Sports marketing in India finds its next growth screen in CTV

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TL;DR:

India’s connected TV audience has reached 166 million viewers, pushing CTV deeper into sports media plans. For advertisers, the attraction is clear: big-screen sports reach combined with digital targeting, measurement and longer engagement beyond the live match.

Article:

Connected TV is shifting sports marketing in India from broad television buys towards addressable, measurable big-screen advertising as streaming audiences expand. Kantar data reported in 2026 put India’s CTV audience at 166 million viewers, up 23% year on year, giving advertisers growing access to viewers beyond conventional linear television.

The timing matters because live sport remains a powerful concentration of audience attention, while smart TVs and streaming platforms give brands greater control over whom they reach and how often. For marketers, connected TV advertising in India increasingly combines television’s living-room impact with digital-style targeting and campaign measurement.

The opportunity also extends well beyond the match itself. Google’s 2026 sports marketing research says Indian sports fans spend 20% more time consuming non-live sports content than live events, including highlights, analysis, clips and related video. That widens the campaign window from a few hours of play to the anticipation and aftermath surrounding a tournament.

Kantar South Asia executive Soumya Mohanty has said, “Numerous Kantar Brand Lift Studies have demonstrated the incremental impact of Live Cricket Advertising.” Kantar’s research, cited in a live-cricket advertising study, found sports campaigns capable of producing strong lifts in awareness, consideration and purchase intent.

CTV will not automatically make sports advertising efficient. Fragmented streaming inventory, inconsistent measurement and rising premium-content costs still matter. But the strategic shift is clear: sports media planning can increasingly follow audiences across the big screen, mobile and non-live content rather than treating the television broadcast as the entire campaign.

For advertisers, the next advantage may come from planning around the sports fan journey, not merely the match slot.