What is the key difference between CTV and mobile audience targeting?
Mobile advertising targets individual devices owned by one person — a phone is personal, always with the user, and generates rich behavioural data from GPS, app usage, and browser activity. CTV targets shared household devices — a smart TV is used by multiple people, rarely leaves the living room, and generates far fewer behavioural data points. This means mobile targeting can be highly personalised and individual; CTV targeting is fundamentally household-level. A mobile campaign can target a 28-year-old male with reasonable confidence of reaching that specific person. A CTV campaign targeting the same demographic is targeting the household device associated with that profile — but everyone in the household sees the ad.
Why are CTV audience match rates lower than mobile in India?
Mobile advertising in India is highly effective at audience matching because Google (DV360) and Meta have extensive individual identity graphs built from app logins, Google account data, and direct device ownership. Nearly every active Indian smartphone user is signed into a Google or Facebook account, providing a strong identity signal. CTV audience matching requires linking a TV device ID to a person's identity — a weaker connection. Android TV devices may be signed into a Google account (enabling stronger matching), but many India CTV viewers use the TV without a Google account, or share a household account across multiple users. As a result, CTV first-party audience match rates in India (15–35%) are lower than mobile equivalents (40–70% for hashed mobile numbers on Google).
Should I run the same audience segments on CTV and mobile in India?
No — audience segments should be adapted to the strengths of each screen. On mobile: use precise behavioural and intent segments with tight demographic cuts, first-party retargeting, and location-based targeting. On CTV: use geographic and broad demographic foundations, content affinity targeting, and household-level audience profiles. For integrated campaigns, mobile and CTV serve different roles: CTV builds brand awareness at the household level; mobile drives performance and conversion at the individual level. A practical India campaign structure: CTV for reach and salience among SEC A/B urban households; mobile retargeting to re-engage individuals from that household who showed app engagement or search interest after CTV exposure. The two screens are complementary when used for their respective strengths, not substitutes for each other.