India's CTV users surpass 50 million as JioHotstar and OEMs split the inventory

August 4, 2026 · agencyreporter.com

Kantar's Media Compass report puts India's monthly Connected TV audience at 166 million viewers in Q1 2026, up 23% year on year, as the country's CTV user base crosses 50 million. Thirty-six percent of that audience, roughly 59 million people, watches exclusively on connected devices with no linear television at all. CTV ad spend forecasts for 2026 range from ₹3,000 crore to ₹8,000 crore. That spread reflects differing definitions of CTV inventory: some trackers count only in-app OTT video, others add OEM home-screen advertising and ACR-based targeting, and every forecaster still expects the market to grow at a steep, compounding pace. JioHotstar, formed through the 2025 merger of Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, now claims more than 500 million monthly users and holds exclusive rights to the IPL, ICC tournaments, the ISL and the Premier League. During the early rounds of IPL 2026 it captured the largest share of CTV ad volume in the country by a wide margin.

A single household running a Samsung or Xiaomi TV with YouTube installed and a JioHotstar app layered on top sits inside three separate auctions, three frequency-capping systems and three reporting standards. Close to half of advertisers globally now expect CTV inventory to trade programmatically, and JioHotstar has moved most of its own inventory onto Programmatic Guaranteed and Private Marketplace deals to meet that demand. Verification partners flag that up to half of unchecked CTV impressions may be non-viewable, a real risk given how much premium pricing assumes guaranteed, brand-safe delivery. Budgets built for 2026 should treat live-sport CTV and the fragmented long tail as separate line items, each with its own pricing logic and its own verification standard.