Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director, Samsung Ads and India lead for the company, is confident that the company is future-ready for the cookie-less future.

When the first cookies were developed for browsers, users still had to prove their credentials through passwords and had to keep doing so even as ‘sessions’ saved the user’s information on the internet server. Cookies essentially allowed you to save that information.

Besides, he noted, Samsung has ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) - a tool that can take images of what a consumer is watching at any given time and these content preferences can give insights into various metrics.

“Earlier, media plans had to be made a month in advance, but today, with addressable CTV, these can happen within 24-72 hour cycles. And we can provide data and media insights to our clients almost in real time, with data on reactions and to measure how well a piece of content or campaign is performing,” he says.

“The future of marketing is automated and our Samsung DSP will allow our clients to seamlessly manage reach and frequency of their video campaigns across linear TV, CTV, and other devices,” says Sahmey, adding, “We are helping platforms and vendors to automatize their data processes, even as we’re laying a foundational layer and selling the technology to digital buyers and marketers.”

And while Sahmey is more than enthusiastic about the future of Connected Television in India, he notes there’s still time before it becomes mainstream.

“Today we are at an inflection point in the adoption of Connected TV as consumers look to upgrade or switch their home TV devices to ones that can be connected to the internet. There used to be a time when people would buy a new phone every year, but now that has dropped to two-three years. Inversely, TVs used to be a long-time purchase, but now with cheaper screens, devices and data, consumers are looking to upgrade and will upgrade,” he pointed out.

“I look at this as Year Zero for CTV, as more and more consumers and advertisers get access to, explore, and settle on CTVs, with things beginning to massively scale up in 2024. Back in 2005, there were only 20 million people online, and that number rose to 100 million people only by 2015,” he says, continuing, “Today, the internet is ubiquitous with almost everyone at least having access to it. It’s the same with CTV except, because of the ubiquity of the internet, it’s going to take place at an accelerated rate.”