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In the beginning, there was the chip. And then came the lock screen, the app store, the notification layer, the minus-one screen — and somewhere in between, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) became full-blown media companies.
It didn’t happen overnight. For years, OEMs sat quietly in the background, focused on pushing hardware and nudging up margins in an increasingly commoditized market. But as the digital economy matured and user acquisition costs shot up, OEMs found themselves in possession of the rarest kind of advertising real estate: native, persistent, high-intent, and most importantly, direct-to-device.
“Globally, there is a slowdown on number of hardware, which is not growing as it used to be,” says Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director at Samsung Ads. “But everything is connected now. Every player in the value chain — hardware, OS, services, content — is trying to survive through some form of monetary exchange.” In other words, when the phone becomes the platform, the manufacturer becomes the media.
Sahmey draws on precedent: “Seven, eight years ago, OEMs started pre-installing apps to help advertisers skip the high cost of downloads. Suddenly, the advertising money shifted from networks to OEMs. The model isn’t new. But its complexity and scale are definitely growing.”
From Specs to Segments
India remains the second-largest smartphone market in the world, with over 152 million smartphones shipped in 2023, according to IDC. Smart TV (CTV) penetration is also booming, with 20 million units shipped in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 10 percent. That’s tens of millions of lock screens, preloaded apps, and notification panels waiting to be tapped. And brands are doing just that.
“OEMs have moved far beyond hardware,” says Siddharth Shenoy, Country Manager at Appnext (an Affle product). “They now control high-value, high-frequency touchpoints — from onboarding and app stores to keyboards and minus-one screens. We’ve enabled brands to engage users directly at these moments, driving stronger ROAS and more efficient user acquisition compared to traditional channels.”
The first unlock of a new phone is no longer just a UX moment; it’s now a media event. Shenoy calls it a “critical, high-impact opportunity” for brand exposure, where users are most open to customizing their devices and discovering apps and services that align with their needs. This touchpoint-level control is only deepening with AI and ML, allowing brands to deliver personalized experiences in real time, based on location, time of day, and behavioral patterns.
This isn't a minor blip in the adtech radar. IDC projects smartphone shipments in India to grow modestly through 2025, but the ad monetization per device is poised for double-digit growth as more brands plug directly into OEM ecosystems. CTV ad revenue in India is also expected to cross ?4,500 crore by 2026, according to GroupM, driven largely by native OEM integration.
Garima Vishnoi, SVP at White Rivers Media, agrees that OEMs are redefining the funnel, saying, “They offer vast reach at the awareness stage through prominent placements, but also allow brands to push tailored messages deeper down the funnel. Their device-level data and control of key interfaces (lock screens, notifications, content layers) create a direct and measurable path to engagement.”
For content platforms and mobile-first B2C brands, the payoff is clear. But B2B marketers are now catching on. Vishnoi points out how OEMs enable “tailored outreach based on device usage,” helping brands reach industry-specific or usage-specific audiences with surgical precision. Think enterprise tools promoted on work-focused tablets, or creator apps shown on flagship devices favored by video pros.
From Passive Hardware to Full-Funnel Heroes
For Rohit Agarwal, Founder of Alpha Zegus, the shift is both seismic and inevitable, as he notes, “OEMs used to be all about specs and offline distribution. Now they control high-intent real estate. They’ve become the new-age ad networks — with first-party data that’s arguably more accurate than any cookie-based ecosystem.”
It’s a privacy-respecting treasure trove: behavior-rich, permission-gated, and hyper-relevant. According to Agarwal, OEMs can segment users by app usage, payment history, or device behavior, allowing for personalized marketing at scale. “For B2C, it drives app installs or purchases right from the lock screen. For B2B, it means strategic placements — like pre-installed SMB tools on budget phones, or creator platforms promoted on high-end devices.”
Sahmey adds that even traditional PC-era tactics are being updated for the mobile era. “Intel used to co-fund ads for desktops. Today, Snapdragon does it with phones. If you buy a PC, you’ll see offers for Microsoft Office or Google Drive. It’s the same playbook, just more evolved — and now happening on mobile, which is where all the attention is.”
This convergence of hardware, software, and media is more than just a trend. It’s a structural shift. Brands now see OEMs not as channels but platforms, capable of offering always-on visibility through native formats that feel less like ads and more like part of the experience. In a world where third-party cookies are crumbling and users are increasingly privacy-conscious, OEMs offer what every marketer dreams of: consented, contextual, continuous engagement.
The Ad Future is On-Device
The long tail is also in play. Regional language apps, hyperlocal commerce platforms, and B2B startups are now leveraging OEM partnerships to reach new audiences. In an always-on world, OEMs have become the bridge between attention and action — not just at launch, but every time a user swipes, taps, or scrolls.
As Sahmey puts it, “There has to be a value exchange across the value chain for it to be worth everybody’s salt.” In the OEM-led future of advertising, that exchange is already happening — in plain sight, and often before you’ve even unlocked your phone.
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