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Remember when CTV was the playground of metro India? Those tidy drawing rooms with sleek screens, hooked up to high-speed broadband and niche OTT apps? That picture’s now outdated. Today, the fastest growth in India’s connected TV landscape is coming from the country’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, mostly powered by FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming Television) channels, and the quiet revolution of the living room screen.
As of mid-2025, India has around 50 million CTV households, a number expected to reach 60 million by the end of the year. More importantly, the ad money is following suit. CTV advertising spend is expected to hit close to INR 2,000 crore by the end of this year, and is projected to grow to INR 3,500 crore by 2027. What’s shifting the curve? For the first time, platforms and brands alike are treating non-metros not just as spillover audiences, but as the engine of growth.
In recent years, digital advertising has surpassed television advertising across the Asia-Pacific market, becoming the medium with the highest ad spend. One such example is ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, where China, Japan, and India rank among the markets with the highest revenues worldwide.
“FAST bridges the gap between linear and streaming. It solves a very real problem—most of us switch off the TV after scrolling for 15 minutes,” says Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director, Samsung Ads. Samsung TV+, the company’s FAST platform, now hosts over 140 channels and is among the most-used apps on its smart TVs. “Most users stick to five AVOD apps on CTV; compare that with the 15–20 on mobile. FAST restores a simpler, more intuitive navigation experience.”
Sahmey points to the lean-back comfort of scheduled programming, matched with digital measurability. “They replicate the linear TV experience but within a connected, measurable, and ad-supported framework giving advertisers the best of both worlds: premium storytelling and programmatic precision.”
That hybrid is becoming increasingly crucial in markets where viewers are used to traditional TV but open to digital content. According to GroupM's TYNY 2025 report, India now has over 200 FAST channels and nearly 40 million monthly active CTV users. Much of that growth is happening outside the top 10 cities.
“We’re witnessing a significant shift in CTV adoption in India, where the growth story of CTV is being increasingly scripted by the Bharat users,” says Nikhil Kumar, Chief Growth Officer at mediasmart by Affle. “Until a few years ago, CTV was seen as a niche medium to reach only metro users, but with deep penetration of Smart TVs in Tier-2 / 3 towns, CTV advertising is now akin to a mass-reach medium once reserved only for linear television advertising.”
What’s changing is not just the where, but the how. “We’re seeing a strong shift from broad campaigns to hyperlocal, context-aware strategies, with brands leveraging the strengths of engaging storytelling on CTV paired with the advancements of programmatic technology,” Kumar explains. With over 500 FAST channels across 15 genres now available through mediasmart, he says brands are able to tap into content affinity and vernacular-first narratives to reach viewers in “the moments that matter.”
“We’ve seen Diwali-specific ads in Hindi speaking markets dynamically swapped for Chhath Puja campaigns in Bhojpuri belts, all automated by AI-led contextual decisioning and creative optimization,” says Kumar. For brands, that means relevance isn’t just a buzzword; it’s programmable.
FAST is also becoming a magnet for advertisers in categories hungry for regional penetration; think FMCG, auto, and regional e-commerce. “FAST channels are quickly evolving from a pure audience-building play into a scalable, monetization-ready environment, especially in non-metro India where the appetite for free, high-quality content is strong,” Kumar adds.
As of June 2025, around 35% of CTV ad inventory in India is bought programmatically, with projections suggesting this will rise to over 60% by 2027. A typical Indian household now spends more than 3.5 hours a day on video, and nearly 40% of that is on connected devices. Campaigns on CTV boast completion rates above 90%, with performance metrics catching up fast to digital-native formats.
At MiQ, Varun Mohan sees this growth as a reflection of deeper shifts in user behaviour. “The next wave of CTV growth in India is being driven by audiences in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, where mobile-first habits are now translating into living-room screen engagement,” says the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. “This shift is compelling brands to think hyper-local, not just in language, but in culture, emotion, and context.”
Mohan highlights how brands are experimenting with shoppable ad formats and QR interactions, while blending spend across FAST, AVOD, and niche regional OTT platforms. “FAST may have started as a reach extension tool, but with the right data-led strategy, it’s quickly becoming a viable performance channel in the media mix,” he says.
Vedavyas Badri, Deputy VP – Programmatic Buying at LS Digital, says FAST has moved past the experimentation phase. “What started as an audience-building play is now evolving into a viable model, supported by improved content discoverability, scalable reach, and more precise audience cohorts built through user behaviour data,” he says. Regional OTT platforms, local YouTube channels, and vernacular content are now staples in many campaign plans.
That local flavour is what Khushboo Mulani, CEO of Slay Media, believes gives CTV in non-metros its real staying power. “It’s like watching two versions of the same person—one experimenting with AI, the other discovering the internet on the living room screen for the first time,” she says. “Over 66% of India’s population lives in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, and that’s exactly where CTV is booming.”
“CTV doesn’t just sell to a user—it speaks to the collective. And if you win the room, you win the region,” she says, pointing out how regional campaigns are increasingly tapping local influencers, meme formats, and UPI-driven interactivity to land both cultural and commercial impact. “FAST may still be seen as audience-building by platforms. Because in Bharat, it’s not about virality. It’s about value.”
For a market still straddling two media realities—one steeped in TV, the other sprinting towards interactivity—FAST is proving to be the perfect middle path. It’s local, lean-back, and increasingly lucrative.
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