Prime Video, Sony, JioStar chiefs on India's CTV shift
At FICCI Frames in Mumbai, Prime Video, Sony, JioStar, Zee and NDTV chiefs said connected TV is reshaping what Indian media companies create—not just where viewers watch. Co-viewing shows, advertiser addressability and niche news formats now drive storytelling on the large screen as India's CTV audience nears 200 million.
Key Takeaways
- Prime Video is developing titles around co-viewing versus solo-first viewing as CTV blends lean-back TV with digital choice.
- JioStar puts India's CTV audience at nearly 200 million and stresses measurement plus addressability on the large screen.
- Sony Pictures Networks India argues the family viewing ritual matters more than how viewers reach the big screen.
- NDTV says CTV unlocks niche news formats linear schedules could not justify, including Lifeline and Launchpad.
- Zee frames the market as an attention economy where infinite content does not mean infinite consumption.
What did Prime Video, Sony and JioStar say about connected TV?
Speaking at the FICCI-Frames conference in Mumbai during the opening session “India’s Screen Economy – The Next Wave,” executives argued CTV is changing production choices, not only distribution. Coverage of the panel is available via Variety’s report.
Gaurav Gandhi, VP and head of Prime Video for Asia-Pacific and Australia-New Zealand, said streaming began as a largely solo habit. “So much of our time is being spent today thinking about like, hey, this is a co-viewing show compared to this is an individual-driven show first,” he said.
Gandhi described CTV as combining television’s shared lean-back feel with digital convenience, choice and ad targeting. He flagged a core challenge: in a lean-back setting with so much choice, how easy is it for customers to reach what they want? Recommendation engines, he added, need to get much better.
How is CTV changing India's screen economics?
Moderator Vivek Couto of Media Partners Asia framed CTV as pairing TV’s scale with digital addressability and asked how that shift would reshape industry economics. More context on the streaming beat is collected on our Streaming & TV Alerts hub.
Kevin Vaz, chair of the FICCI Media & Entertainment Committee and CEO of entertainment at JioStar, preferred talking about the large screen over CTV branding alone. “The large screen has always been communion, the large screen has always brought families together and been a unifier,” he said.
CTV keeps that communion while adding measurement and addressability, Vaz said, helping advertisers who favor the bigger screen reach specific audiences. Citing figures from the session, he put India’s CTV audience at nearly 200 million and said it is growing fast.
Gaurav Banerjee, managing director and CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India, warned that industry talk can chase the signal over the substance. “So it finally doesn’t really matter how people get to that large-screen experience, but what do they do when they get there?” he said.
For Banerjee, CTV offers the same chance TV has for decades: a family gathered around a show it can discuss over dinner. Recalling watching “Nukkad” with his family in the 1980s, he said that communal habit has not truly changed and should be protected.
Why does CTV matter for news hits and the attention economy?
Rahul Kanwal, CEO and editor-in-chief of NDTV, said linear planners fear narrow-appeal shows will sink channel ratings. On CTV, NDTV has doubled down on “Lifeline,” about healthcare, wellness and anti-aging, and “Launchpad,” about upskilling—formats that would struggle for enough linear eyeballs.
Vaz said the definition of a hit has shifted as screens multiply. Success once rested on a single large-screen measure; now it also counts audience votes, engagement and social trends. Technology can match each story to the right viewer, so one person’s flop can be another’s hit.
Punit Goenka, CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, said the industry has moved past a TV-versus-digital split into an attention economy where content, technology and data must work together. Asked what wins amid endless choice, he kept it short: “Infinite content does not mean infinite consumption.”