South India is one of India's most developed CTV markets — higher income, strong cinema culture, and dedicated regional platforms. Buying routes by platform:
- Sun NXT: Dominant for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam content (Sun TV network). Requires direct deal or agency relationship. Not open programmatic. Essential for significant regional-language CTV scale.
- Aha: Telugu-exclusive OTT with strong original content. Direct deal required. Strong in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana urban markets.
- YouTube (DV360): Most accessible programmatic route. Language targeting reaches Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam viewers across music, films, and YouTube-native content. Full programmatic access via DV360.
- Hotstar regional: Star Vijay (Tamil), Star Maa (Telugu), Asianet (Malayalam), Star Suvarna (Kannada) all stream on Hotstar. Buy via Hotstar direct or agency with content/geography targeting.
CPMs: Rs 60–130 for regional language CTV — lower than national Hindi inventory due to less advertiser competition, not lower audience quality.
Critical point: Regional language creative outperforms dubbed Hindi ads materially. Tamil and Telugu audiences are particularly language-sensitive. Even a basic voiceover adaptation improves performance.
Full guide
For a complete explanation, read: South India CTV market: Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala for CTV advertisers