CTV 101 — Media Planner
You plan and buy CTV for clients. Start here.
If you sit on an agency desk or in-house planning function and CTV just got added to your plan, the workflow is closer to programmatic display than to linear TV. Inventory access, deal types, audience targeting, and measurement all stack up differently. These six concepts cover what to internalise in your first quarter — enough to build a real India CTV plan, not just a line item.
From RFP to deal to DSP setup to creative trafficking to in-flight optimisation — the workflow is layered. DV360 is the default DSP. Deal IDs front-load most premium inventory. SSAI prevents ad blocking. Measurement happens post-flight. Map the whole flow before building your first plan.
DV360 is the only path to YouTube on TV and has the deepest India CTV inventory access — it's the default. Amazon DSP for Fire TV and Amazon shopper data. Trade Desk for Google-independent buying. Pick by inventory and identity needs, not by familiarity.
Premium India CTV inventory is sold mostly through PMP and programmatic guaranteed deals. Open auction gets you remnant. Preferred deals are useful for known-buyer relationships. Knowing which deal type fits which campaign objective is the planner's core craft.
Demographic and geographic targeting work everywhere. Behavioural targeting works on Amazon DSP (Fire TV) and JioHotstar (via its data). Contextual targeting works on JioHotstar (sports vs entertainment vs news). Cookie-style retargeting doesn't apply. Build audience strategy around what's actually available.
India CTV viewership concentrates Mon–Fri 8pm–11pm. If you pace evenly across the day you'll under-bid premium hours. Floor prices, bid shading in first-price auctions, and primetime weighting all matter. Most plans under-perform because pacing was set to defaults.
Platform reports show impressions and completion. Third-party verification (IAS, DoubleVerify) gives viewability and IVT. Brand lift studies and incrementality tests close the outcome loop. Build the measurement stack at planning stage — you can't add it after live.
Next step
CTV Campaign Planner
Build an India CTV media plan against inventory, audience, frequency, and budget constraints. Outputs a defensible plan structure with rationale.
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