As connected TVs rapidly penetrate Indian households, they are not only reshaping content consumption but also revolutionising the way brands engage with consumers. Speaking at the Pitch CMO Summit 2025, Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director - Ad Sales at Samsung Ads, presented a compelling case for how connected TV (CTV) is blurring the lines between traditional and digital media.
“TV created advertising before it went digital,” Sahmey noted, setting the tone for a data-driven deep dive into how the television device itself is now evolving faster than ever. With nearly 225 million TV households in India, connected TVs are now the fastest-growing subcategory - expanding at over 40% year-on-year.
Consumer preferences are shifting decisively toward larger, smarter screens. “Just a few years ago, 32-inch TVs were the norm. Now, the majority of new purchases are 55 inches and above,” Sahmey revealed, attributing this trend to the growing demand for immersive experiences.
Interestingly, Gen Z and Gen Alpha no longer think of TV as “TV”, they call it the "big screen". This generational shift, he said, requires media planners to rethink their approach to screen-based advertising. The TV, in its connected avatar, now hosts entertainment, health content, gaming, and more - broadening its relevance far beyond linear broadcasting.
While streaming has become the dominant mode - accounting for 90% of viewership across Samsung's 13-14 million connected TVs in India, linear TV retains its stronghold during significant events. Sahmey cited Republic Day, the Ayodhya temple inauguration, and IPL 2024 as moments when traditional broadcasting outperformed apps.
“During IPL, we saw near-equal consumption between app-based streaming and Star Sports broadcast,” he added, proving that broadcast TV isn’t disappearing - it’s evolving to serve specific viewing moments.
With access to granular data, Samsung Ads can now map regional viewership trends. “Delhi’s prime time starts at 7 p.m. and runs till 10:30 p.m., whereas Mumbai goes late into the night, and in Bangalore, weekends stretch prime time up to 2 a.m.,” Sahmey said.
Nationally, average continuous TV watch time remains six hours per day, with 36–40 viewing hours per month, indicating robust engagement levels despite device proliferation.
To combat app fatigue and decision paralysis, Samsung introduced Samsung TV+, a free ad-supported streaming service offering lean-back content experiences. “It solves a very real problem - most of us switch off the TV after scrolling for 15 minutes,” Sahmey said. Launched in 2022, the platform now hosts over 140 channels and is the second-most used app on Samsung TVs in India.
He pointed out that most viewers toggle between just five AVOD apps on connected TVs- vastly different from the 15–20 app journey on mobile.
One of Samsung Ads' key innovations lies in Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) - a technology that captures anonymised screen data in milliseconds to understand exactly what content is being consumed. “It’s 100% privacy-compliant. We know what’s being played, but not who’s watching,” Sahmey emphasised.
This enables the creation of Incremental Reach Reports, helping advertisers measure overlap and uncover net-new audiences reached on Samsung devices versus traditional platforms.
Samsung Ads has successfully deployed this tech across campaigns for brands like RuPay, Garnier, and British Airways. For instance, a RuPay campaign reached 2.3 million devices with 10.9 million impressions, proving the impact of CTV advertising when done right.
Moreover, Samsung’s collaboration with Kantar allows for robust brand lift studies, quantifying how TV exposure influences awareness, consideration, and purchase intent.
Thus, in an increasingly hybrid media environment, connected TVs offer the best of both worlds - scale and storytelling of traditional TV, with the targeting and measurability of digital. “CTV is not just a medium. It’s a data-rich canvas for brand building,” concluded Sahmey.
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