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Once the private preserve of shiny FMCG giants and OTT-happy D2C disruptors, Connected TV (CTV) advertising is fast turning into serious business for... well, serious businesses. Think less cola and crypto, more cloud and compliance. In 2025, India’s B2B marketers are doing something unexpected: they’re entering your living room—with a pitch.
The CTV story in India is no longer a speculative subplot. According to the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2025, CTV ad spends in the country are projected to reach ?2,500 crore by the end of this year, up from ?1,500 crore in 2024—a 35% year-on-year growth. That number is expected to grow at a CAGR exceeding 45%, potentially touching ?3,500 crore by 2027. It’s no longer a “new” channel—it’s the fastest-growing screen in the house.
Venugopal Ganganna, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at LS Digital, believes the penny has finally dropped for B2B brands. “CTV is no longer just a B2C playground,” he says. “We are seeing a real shift in how B2B brands approach the upper funnel, and CTV is right at the heart of that movement.”
And the data backs him up. CTV ads are clocking completion rates north of 95%, outperforming traditional digital video and making an impression—literally—on business decision-makers who now spend more time streaming than skimming. “Think of it as the new boardroom, but in someone’s living room,” Ganganna quips. “Executives are more receptive to brand storytelling in this lean-back environment. It’s not a ‘wait and watch’ moment anymore. CTV is already a core pillar for brands looking to build recall and accelerate the deal cycle.”
What’s changed? First, smart TV penetration. India is poised to hit 50–60 million connected households by the end of 2025, up from 45 million in 2024. This growth is driven by cheaper smart TVs, increasing broadband penetration, and an insatiable appetite for content that doesn’t involve soap operas or saas-bahu melodrama. The result? B2B brands now have a viable, scaled-out platform where they can showcase brand campaigns without competing with cat videos or pop-up ads.
And it’s not just the screen—it’s who’s watching. “CTV is rapidly emerging as a powerful channel to reach enterprise audiences in India,” says Varun Mohan, Chief Commercial Officer at MiQ. “With growing OTT viewership among premium households—including key business decision-makers—it offers a high-quality, lean-back environment ideal for B2B messaging.”
Mohan points out that precision targeting is the secret sauce here. “B2B campaigns on CTV are scaling through IP and household-level targeting. We’re even leveraging work profile signals to sharpen it further. And in more mature CTV markets, we’re integrating these efforts with account-based marketing.” While CTV may not be a pure-play performance channel, he adds, it’s showing strong lift downstream: “Our data shows viewers exposed to CTV ads are significantly more likely to engage with the brand across other channels.”
That blend of branding and bottom-funnel influence is exactly what makes CTV so compelling for B2B. It’s storytelling with metrics, theatre with telemetry. Platforms like LinkedIn CTV and Google TV Ads now offer B2B marketers targeting options by job title, industry, company size—even firmographics and intent data.
Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and Independent Director, also attributes this shift to two key factors: younger decision-makers in B2B companies and the increasing overlap between B2B and B2C communication styles. “CXOs are getting younger,” he explains, “and they’re more receptive to brand messaging through mass platforms.”
Mathias points out that B2B brands now value visibility beyond their immediate customer base, recognizing the brand equity benefits of mass advertising. Categories leading this shift include fintech (e.g., Razorpay), enterprise SaaS (e.g., Zoho, Salesforce), and payment platforms. He draws a parallel with Intel, which successfully built brand salience despite being a component brand.
“The real unlock is in combining both sides of the equation—demand gen and brand building,” Ganganna notes. “You can track video completion, engagement, cost-per-conversion, even matched audience attribution. For B2B, that’s gold.”
Prasun Kumar, CMO of MagicBricks, sees growing potential for B2B advertising on Connected TV (CTV), especially as the medium becomes more targeted. “B2B advertising is about reaching specific individuals, not broad masses,” he explains. “CTV offers refined targeting within the television ecosystem, making it an ideal platform for B2B brands looking to engage executive-level audiences.”
Garima Vishnoi, SVP, Media Alliances and Partnerships at White Rivers Media, also highlights the growing role of data transparency in making the medium marketer-friendly, saying, “Detailed analytics track every stage of engagement, from view-through rates to conversions. This level of insight supports smarter investment and sharper messaging, matching campaigns to moments when business leaders are most attentive.”
The goal, says Mathias, is not just direct conversion, but enhancing perceived corporate value and awareness among future decision-makers—especially as tech-savvy professionals move into leadership roles.
It’s the merging of media science with message craft. And it’s shifting the entire top of the funnel, especially in sectors like SaaS, fintech, enterprise tech, and consulting.
He also highlighted the increasing importance of Call to Action (CTA) elements in brand communication. While QR codes in print and TV have been widely tested, the results haven’t always been compelling. “The uptake on QR codes hasn’t met expectations, but the need for actionable messaging is only growing,” Kumar notes.
Of course, CTV’s moment in the B2B sun also comes with caveats. Inventory scarcity, standardization challenges, and attribution fragmentation still need ironing out. But with platforms offering API-level integrations, better identity graphs, and more reliable third-party measurement, those wrinkles are rapidly being smoothed.
As Mohan notes, “While it's still early days for performance-linked CTV in India, the channel is fast maturing. We’re already seeing brands build cross-screen journeys where CTV is the narrative anchor.”
Which means we’re likely to see more brand CMOs—and CFOs—greenlighting campaigns that land not on desktops or dashboards, but on 55-inch OLEDs at 9 p.m.
So next time you're winding down with a web series, don’t be surprised if you’re sold on cybersecurity or cloud storage between cliffhangers. In the new B2B playbook, the living room is where deals start getting made.
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