India CTV programmatic buying is dominated by holding company trading desks, with a growing segment of independent agencies and a small but increasing number of brands with in-house programmatic capability. Understanding who sits on the buy side — their structure, incentives, and decision-making process — is essential for publishers trying to develop programmatic revenue and for brands trying to understand how their CTV budgets are being activated.
Holding company trading desks
The four major holding companies (WPP, Publicis, IPG, Omnicom) each operate centralised programmatic trading desks in India that handle CTV buying for their agency networks:
- GroupM's Xaxis (WPP): The largest programmatic operation in India. Xaxis manages DV360 and Amazon DSP buying for GroupM agencies (Mindshare, Wavemaker, MediaCom, EssenceMediacom). CTV buying is increasingly centralised through Xaxis rather than individual agency trading teams.
- Publicis Media Exchange (PMX): Manages programmatic for Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry. PMX India has invested in CTV capability since 2023 and handles both direct IO negotiations and programmatic deal setup for Publicis clients.
- Magna (IPG Mediabrands): Centralised data and technology arm for Initiative and UM. Handles CTV programmatic through a shared trading infrastructure.
- Omnicom Media Group (OMG): Annalect is OMG's data and analytics unit that supports CTV programmatic for OMD and PHD in India.
For publishers, these trading desks are the gatekeepers to significant CTV budgets. Building direct relationships with GroupM's Xaxis team is more efficient than approaching individual agency traders — Xaxis manages inventory relationships centrally.
Independent agencies
India has a substantial independent agency ecosystem with growing CTV capability:
- Dentsu (not a holding company in India's context): iProspect and Carat have active CTV trading capabilities, primarily through DV360.
- Madison World: One of India's largest independent media agencies. Has programmatic capability but CTV is still primarily managed through direct IO at Madison.
- Interactive Avenues (IPG): India's largest independent digital agency (acquired by IPG but operates with considerable independence). Active in CTV programmatic for D2C and BFSI clients.
- Performance-first independents (Performics, iProspect): Growing CTV presence, primarily for lower-funnel campaigns using Amazon DSP audience targeting.
In-house brand programmatic
A small but growing number of India brands have in-house programmatic teams buying CTV directly:
- Large FMCG brands: HUL, P&G, Nestlé have partial in-house programmatic capability, typically operating DV360 themselves for performance channels while keeping CTV with agency trading desks.
- D2C and new-age brands: Meesho, Zepto, Blinkit, and similar high-growth brands often run performance programmatic in-house and are increasingly self-serving CTV campaigns, primarily through YouTube CTV via DV360 or Google Ads.
- BFSI: Large insurers (LIC, HDFC Life) and banks are building in-house digital capability. CTV programmatic is generally still agency-managed for large BFSI brands due to complexity.
What this means for publishers
For India CTV publishers building a programmatic revenue strategy:
- Prioritise relationships with Xaxis (GroupM) and PMX (Publicis) — they control the largest share of India CTV programmatic budgets
- Build a deal catalogue that your SSP account manager can share directly with agency trading desks — traders prefer ready-made deal IDs over custom setups for each campaign
- Attend the annual GroupM and Publicis media planning sessions where agencies present their digital investment strategies to publisher partners
- D2C brands buying direct (self-serve DV360) are an underserved segment — a simplified PMP deal package at lower minimums (Rs 2–5 lakh) can capture this demand that holding company desks don't prioritise