The Trade Desk pushes omnichannel strategy to combat Indian ad fatigue

The Indian digital market is shifting from a reach-first playbook to an attention-managed model. As consumers interact with an average of 5.4 media channels daily, frequency fatigue is actively eroding brand equity across disparate platforms. For the streaming ecosystem, this elevates Connected TV from a mere awareness tool to a performance engine, provided it is sequenced with mobile and retail signals. Marketers must now prioritize unified cross-channel frequency caps or risk diminishing returns despite India's massive scale and 129 million CTV users. Watch for increased adoption of retail-to-CTV attribution models to justify premium inventory pricing.

India's Connected TV (CTV) market has seen a rapid expansion, growing from approximately 69.7 million viewers in 2024 to 129.2 million in 2025, according to the Ormax OTT Audience Report. This 85% year-on-year increase has established CTV as the second most used device for streaming after smartphones. Per Deloitte and the Motion Picture Association in May 2025, the Indian CTV ad market expanded threefold in just three years, reaching ₹1,500 crore in 2024 and is projected to capture 8% of the country’s total digital advertising expenditure by late 2026.

Simultaneous multi-screening is a defining trait of the Indian viewer, with 80% of audience members using mobile devices while watching television, according to June 2025 reporting by media analysts. This behavior has fueled a surge in retail media, which is expected to grow by nearly 22% annually. Per industry trackers in June 2025, quick-commerce platforms like Zepto have reported a three-fold increase in active retail media RFPs over a six-month window, reflecting brand demands for full-funnel measurement on the open internet.

Despite this growth, India now ranks third globally in advertising fatigue behind only the United States and Australia. Recent dentsu-e4m reports from February 2026 indicate that while the overall ad market is expected to touch ₹1.4 lakh crore by 2027, the primary growth engines will be AI-led adtech and UPI-powered commerce. This necessitates a transition away from traditional linear TV, which saw a 10% volume decrease in early 2025 according to TAM AdEx data, as advertisers prioritize the precision and frequency control offered by programmatic digital platforms.