GroupM is the world's largest media investment company and the dominant holding group buyer in India, commanding an estimated 35–40% of total India media spend through its agencies — Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom, and Choreograph (its data and technology arm). GroupM's scale gives it negotiating leverage with India CTV publishers that no other buyer can match, and its trading infrastructure sets the de facto standard for programmatic CTV buying practice in the India market.
GroupM India structure for CTV
GroupM India operates CTV buying through a layered structure:
- Agency level: Mindshare, Wavemaker, and EssenceMediacom each have their own client teams handling CTV planning and campaign execution for their respective client portfolios.
- GroupM trading desk (Xaxis): Xaxis is GroupM's programmatic trading arm. For CTV, Xaxis handles the DSP execution layer — activating campaigns in DV360 or The Trade Desk, managing deal IDs, and operating the data infrastructure. Xaxis is positioned as GroupM's outcome-focused programmatic unit.
- Choreograph: GroupM's data and technology entity handles first-party data strategy, audience taxonomy, and identity resolution across GroupM clients. Choreograph's India operations are growing and increasingly relevant for CTV audience activation.
For a large India advertiser with a GroupM agency, CTV buying typically flows through: client team (planning and strategy) → Xaxis or agency programmatic team (deal setup and execution) → DSP (DV360 or TTD) → publisher inventory.
CTV buying approach
GroupM India's CTV buying practice as of 2025–2026:
Direct deal dominance for premium: For major brand clients, GroupM negotiates annual volume deals directly with JioHotstar, Zee5, and SonyLIV at the holding group level. These deals typically include volume commitments in exchange for preferred CPMs and priority access to premium content (IPL, major originals). Individual campaign buys are then drawn down against these volume agreements.
Programmatic for long-tail and reach extension: Below the direct deal layer, GroupM uses DV360 (primary) and The Trade Desk for programmatic CTV buying — PMPs with premium publishers and open exchange for reach extension. Programmatic is growing as a share of GroupM's India CTV spend as publisher ad servers become more technically capable.
CTV-specific planning integration: GroupM's India teams have increasingly integrated CTV into cross-channel video plans rather than treating it as a separate line item. CTV is positioned as the "premium screen" complement to YouTube (mid-funnel reach) and social video (lower-funnel performance).
DSP infrastructure
GroupM India primarily uses DV360 for programmatic execution, reflecting the Google ecosystem's dominance in India. The Trade Desk is used by specific agency teams where clients or campaign requirements benefit from TTD's capabilities (audience graph, UID2 integration). GroupM does not typically use Amazon DSP as a primary vehicle, though it may activate through Amazon DSP for clients where Fire TV reach or Amazon data targeting is relevant.
Xaxis operates a data management layer on top of the DSP — applying GroupM's proprietary audience models and first-party data activations before passing targeting signals to the DSP. This layer is what differentiates Xaxis execution from standard agency-in-DSP buying.
Publisher relationships
GroupM's India publisher relationships are GroupM's most valuable CTV asset. At the volume GroupM transacts, publishers offer:
- Preferred CPM rates 10–25% below standard rate cards
- First access to new inventory packages (new content, new ad formats) before they are available to smaller buyers
- Dedicated publisher account management and rapid issue escalation paths
- Custom audience research (brand lift, content association studies) subsidised or co-funded by publishers
For smaller advertisers and independent agencies benchmarking against GroupM CPMs, the comparison is misleading — GroupM's effective CPM reflects volume discounts and added value not available at smaller spend levels.
GroupM's influence on India CTV market practices
GroupM's buying practices shape market norms in India CTV in ways that affect all buyers:
CPM benchmarks: When publishers negotiate rate cards with GroupM, the outcomes influence the CPM expectations they bring to all other buyers. GroupM's volume deals effectively set the floor for what premium India CTV CPMs look like.
Measurement standards: GroupM's insistence on third-party verification (IAS, DoubleVerify) and specific measurement methodologies has pushed India publishers to invest in verification infrastructure they might not have prioritised for smaller buyers.
Technology adoption: When GroupM mandates a technology (a specific SSP, a measurement vendor, a data standard) for their campaigns, publishers and vendors adapt. GroupM's adoption of programmatic deal ID-based buying has been a significant driver of publisher ad server investment in India.