linear TV and major digital video platforms, not just gross impressions and completion rates.
  • Run matched-market or audience-holdout tests linking CTV exposure to store visits, online conversion, basket value and new-to-brand customer acquisition.
  • Shift video buying briefs toward audience-first targets such as incremental households reached, effective frequency and cost per incremental buyer.
  • Develop creative rotations tailored to CTV households, with QR, app-install, local-store and product-feed variants that can convert attention into measurable retail action.

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