Prabhvir Sahmey, one of the most familiar names in India’s digital advertising and adtech circles, has stepped down from his role as Senior Director at Samsung Ads, where he led the company’s Connected TV (CTV) advertising business across India and Southeast Asia. His exit, effective Monday, follows a multi-year stint that saw him build the function from the ground up and play a key role in establishing Samsung Ads as a serious contender in the fast-growing CTV advertising space.
Sahmey is taking a sabbatical, marking a pause after over 15 years in senior digital media roles, including at Google, GroupM, Tata Interactive, and Samsung. Speaking exclusively to exchange4media, and confirming the development, he said he would be exploring selective, progressive opportunities following his break—specifically those that can benefit from his cross-functional experience across adtech, media, and digital transformation.
Confirming the development, a Samsung Ads spokesperson said that Monday is his last day but they are not sending out a statement since it's his personal decision to follow other passions.
During his time at Samsung Ads, Sahmey helped shape the company’s entry into India’s CTV ecosystem, a space that has evolved rapidly with the increasing penetration of smart TVs and shifting viewer behaviour. Under his leadership, Samsung Ads established partnerships with leading advertisers across FMCG, e-commerce, auto, and QSR categories, introducing them to emerging ad formats on smart TVs. A particular area of focus was discoverability—using Samsung’s native TV interface to surface content and brand messaging before users enter individual streaming apps. This approach positioned Samsung Ads not just as another inventory provider, but as a gateway to household-level decision-making.
In parallel, Sahmey championed the use of automatic content recognition (ACR) technology to offer advertisers more deterministic insights into real-world viewing patterns. Samsung’s ACR capability, built into its smart TV ecosystem, enabled anonymised, privacy-compliant measurement at the device level—an increasingly important differentiator in a market where legacy TV measurement systems are still catching up to new viewing realities.
Sahmey’s work at Samsung Ads came at a time when the CTV market in India was in its early stages, still finding its footing between OTT and linear television. He was an early advocate of treating CTV as a distinct medium— pushing for creative formats, frequency strategies, and measurement frameworks suited to the living room, rather than inherited from mobile or desktop paradigms. That positioning, aligned with the broader industry pivot to premium video and contextual targeting, allowed Samsung Ads to grow from a niche offering to a platform many advertisers now include in their media mix.
Before Samsung, Sahmey held senior roles at Google, where he was instrumental in launching DV360 (then part of the DoubleClick stack) in India. That effort played a foundational role in the adoption of programmatic advertising in the country, bringing new levels of automation and transparency to digital media buying. Colleagues from those early years often refer to Sahmey as one of the key players in building India’s modern adtech infrastructure.
Known in the industry for his structured approach and clarity of thought, Sahmey has preferred to work behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight, but his impact has been consistent across multiple phases of the digital advertising industry’s evolution in India—from the rise of search and mobile to the arrival of programmatic and now the growth of CTV.
His decision to step away from Samsung Ads comes at a time when the category is poised for accelerated growth, buoyed by rising smart TV adoption, increased broadband penetration, and growing advertiser interest in alternatives to traditional broadcast. With platforms like Samsung TV Plus gaining traction as free, ad-supported video (FAST) options, the competitive landscape is also expanding, drawing in more players and more capital.
Sahmey’s exit, while not abrupt, is notable in a space still short on long-term specialists. His ability to bridge product, commercial strategy, and measurement, across both global and local contexts, gave him a unique vantage point that few others in the Indian market have held at scale.
What comes next remains open-ended. In his remarks to e4m, Sahmey was clear that he is not jumping immediately into another role. Instead, he plans to take time to reflect, travel, and recalibrate before committing to what he described as “progressive assignments” that align with his principles and experience. That likely rules out a conventional corporate trajectory, though his track record suggests he will continue to remain engaged with the broader adtech and media ecosystem in some form.
For Samsung Ads, the transition will come with its own set of challenges and opportunities. The CTV category in India is no longer nascent, but it remains highly dynamic. Maintaining momentum in the absence of one of its earliest architects will require continued investment in education, ecosystem partnerships, and cross-device innovation.
As for Sahmey, the pause seems both well-timed and well-earned. After nearly two decades spent helping build the infrastructure of India’s digital advertising industry—from pipes to platforms—it’s a moment to take stock. Whether his next move lies in advising, building, or investing, his departure marks an inflection point for the CTV space in India—and a reminder that the people behind the platforms are just as critical as the technology they help bring to market.
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