CTV is booming, but most brands don’t know how to use it right: MiQ

New Delhi: Digital migration is picking up pace, and homes in India are rapidly becoming a hotbed for addressable screens. Connected TV (CTV) can easily be considered the centrepiece. Marketers are drooling over the allure of this big, smart screen that allows them to tap into premium audiences.

According to a report published by Deloitte, in collaboration with the Motion Picture Association (MPA), CTV ad spending currently accounts for 1.5% of India’s digital advertising wallet. This share is expected to rise sharply, reaching between 7% and 8% in the near term, backed by an estimated 40% annual growth rate. 

Translated into monies, the CTV advertising market expanded from Rs 450 crore in 2022 to Rs 1500 crore in 2024. 

The reports said that this threefold increase highlights the platform’s growing appeal among advertisers who are increasingly turning to CTV for its ability to combine the immersive environment of television with the precision of digital targeting.

But amid the industry’s growing obsession with the biggest screen in the house, MiQ, a global programmatic media partner, has chosen to cut through the noise. According to MiQ, CTV is not always the answer. In fact, it might not even be the question. 

In an exclusive chat with BestMediaInfo.com, Ramya Parashar, Chief Operating Officer, CoE at MiQ, Krishnakumar Govindarajan, Chief Technology Officer, MiQ, and Anish Roy, Director - Analytics, MiQ unpacked their very deliberate approach to CTV.

The team, which is responsible for translating ideas into products, capabilities, and solutions at MiQ, broke down how full-funnel thinking, AI-led intelligence, and neutral platform strategy are the real heroes of modern media, and why CTV, though shiny and potent, is only part of the story.

CTV is not the hero in every story

India currently has roughly 111 million linear TV users, while the CTV user base is about one-fourth that size. And yet, the pricing does not align with audience scale. For instance, IPL ad rates for linear TV were around Rs 17 lakh for 10 seconds, and for CTV, it was just half, while ideally, it should have been one-fourth. 

It is evident that the advertisers are swayed away by the shininess of CTV’s promise rather than its strategic fit. 

As most players rush to pump performance dollars into connected environments, MiQ is flipping the script, insisting that the channels should follow the objective, not the other way around. For them, CTV is not just a new inventory bucket; it is a strategic lever that must be examined, justified, and deployed with prudence. 

“Everyone is going behind CTV, but what MiQ is trying to tell people is that if they are clear about their goals and specific problems that they are trying to solve, then we can help you identify where CTV actually makes sense, how your broader strategy should take shape, and what types of formats your customers are truly engaging with,” Parashar told BestMediaInfo.com.  

“CTV does play a significant role. But does it play everywhere? The answer is no,” chimed in Roy. 

And sometimes, CTV simply doesn’t belong in the plan at all. In one campaign, MiQ advised a brand to completely remove CTV from its media mix. 

Parashar recalled, “A brand was trying to bring in a new set of audience and was not getting conversions. When we dug deeper, we found that CTV should kind of be eliminated. Rather, they should be focusing more on social and search.” 

Upon applying the adjustments, the brand witnessed results almost immediately, Parashar stated. “In just the first month, we were able to deliver an 8% increase in their viewership. While it did not directly translate into conversion, we were able to positively influence that particular audience segment.” 

A large part of the confusion, the MiQ team believes, comes from a channel-first mindset that equates more impressions with better performance. 

It is not necessary that focusing purely on reach and frequency may drive sales and conversion. “You are just throwing a lot of money on a small segment. That is not really going well,” said Govindarajan. 

Instead, MiQ encourages marketers to start with the business problem, not the media vehicle. The media partner wants to focus more on a unified, collective design, rather than becoming an executioner and prioritising one medium - in this case, CTV. 

Measurement and standardisation

If there is one thing that continues to haunt the CTV landscape in India, it is the utter lack of measurement standardisation. 

Unlike linear TV’s GRP-driven models or digital’s click-through economy, CTV sits in a confusing middle lane, fragmented across platforms. For MiQ, solving this is less about seeking a perfect industry-wide metric and more about stitching intelligence from disparate data points into a cohesive, campaign-ready format.

Govindarajan explained that when it comes to  TV, measurement is all through the ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) partnerships MiQ has, “which is pretty much agnostic to the provider.” The UK-based media partner also has a partnership with Pixability and Pathmatics to navigate the YouTube space.

Data coming out of these region-specific partnerships helps MiQ manage the complexity. 

MiQ’s newly launched platform plays a starring role here as a data harmoniser. 

Sigma, MiQ’s AI-powered intelligence platform, does not merely aggregate data. It translates disparate signals into a usable taxonomy, a common language that lets MiQ activate campaigns meaningfully across various ecosystems.

With so many platforms speaking different data dialects, Sigma creates this common taxonomy, converting everything into MiQ’s internal language before re-exporting it into platform-specific formats for execution. 

This is especially crucial in a market like India, where local channels and hyper-regional platforms further fragment measurement models.

In India, MiQ is looking for partnerships with conversations brewing with Tata Play and OEM players like LG and Samsung, to get their hands on the ACR data. However, as Parashar noted, “there are not a lot of ACR partners in India".  

Explaining it from a technological lens, Govindarajan shared that the OEM players like Samsung and LG do not want to share their data. While MiQ could operate in their siloed ecosystems, it will be difficult for the media partner to have a global, agnostic platform. 

MiQ is trying to tackle cross measurement, a highly prevalent issue in the CTV space, with something called the Identity Spine. It is one of the key mediums that can help identify users across multiple channels - TV, mobile devices, browsing the web - and track the user journey across platforms. 

It works on the same philosophy that MiQ’s Sigma does: If someone has an identity across touchpoints, bring everything together and build your own composite ID. This unified identity then powers the entire consumer journey, enabling smarter and more consistent engagement.

Drawing the final picture

As India’s CTV ecosystem evolves, tempting brands with scale, screens, and sophistication, MiQ’s leadership is advocating for restraint over rush, and clarity over complexity. Their message is clear: CTV isn’t a default; it’s a decision. 

And decisions should be rooted in data, guided by purpose, and executed with nuance. In a market fuelled by hype cycles and “next big thing” buzz, MiQ’s approach is refreshingly grounded. 

It doesn’t glorify the medium. Rather, it interrogates its role. With tools like Sigma, principles like neutrality, and a commitment to full-funnel thinking, the company is making a case not just for CTV optimisation, but for a smarter, outcome-led media strategy at large.