CloudTV enters India’s CTV ad market with Magnite tie-up as it eyes scaled monetisation

India’s fast-evolving smart TV ecosystem saw CloudTV—which is positioning itself as the country’s first certified Smart TV OS brand—entering the connected TV (CTV) advertising space. The company launched a dedicated ad platform backed by programmatic infrastructure and announced a partnership with global sell-side platform, Magnite. The move aims to leverage CloudTV’s installed base of over 12 million devices across more than 250 smart TV brands and provide advertisers access to a new cohort of high-value CTV viewers in India.

The platform will be powered by Magnite’s SpringServe, offering programmatic guaranteed deals (PG), private marketplaces (PMPs), and real-time bidding (RTB) opportunities. A new website has been rolled out to facilitate direct engagement with brands, media buyers, and agency partners, offering inventory details, audience insights and monetisation opportunities on the platform.

"Connected-TV advertising is redefining how advertisers and brands engage with their target audiences," said Harshad Wadivkar, business head – monetisation at CloudTV. "CloudTV Ads is designed to help advertisers leverage this very dynamic shift and provide measurable impact to maximise brand visibility, backed by measurable metrics. We look forward to working with Magnite to harness further growth opportunities within the Indian CTV ecosystem.”

He added that given the rise of this evolving ad format, CTV advertising is no longer an option but an essential line item in any advertiser’s ad spends today. He also believed that it is emerging as a promising frontier in adtech as brands prioritise market impact.

The significance of this partnership lies in CloudTV’s growing market presence and Magnite’s programmatic infrastructure, which together aim to bridge a key demand-supply gap in India’s still-nascent CTV advertising market. Gavin Buxton, managing director, Asia at Magnite, noted, “India’s CTV landscape is growing at an extraordinary pace, and CloudTV’s strong user base and market presence make them a valuable part of this evolution. At Magnite, we are committed to empowering premium publishers and delivering innovative, programmatic solutions to enable buyers to reach audiences more effectively.”

The collaboration is timely. According to the FICCI-EY Media and Entertainment Report 2025, the number of connected TV sets in India rose to around 30 million in 2024, up from 23 million in December 2023. India saw a 27% year-on-year increase in active smart TVs in 2024, with users spending over 40 hours per month consuming content. CloudTV is eager to tap into this growing screen time, targeting younger, digital-first audiences who are increasingly migrating to large-screen streaming.

This growth aligns with insights from Kantar’s Media Compass report, which found that 23% of Indian consumers are now digital-only viewers—accessing the internet but not watching linear television. The report also stated that CTV viewership grew by 35 million users in the first quarter of 2025, driven primarily by younger, rural, and male demographics. Despite this, 58% of Indians continue to watch linear television every month, highlighting a dual-viewership model that CTV platforms must navigate.

CloudTV’s entry into ad monetisation builds on its larger strategic pivot—addressing the foundational challenges faced by Indian smart TV manufacturers. Historically, OEMs in India have had to rely on global OS providers who charged high licensing fees, required expensive hardware specifications, and mandated lengthy certification cycles. These factors increased manufacturing costs, slowed go-to-market timelines, and constrained innovation.

CloudTV’s homegrown OS, optimised for low-cost hardware and fast certification, was designed to address these gaps. Its localisation features—including voice assistant support for Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati (with more languages planned)—also cater to India’s multilingual consumer base.

As a result, it quickly found traction among smaller and mid-sized OEMs seeking a reliable yet affordable OS solution. Its model of cost efficiency and regional adaptability has led to CloudTV OS powering more than 12 million smart TVs to date.

In line with changing content consumption habits, CloudTV has focused on streamlining the OTT viewing experience. The platform launched ‘CloudTV Bundle’ in collaboration with DishTV Watcho, a feature that allows users to access multiple OTT apps with a single login and subscription. This bundled model aims to reduce subscription fatigue and ease content discovery, a growing pain point in India’s increasingly fragmented OTT landscape. For content partners, this also offers an opportunity to plug into CloudTV’s large device footprint and extend reach.

The strategic importance of CTV advertising is also reflected in broader industry trends. GroupM’s projections estimate that 60% of India’s total adex will shift to digital in 2025, with connected TV becoming a critical component of that growth. Advertisers are seeking full-funnel solutions—platforms that go beyond impressions to deliver engagement and outcomes. CloudTV’s focus on addressable audiences, AI-powered targeting, and performance-led metrics puts it in a favourable position to serve these needs.

On the technology front, CloudTV is investing in AI capabilities to further personalise content discovery. Upcoming features include smarter voice search, contextual recommendations, and regional-language onboarding flows. These enhancements are intended not just to improve the user experience but to deliver higher engagement, reduce churn, and strengthen the platform’s value proposition to both advertisers and content partners.

Meanwhile, CloudTV is actively exploring international markets. With many emerging economies facing similar challenges around smart TV affordability and OS licensing, the company believes its software-led model could scale beyond India. It is also expanding its footprint across adjacent categories, including digital signage—a move that could open up B2B revenue streams while expanding its role in the connected ecosystem.

As it ventures into monetisation, CloudTV’s proposition hinges on balancing affordability, regional relevance, and platform scalability. With hardware partnerships, content integrations, and now programmatic advertising infrastructure in place, the company is seeking to establish itself not just as a technology provider for OEMs—but as a full-stack ecosystem player.

In the context of India’s increasingly complex media consumption environment—where linear TV, streaming, retail media, and digital convergence coexist—CloudTV’s trajectory offers a case study in how local innovation, when backed by platform thinking and partnerships, can create new value pools in a crowded market.

The success of its CTV ad platform will ultimately depend on how effectively it can translate its growing user base into monetisable inventory—while maintaining a frictionless experience for end users and value delivery for advertisers. With Magnite as its programmatic ally and a 12-million device footprint to leverage, CloudTV’s foray into advertising could potentially shape a new chapter in India’s connected media playbook.