The fight for smart TV audience

India’s smart TV homes are in the spotlight as the broadcaster has been aggressively marketing this universe, though small, to advertisers

L.V. Krishnan, chief executive officer of media data analytics firm TAM India, recently announced a new service under TAM Sports to monitor advertisements during the Indian Premier League (IPL) live streaming on the JioCinema app. For starters, the service will be limited to capturing ads on smart TVs and connected TVs (internet enabled through external sources like Firestick) in Mumbai city, though TAM will fetch Android and iOS mobile phone data from Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.

The fight for smart TV audience

With Viacom18 winning the IPL digital media rights last year, India’s smart TV homes are in the spotlight as the broadcaster has been aggressively marketing this universe, though small, to advertisers. Krishnan says India’s smart or connected TV households are barely 10% of all TV homes in India though their importance in the streaming ecosystem is rising. It may be still early days for a fight for the smart TV viewer but this universe is becoming valuable as people stream big sports properties and other over-the-top (OTT) video content on the large screen. TAM Sports first did a bit of ad monitoring on Hotstar for the T20 World Cup in October 2022.

Earlier this week, Viacom18 splashed full page ads in leading newspapers to talk about JioCinema clocking over 147 crore video views, recording the highest-ever opening weekend for IPL on digital with average time spent per match per viewer touching 57 minutes. IPL is being streamed free on the JioCinema app across telecom networks.

Viacom18 did not split IPL viewership based on smart TV and mobile phone audiences. But it said its numbers were supported by customised device integration partnerships such as with Jio set top box, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, OnePlus TV, Sony, Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, among others.

Advertisers are eyeing smart TVs as audiences are getting comfortable with connected devices. Improved broadband availability at home is making people stream content on large screens.

Even DTH operators now hawk devices that offer both satellite TV channels as well as streaming apps enabling the customer to swing between the two. Some customers also like to push their mobile phone content onto the large TV screens for better viewing. “All these developments have led to connected TVs becoming the centre of attraction for content producers and advertisers,” says Krishnan.

Total connected TV homes in India are about 20 million, he says, adding that the fight for this universe will accelerate once smart TV homes multiply further. Chief investment officer at media agency Wavemaker Srinivas Rao agrees with Krishnan. Smart TV adoption is higher among metro cities’ affluent audiences. “This premium audience is limited to 20-25 million households. Whether connected TVs will penetrate smaller cities will depend on availability and affordability of strong broadband.” Rao says.

Smart TV penetration hinges on broadband adoption at home and Krishnan says the growth has not been dramatic in the last two years. “People are content getting broadband on mobile rather than on TV,” he says.Secondly, a viewer is already accessing the same content on mobile. “Unless the demand for that content is by the entire family, he doesn’t need to watch it on the television screen,” Krishnan adds.

Home broadband connectivity will also cost more. Plus a customer will pay additionally for his subscription-based OTT services. If a viewer is happy with entertainment on satellite TV channels which is also affordable, one may not feel the need for a connected TV and home broadband, he says.

But he’s quick to add that if content on streaming platforms is far superior and cannot be accessed on mobile phones or on linear TV and broadband prices are low, you may see a continuous uptrend in connected TV homes.

Pallavi Singh Marwah, vice president, at Super Plastronics that sells TVs under Kodak, Thomson, Blaupunkt and Westinghouse brands, is banking on this uptrend. She has just launched basic smart TV models for tier 3 towns and rural markets. These 24-inch TVs are available in Kodak and Westinghouse brands.

“The shift towards smart TVs accelerated during Covid. What we anticipated will happen in five years, happened in two years. The price gap between smart and non-smart TVs is so low that more customers are choosing smart TVs,” she says. With rival streaming services offering big entertainment shows and sports properties to hook subscribers, investment in smart TVs may not be entirely wasted.