Magnite expands JioHotstar and Dentsu ties to scale AI-driven CTV stacks

This move cements Magnite’s position as a critical independent infrastructure layer for the world's largest streaming markets, particularly India. By embedding AI-driven mediation into JioHotstar’s massive scale, Magnite is shifting the programmatic conversation from basic transaction volume to yield intelligence and workflow automation. This reduces the friction of managing fragmented demand across live global events like the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. For the broader industry, it signals that the 'independent' ad tech survival strategy relies on deep technical integration with regional gatekeepers rather than open-market competition. Watch for Magnite's CTV contribution percentage in Q2 2026 to see if this partnership offsets broader digital ad spend volatility.

The expansion follows the February 2025 merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar into the consolidated JioStar venture. This joint venture, controlled by Reliance Industries (63.16%) and Disney (36.84%), created a dominant media entity in India valued at approximately $8.5 billion. According to Chrome OTT data from May 2026, the unified JioHotstar platform reached a 93.88% market share in India, representing over 144 million unique viewers. This scale makes it a pivotal testing ground for Magnite’s latest AI-assisted mediation features, which were officially unveiled in April 2026 alongside partners like Disney Advertising and Publicis Media Exchange.

Magnite’s financial performance has increasingly benchmarked against its CTV growth. In its Q1 2026 results reported in May 2026, the company recorded a 30% year-over-year surge in CTV contribution ex-TAC, reaching $82.3 million. CEO Michael Barrett noted that CTV now accounts for over 50% of the company's total contribution ex-TAC for the first time. The adoption of SpringServe 2.0 is central to this growth; the platform was restructured in April 2025 to unify ad serving and programmatic mediation into a single layer. Per Magnite’s 2026 disclosures, this unified stack now connects buyers to nearly 99% of U.S. streaming supply on a dollar-weighted basis.

Technically, the new AI capabilities within SpringServe focus on solving 'mediation lag'—the delay between market changes and pricing adjustments. By using dynamic pricing and anomaly detection, Magnite aims to maintain high fill rates during volatile live sports traffic. This is particularly relevant for JioHotstar, which recorded a peak concurrency of 72.5 million viewers during the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final. As global agencies like Dentsu prioritize direct, transparent paths to such inventory, automated supply-path optimization tools are becoming a requirement rather than a feature.