Digital

Programmatic TV is the future of advertising

Published

6 years ago

November 27, 2019

As we move towards a digitally-driven world at a high pace, it is essential for brands to stay ahead of the curve and discover/develop newer and effective ways to reach the consumers ensuring impact. Now in the ever-evolving digital world, advertising has bypassed the traditional approach. With affordable internet prices across the country, digital advertising has evolved into a global marketplace at large. This new and evolved sector requires many relationships that extend further than the typical publisher/advertiser bond that brands and agencies were familiar with. Although new platforms for advertising have emerged but the value for television advertising is still growing. Television is of paramount importance for brands as they know TV ads work in reaching a larger set of audience who either has limited access to the internet or no access at all. Over the last decade, television has undergone major technological development which has enabled marketers to direct commercial messages in a focused manner on an individual level.

With the invention of Smart TV’s, traditional ways of TV ad buying are being challenged by the programmatic approach. Programmatic TV largely refers to the TV inventory that could be bought via a programmatic platform. As simple as it may sound but it is rather a complex mechanism which has many broad categories with several types to choose from. They consist of video on demand (VOD), digital linear TV, video and terrestrial linear. One can always purchase the programmatic inventory of the TV by either open exchange or via a private market place. Open exchange can be accessed by anyone by using real-time bidding to auction inventory to the highest bidder and private market place, on the other hand, is more direct and based on impressions rather than the traditional guarantees of time and place. This digitization has overall enabled marketers to apply data segment to leverage big screen and create high impact on the audience. Programmatic TV is a one-stop solution for brands as well as advertisers as it largely applies digital advertising’s efficiency model to traditional TV advertising with the automation of buying process with connected devices.

While programmatic TV as an option has an exceptional potential but it’s still quite new. Hence, programmatic TV is not living up to its true potential given that we’re still in the very early stages. Going by the pace of the adoption, the industry is likely to adopt it in phases. The first phase will induce buyers and sellers to use programmatic tech to transact digital video buys. This phase is actually underway and making notable strides across platforms. As per a report by Google Data, a 4x growth in impressions for videos was visible in 2014 itself. The second phase will ensure the overall development of the programmatic infrastructure, making it easier for buyers and sellers to place ads in streaming and video-on-demand TV content across connected devices efficiently. Both these phases will create pathways for the third and most important phase i.e. Linear TV. Support for Linear TV in programmatic is the most complex phase as it will take some significant work to integrate digital platforms with traditional systems and data vendors across the TV ecosystem. If done right, programmatic TV will help the sector in overcoming several ideological and technical challenges. The sector needs to get programmers and broadcasters along with advertisers to help understand what programmatic TV can do instead of what people think it does. This will then result in brands focusing on the things that really matter such as universal measurement across all advertising platforms for better ROI, the ability to reach viewers across screens, access to inventory devoid of rights issues along with programmatic buying support for set-top boxes and so on.

As per e-marketers research, programmatic TV would be a multi-billion dollar industry by 2022. Though it accounts for less than 1 per cent of all TV ad spends for now. As brand advertisers, programmers, distributors and ad tech providers work their way through the real-world challenges, programmatic TV will begin to live up to its true potential making it the future of advertising on TV.

(The author is co-founder and managing director, Makani Creatives. The views expressed are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

Related Topics:Google Sameer Makani Smart TV VOD

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Digital

Bartronics India unveils AI-powered voice app to scale agritech platform

Published

1 week ago

February 6, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

HYDERABAD: Bartronics India Limited is stepping up its agritech ambitions with plans to launch a voice-first, multilingual AI-powered application in March, following a successful pilot across Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

The pilot phase saw strong engagement from farmers, supported by assured produce off-take through partnerships with SNN and Origo Commodities. Drawing on on-ground feedback, the company is now upgrading the platform to enable deeper interaction, data-driven intelligence and scalable adoption across rural markets.

At the heart of the revamp is AI-enabled voice interaction in major regional languages, including English, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Kannada. The voice recognition and conversational agent framework is being developed by Ampivo Smart Technologies, aimed at transforming the app into an intuitive digital assistant for farmers.

Once launched, the platform will offer voice navigation, real-time alerts, contextual advisories, educational tools and interactive knowledge support, designed to improve decision-making across the agricultural value chain.

The application will also capture consent-led farmer data to connect users with electronic mandis and wider marketplaces, while enabling participation in sustainability-linked initiatives such as carbon credit programmes.

Bartronics India managing director Vidhya Sagar Reddy, said the voice-first approach reflects how rural communities naturally engage with technology and forms the foundation of a broader rural intelligence layer under Project Avio Agritech. The company aims to onboard 20 million farmers over the next three years.

Bartronics India currently operates across nearly 5,000 villages, delivering last-mile banking and digital financial services, and is expanding into integrated agritech and agri-trade solutions through its Project Avio platform.

Digital

Messi magic kicks off in India as immersive football experience lands

Published

2 weeks ago

February 5, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When football dreams need a passport, Lionel Messi is ready to stamp it. The Messi Experience – A Dream Come True, the internationally touring immersive exhibition dedicated to one of sport’s most influential figures, is heading to India this March as part of its 2026 world tour. After successful runs across Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico, Panama, Beijing, Chicago, Mexico City, Miami, Los Angeles and São Paulo, the exhibition will make its India debut in Mumbai on March 20, 2026, before moving to Bengaluru from June 19, 2026. The shows will be staged at Century Mills in Lower Parel, Mumbai, and Bhartiya City Mall in Bengaluru.

Produced and promoted by Bookmyshow Live, the experience promises to pull fans inside Messi’s journey, not just his match highlights. “I am thrilled to see this project come to life and bring fans even closer to me both on and off the field,” Messi said, adding that the exhibition would allow Indian fans to relive the most unforgettable moments of his career.

Designed as a 75-minute, multi-sensory walkthrough, the exhibition unfolds across nine themed zones, blending artificial intelligence, immersive environments and exclusive content. Visitors can train like Messi, step into recreated match moments and explore personal stories that shaped his rise from his early days in Rosario to lifting the World Cup trophy in Qatar.

Bookmyshow chief business officer for live events Naman Pugalia said the India debut marks a milestone for football fandom in the country. He described Messi as a global cultural icon whose story transcends sport, adding that the exhibition reflects the company’s ambition to bring world-class immersive entertainment to Indian audiences.

Beyond the storytelling, the experience also features an official merchandise store and an activation zone, extending engagement beyond the exhibition halls. Whether for lifelong fans or first-time followers, The Messi Experience aims to turn football history into a walk-in memory, one that lets India play along with a living legend.

Digital

Work stress tops India’s mental health talk, not heartbreak or headlines

Published

2 weeks ago

February 5, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When India opens up about mental health, the conversation keeps clocking in at work. A new conversation analysis by Consuma, an AI-native consumer insights platform, shows that workplace pressures are the most frequently discussed trigger in online conversations around mental health awareness in India. The study analysed 136,695 public conversations across Twitter, Reddit, Youtube and Instagram between January 1 and December 31, 2025. Within a focused subset of 20,272 conversations that explicitly discussed what triggers mental health awareness, nearly half 49.72 per cent pointed to work-related stressors, making employment the single largest trigger category online.

The findings echo concerns flagged at the policy level. India’s Economic Survey 2024–25 has already warned that hostile work environments and long working hours can hurt mental wellbeing and productivity. Online conversations suggest employees are feeling the strain long before policy catches up.

Among work-related triggers, poor work–life balance dominates the discussion at 24.37 per cent, followed by general workplace stress at 21.85 per cent and toxic work culture at 15.90 per cent. Long working hours account for 9.57 per cent of mentions, while job insecurity features in 7.50 per cent.

The numbers are backed by sharp, candid commentary. One user writes, “Most Indian employers overcomplicate employee wellness. Let people work async. Let them go for a run in the afternoon. Let them sleep in when their body needs it.”

Consuma notes that these findings apply only to conversations that explicitly discuss triggers for mental health awareness, not the entire universe of mental health discussions online.

The data shows that mental health discourse in India is overwhelmingly driven by adults in their prime working years. People aged 25–34 contribute 50.51 per cent of conversations, while those aged 35–44 account for 34.35 per cent. Together, they represent 84.86 per cent of the discussion.

Work stress, however, is not acting alone. Societal and educational pressures make up 33.98 per cent of trigger conversations, including societal expectations (14.42 per cent), academic pressure (13.92 per cent) and parental pressure (6.09 per cent). One widely echoed sentiment reads, “Indian parents will raise you with a roof over your head, food in your stomach, and shame in your soul.”

Taken together, the data points to a compounding “pressure stack” faced by working-age Indians balancing career demands alongside cultural expectations, education-linked anxiety and family pressure, all while chasing conventional life milestones.

Interestingly, the conversation is not limited to venting. Of the 26,311 conversations analysed for broader mental health themes, discussion is almost evenly split between core challenges (48.05 per cent) and solutions or support systems (43.81 per cent).

Mental health crises dominate the challenge cluster at 32.58 per cent, followed by stigma and lack of awareness at 20.27 per cent. On the solutions side, people lean towards culturally familiar, self-directed approaches rather than institutional pathways. Holistic practices such as music therapy and spiritual wisdom account for 17.34 per cent, practical stress management for 13.72 per cent, celebrity-led awareness for 7.64 per cent and government initiatives for 6.51 per cent.

The shift suggests that people are not only asking “what’s wrong?” but increasingly “what can I do?”even if the answers remain personal and decentralised.

Consuma’s analysis also zooms in on women’s health conversations, where mental wellbeing outweighs physical health topics. Among 1,934 women’s health conversations analysed, mental health accounts for 51.14 per cent, surpassing reproductive and gynaecological health at 37.07 per cent.

Younger adults dominate this space, with 18–44-year-olds contributing over 81 per cent of the discussion. In women’s health awareness triggers (3,489 conversations), societal factors lead at 45.2 per cent, closely followed by mental health drivers at 41.7 per cent.

Healthcare-related challenges appear less frequently at 7.4 per cent, but the tone is striking. Misdiagnosis and medical gaslighting recur as trust-breaking themes. One user notes: “Going to doctors is useless in India as a woman. First, they tell you to lose weight… Then they tell you that you are imagining it or that you are sensitive.”

The report was generated using Consuma’s AI-powered Rapid Research Platform. The dataset was cleaned for noise and duplicates and classified using a multi-coding methodology. Source-wise, the conversations came from Youtube (77,544), Twitter (41,121), Reddit (9,283) and Instagram (8,747).

In a digital space often crowded with noise, the findings paint a consistent picture, for India’s online audience, mental health conversations begin not in therapy rooms or hospitals, but at the workplace and the clock is still ticking.