Regional language CTV in India is a significant and growing audience that most national advertisers underinvest in. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, and Punjabi together account for a substantial share of India CTV viewing — and in their home geographies, regional content often outperforms national Hindi content in household viewership.
- YouTube first: YouTube's regional language content (film clips, music, originals) is the most programmatically accessible CTV inventory for regional targeting. Use DV360 with language and content channel targeting. Covers all major regional markets.
- Sun NXT for South India: Dominant for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Requires direct or PMP deals — not open programmatic. Essential for significant South Indian CTV scale.
- Aha for Telugu: Telugu-only OTT with growing original content. Direct deals required. Strong in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana urban markets.
- ZEE5 and Hotstar: Both have regional content libraries with some programmatic access. Good secondary layers for Bengali, Marathi, and Tamil audiences.
- CPMs: Regional CTV CPMs are generally lower than national Hindi inventory — less advertiser competition, not lower audience quality.
- Creative: Regional language creative outperforms national Hindi dubbed ads. Even basic voiceover adaptation improves performance.
The main challenge: measurement is fragmented. No cross-platform reach figure exists for Tamil or Telugu CTV specifically. Manage frequency per platform and expect some audience overlap across platforms. Use BARC India and platform-reported data directionally.
Full guide
For a complete explanation, read: Regional language CTV in India: Tamil, Telugu, and beyond — what advertisers need to know