Is Your Brand Ready for the CTV Revolution? Key Insights Inside
Mumbai: CTV’s ability to target affluent, premium content viewers is a game-changer for luxury brands and high-end products, offering a direct channel to India’s wealthiest households. Leveraging data-driven marketing on CTV during festive seasons allows brands to craft highly personalized, impactful campaigns, helping them capture consumer interest earlier and more effectively. Authenticity in content, especially for a culturally diverse market like India, is crucial. Native content that speaks to local traditions and values will help brands build stronger connections on CTV.
Fame Keeda is one of India’s most trusted digital marketing agencies, known for delivering tangible business results through impactful online strategies. We focus on building brand awareness, driving sales, and enhancing visibility, all while keeping our clients’ unique needs and goals at the forefront.
Specializing in influencer marketing, particularly in the tech, automobile, and finance sectors, we excel at scaling campaigns with the same dedication and precision that drives the growth of our own agency. Our approach blends traditional branding principles with creative, data-driven solutions, ensuring that our marketing efforts are not only innovative but also measurable and results-oriented.
Krisneil is the Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) of Fame Keeda, a pioneering influencer marketing agency based in Mumbai. He is dedicated to driving innovative strategies that elevate brands to the forefront of digital engagement.
With over 8 years of expertise in digital marketing, Krisneil has a profound understanding of consumer behaviour and social influence dynamics. At Fame Keeda, he leads a talented team in creating compelling campaigns that resonate across platforms, bridging the gap between brands and audiences with cutting-edge technology. Driven by a passion for harnessing the power of influencers, Krisneil is committed to fostering a culture of creativity and collaboration within Fame Keeda.
MadeInMedia.in’s Kalpana Ravi in an email interaction with Krisneil Peres, Co-founder and chief visionary officer (CVO) at Fame Keeda explored the advent of CTV in the last few years. How brands are targeting affluent and prime customers through customised and personalised messaging. The festive period also gives ample oppurtunities for brands to advertise on CTV.
Excerpts:
How can brands capitalise on the higher income levels of CTV households to create more effective premium product advertising?
To effectively target affluent viewers on CTV, segment them from the broader audience and deliver tailored, aspirational ads. Use high-quality visuals to capture attention, and incorporate interactive elements like shoppable ads to offer a seamless, engaging experience. Advertise within exclusive content aimed at paid or premium users, and employ seamless product placements to build brand credibility.
Focus on themes of luxury, status, and exclusivity to create an emotional connection with affluent audiences. Utilize dynamic creative optimization to deliver personalized messages, incorporating localized luxury appeals. Leverage real-time analytics and predictive targeting to continuously refine campaigns and engage high-value consumers.
Highlight VIP access, limited-edition products, and loyalty programs to appeal to high-income shoppers. Collaborate with luxury influencers to create authentic content and curate exclusive experiences. Integrate AR/VR technologies to offer virtual premium product experiences. Overall, the goal of using CTV is to enhance relevance, engagement, and conversion among affluent viewers, aligning them with the brand and its premium offerings.
In what ways can CTV campaigns be optimised to target affluent shoppers, compared to traditional TV audiences? How does premium content play in the purchasing behaviour of this audience?
CTV campaigns offer greater flexibility, precision, and measurability, delivering improved results for brands targeting affluent shoppers. Brands can maximize their ad spend by leveraging CTV’s ability to use both first-party and third-party data to target affluent viewers based on factors like income, purchasing behavior, and interests—unlike traditional TV, which relies on broader demographic categories.
With CTV, brands can bid on premium ad slots in real-time, ensuring their ads are shown during high-value content or at peak times for affluent audiences. CTV also enables dynamic creative optimization (DCO), allowing for personalized ads tailored to the viewer’s profile and behavior, offering a more customized approach than traditional TV’s one-size-fits-all messaging. These ads can include interactive features like clickable shopping options, enhancing engagement and providing the convenience that affluent shoppers expect. Additionally, CTV provides real-time insights, allowing brands to optimize campaigns mid-flight, adjust targeting, and measure engagement more effectively.
Brands can place ads alongside high-end content to benefit from its premium halo effect. Create longer, narrative-driven ads that reflect affluent lifestyles and values and match the sophistication and quality of premium content to enhance credibility. Highlight themes of success, exclusivity, and achievement in ads. Use shoppable ads during premium content to engage and convert high-income viewers.
Case study on how luxury brands use CTV to influence affluent consumers.
Tanishq x Hotstar
The objective of the campaign by Tanishq, a premium Indian jewelry brand, aimed to connect with affluent consumers during the festive season (Diwali) by promoting their high-end jewelry collections using Connected TV (CTV) through Disney+ Hotstar.
The brands strategy was to partner with Disney+ Hotstar, India’s leading CTV platform, popular among affluent households. They targeted high-income viewers watching premium content like cricket matches (IPL), Bollywood films, and original series, aligning with aspirational lifestyles.Tanishq created festive-themed ads that emphasised the cultural significance of gold and jewellery during Diwali. They highlighted their luxury collections with a focus on family, tradition, and celebration.
The ads were interactive, allowing users to browse the latest Tanishq collections and locate nearby stores, creating a seamless transition from inspiration to action and the ads were personalised in their messaging based on region and language, ensuring the ads were culturally relevant across India’s diverse markets. They used dynamic creative optimization (DCO) to adjust ads to different languages and regional preferences.
The campaign saw a higher engagement during high-profile cricket matches led to increased viewer engagement. The ability to locate nearby stores from the ad resulted in higher in-store visits during the Diwali season. The festive-themed, culturally relevant ads helped drive strong sales growth, particularly in high-value gold and diamond collections.
The key takeaways of this campaign was it aligned the festival and tailored campaigns around cultural festivals resonate strongly with affluent Indian consumers. Regional targeting and language-specific ads ensured broader appeal across India’s diverse audience. Shoppable, location-based ads made the shopping experience more convenient, driving higher conversions.
How can brands use CTV’s data capabilities to better segment and target high-intent audiences during festive seasons?
Leverage CTV’s first-party data to track viewer habits, such as content preferences, watch times, and interactions with previous ads. This allows brands to identify high-intent audiences based on their engagement with festive content or luxury products. Segment viewers who have made high-value purchases or shown interest in relevant product categories (e.g., jewellery, electronics) during festive seasons like Diwali or Christmas.
Use geographic targeting to reach viewers in regions where specific festivals are celebrated (e.g., focusing Diwali ads in Northern India). CTV platforms provide precise location-based data to ensure ads remain relevant. Combine demographic data such as age, income, and family status to target affluent households or consumer segments that are likely to spend more during festive periods.
Deliver ads to audiences watching festival-related or culturally relevant content, such as festive movies or special events. High-intent consumers are more likely to engage with ads while viewing such content when they are in a buying mindset. Segment audiences based on their interests in categories like home decor, gifting, or fashion, which are popular during festive shopping periods. CTV platforms can gather this data from viewing habits and preferences, helping brands target high-value viewers who are inclined towards luxury goods, seasonal shopping trends, or premium brands with highly relevant ads.
CTV platforms can also create lookalike audiences based on profiles of previous high-intent customers, ensuring ads reach individuals with similar behaviors, demographics, and interests during festive shopping periods. Utilize CTV’s dynamic creative optimization (DCO) to serve personalized ads tailored to individual viewer data, such as region, language, or past purchase behavior, ensuring the message resonates with high-intent audiences. Adjust ad messaging and visuals to reflect the specific festive season, making ads more timely and relevant.
Use data to retarget users who have shown interest in a product or visited a brand’s website but have yet to make a purchase. Re-engaging these high-intent viewers during festive sales can drive conversions. Implement sequential ads that develop a narrative over time, culminating in a purchase-focused message as the festive sales peak approaches.
By utilizing real-time data, brands can optimize campaigns mid-flight, adjusting ad frequency, creative, or targeting to ensure high-intent audiences are engaged at the optimal moment in their festive buying journey.
What are the best strategies for personalising ads on CTV to capture attention early in the festive buying journey?
Leverage DCO to tailor ad content based on viewer data, such as past purchases, location, and preferences. Adjust visuals, copy, and calls-to-action to align with festive themes relevant to each viewer’s preferences and shopping habits. Customize ads to showcase different products, offers, or designs based on regional and cultural specifics (e.g., highlighting Diwali in India or Christmas in the U.S.).
Target audiences based on their previous festive shopping behavior or engagement with related content (e.g., viewers who frequently shop for gifts or premium items). Use demographic and affinity targeting to focus on high-income households, families, or specific interest groups like tech enthusiasts or fashion lovers, who are more likely to engage with early festive ads.
Personalize ads with early-bird promotions or limited-time deals to encourage viewers to start their festive shopping early. Use viewer data to tailor these offers, such as discounts for frequent shoppers or loyalty program members. Incorporate countdown campaigns with creatives that build anticipation for key festive sales events, motivating early purchases.
Shoppable ads enable viewers to explore products directly within the ad, offering personalized product recommendations based on browsing history or past purchases. These interactive features boost engagement and drive early festive conversions. Additionally, use geolocation data to serve ads promoting nearby store events, holiday pop-ups, or localized promotions that inspire immediate action.
Tailor the ad language and festive elements to reflect different regions and cultures. In diverse markets like India, brands can deliver personalized ads in multiple languages and highlight local traditions or festivals. Showcase products that align with local customs, holidays, or gifting practices to strengthen the emotional connection with viewers.
Implement a sequence of personalized ads to guide viewers through their festive shopping journey. Begin with inspirational content, move to product discovery, and conclude with limited-time offers or reminders as the festive season nears. Personalize ad delivery based on viewer behavior, adjusting frequency for highly engaged viewers and timing ads during high viewership periods like weekends or festive programming.
Retarget interested shoppers by serving personalized ads to viewers who previously engaged with festive-related content or your brand’s website but haven’t completed a purchase. Use tailored messages or special offers to bring them back early in the season. Where possible, integrate wish list or cart reminders into ads, prompting viewers to act on saved items as the festive season approaches.
Utilize data-driven insights to analyze viewer behavior, predicting which segments are likely to begin their shopping early. Deliver personalized ads to these high-intent shoppers to ensure your messaging reaches the right audience at the right time. Use real-time data to adjust creative elements throughout the campaign, optimizing personalized offers or visuals for better performance as the festive shopping journey progresses. By employing these strategies, brands can create highly personalized CTV ads that resonate with individual viewers, encourage early festive shopping, and drive greater engagement and conversions.
How does the integration of CTV into a multi-platform festive campaign improve consumer engagement compared to traditional media? Holistic Experience & Consistent Messaging
CTV complements other platforms like social media, digital ads, and email marketing by creating a unified consumer experience. This synergy reinforces brand messaging across multiple touchpoints, making campaigns more memorable. Brands can maintain consistent themes and narratives across platforms, enhancing recall and recognition as consumers engage with the campaign through different channels.
It allows for precise audience segmentation using data insights, enabling brands to deliver personalized ads tailored to specific viewer preferences and behaviours. Unlike traditional media, which often relies on broader demographics, CTV’s integration with other platforms helps brands analyze engagement across channels and refine targeting strategies in real-time, ensuring high-intent audiences receive relevant content.
The ads offer interactive features, such as clickable links for purchasing or exploring products directly within the ad, providing a level of engagement that traditional media cannot match. Brands can take advantage of CTV’s high-quality visual capabilities to produce immersive and engaging content that captures attention more effectively than static ads. Brands can track engagement metrics across multiple platforms in real-time, allowing for swift adjustments to the campaign based on viewer behaviour and preferences. CTV campaigns can be modified on the fly, optimizing creative elements based on performance data to better resonate with audiences.
Integration with other platforms provides deeper insights into consumer behaviour, allowing brands to measure the effectiveness of each channel in driving engagement and conversions. This helps brands make more informed decisions, such as identifying which platforms contribute most to conversions, enabling better budget allocation in future campaigns. CTV helps brands reach diverse audiences, including younger demographics who prefer streaming content over traditional linear TV. Ads can be strategically placed on CTV platforms during high-traffic times, such as during festive programming or popular events, ensuring higher visibility and engagement. Brands can craft cohesive storytelling experiences across multiple platforms, leading consumers through a narrative that unfolds over time—from teasers on social media to full-length ads on CTV. Sequential messaging strategies guide consumers from awareness to consideration, and ultimately to purchase, enhancing engagement throughout the festive buying journey.
CTV campaigns can also drive viewers to social media for community engagement, encouraging users to share their experiences or opinions about the campaign. This amplifies reach, boosts brand interaction, and fosters community involvement by motivating consumers to create and share related content. Personalized ad campaigns have proven highly effective in driving conversion rates during peak shopping periods like Diwali or Christmas. Here are several key factors illustrating this effectiveness. They cater to individual consumer preferences and behaviours, making them more relevant. When ads align with a shopper’s interests, they are more likely to engage and convert. During festive seasons, ads that reflect cultural themes and seasonal needs tend to resonate better. For example, ads that promote gifting options during Diwali or Christmas can lead to higher conversion rates.
Personalized campaigns often see higher click-through rates (CTRs) because they capture the attention of consumers who find the content relatable. This is especially important during crowded shopping seasons when competition for attention is intense. Personalization also taps into the emotional aspects of gifting and celebration, forging a stronger connection with consumers and prompting faster purchasing decisions.
By leveraging data-driven insights, brands can target specific consumer segments based on past shopping behaviours, allowing them to serve tailored ads to those most likely to convert during festive shopping. Personalized retargeting ads remind consumers of products they viewed or added to their carts, effectively nudging them toward completing a purchase. Personalization creates a smoother shopping experience, guiding consumers from awareness to consideration to purchase. When consumers feel understood, they are more likely to make a transaction. Interactive, personalized ads that allow for immediate purchasing can significantly boost conversion rates, especially during busy festive periods when shoppers want quick access to products.
Brands can analyse performance metrics in real-time and adjust their personalized campaigns as needed, optimizing for higher conversion rates by responding to what resonates with consumers at any given moment. Using data to forecast trends and consumer behaviours also allows brands to anticipate product demand during the festive season, enabling proactive personalized advertising. Personalized campaigns that incorporate customer reviews or user-generated content can boost credibility and influence potential buyers, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Collaborating with influencers to personalize campaigns can also drive conversions, as their endorsements tend to resonate with their followers, particularly during gifting seasons.
Brands like Amazon and Flipkart have seen significant increases in sales during festive seasons due to their personalized marketing strategies. For example, Flipkart’s Big Billion Days witnessed higher engagement and conversions thanks to targeted ads tailored to users’ shopping behaviors and preferences. Research indicates that personalized ads can generate conversion rates up to five times higher than generic ads during peak shopping periods, underscoring their effectiveness.
What key cultural elements should brands focus on to ensure that their content resonates with diverse regional audiences in India? How can brands tell authentic stories that reflect India’s unique socio-cultural landscape?
To resonate with India’s diverse regional audiences, brands should focus on several key cultural elements. Align campaigns with regional festivals like Diwali and Pongal, incorporating local customs and using symbols and rituals that are meaningful to each area. Ads should feature local languages and culturally nuanced messaging, ensuring they reflect regional dialects and expressions. Highlighting regional dishes and festive foods allows brands to tailor content to local tastes.
Brands should showcase themes of family, community, and traditional values, which are important across different regions. Featuring traditional clothing and regional landmarks can enhance authenticity and local appeal. It is essential to respect religious diversity, ensuring the content is inclusive and sensitive to local beliefs. Incorporating regional actors or influencers makes campaigns more relatable and meaningful to specific communities.
Using local music, dance, and art forms helps brands connect with cultural heritage, while tailoring content to reflect regional gender roles and societal dynamics strikes a balance between modernity and tradition.
With CTV’s format, brands can create engaging, culturally sensitive stories that resonate with India’s diverse audiences by blending tradition with modernity. CTV allows brands to tailor narratives to specific regions, languages, and cultural contexts, making the content feel personal and relevant. Aligning stories with regional festivals and traditions deepens local engagement. Brands can use CTV for both short ads and long-form content, enabling deeper storytelling around key Indian cultural themes like family values, community, and tradition.
CTV’s interactive features allow viewers to engage with culturally relevant content, offering choices or shoppable elements that enhance immersion and participation. Real social issues, such as gender equality or sustainability, can also be addressed while maintaining cultural authenticity, appealing to India’s evolving socio-cultural landscape. Featuring local celebrities or influencers further strengthens regional resonance and adds authenticity by leveraging their trust within specific communities.
What are the risks of creating culturally insensitive content on CTV, and how can brands mitigate these to maintain authenticity?
Creating culturally insensitive content on CTV can pose significant risks for brands. Content that disrespects or misrepresents local customs, traditions, or beliefs can offend specific communities, leading to a loss of trust and brand loyalty. In today’s social media-driven world, insensitive content can quickly go viral for negative reasons, sparking outrage, resulting in bad publicity, calls for boycotts, and long-term damage to a brand’s reputation.
Certain cultural or religious content might also violate local advertising regulations, potentially leading to fines or bans, particularly in regions with strict cultural sensitivities. Being perceived as tone-deaf or disrespectful can severely harm a brand’s credibility, especially in culturally diverse and sensitive markets like India.
To avoid these pitfalls, brands should conduct thorough research into regional customs, languages, and traditions. Involving local teams or cultural consultants in the content creation process can provide a deeper understanding of nuances, helping to mitigate the risk of insensitivity. Pre-testing ads with diverse focus groups allows brands to gather feedback and identify any potential issues before launching on a larger scale. Ensuring that content reflects cultural diversity and demonstrates respect for all communities will maintain authenticity and help foster positive connections.
Cross-cultural advertising strategies that succeed in large, diverse markets, like India or the US.
Cross-cultural advertising strategies that thrive in large, diverse markets like India emphasize a balance between cultural relevance and broad appeal.
One effective approach is to localize content by adapting ads to local languages and dialects, particularly in regions where these factors are significant. This fosters a sense of connection and respect for local culture. Incorporating local customs, festivals (such as Diwali in India or Thanksgiving in the US), and values into campaigns ensures cultural resonance while maintaining a consistent brand message.
It’s essential to feature diverse ethnicities, genders, and lifestyles to reflect the market’s demographic makeup. In India, this means representing various regions, cultural backgrounds, and languages. Focusing on universal human emotions—such as family, community, and aspiration—can transcend cultural boundaries and resonate with people from different regions.
Utilizing data to segment audiences by cultural background allows for tailored ad delivery. This may involve creating different versions of an ad for urban versus rural areas in India. Collaborating with regional influencers who resonate with specific cultural groups adds authenticity and local relevance to the campaign.