India CTV programmatic inventory is available through three distinct buying routes: open auction, private marketplace (PMP), and programmatic guaranteed (PG). Each offers a different balance of scale, control, price certainty, and inventory quality. Most India CTV campaigns use a combination — open auction for audience extension and scale, PMP for priority access to specific publishers, and PG for tentpole events where impressions must be secured in advance.
The three programmatic buying routes
The fundamental differences:
| Route | Inventory access | Price | Volume guarantee | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open auction | All available | First-price auction | None | Lowest |
| PMP | Curated publisher set | Floor price + auction | None | Higher than OA |
| Programmatic guaranteed | Specific publisher | Fixed negotiated CPM | Yes | Highest |
Open auction (OA)
Open auction — also called open programmatic or open RTB — is the baseline. Your DSP bids against all other buyers in a real-time first-price auction. You get no guaranteed impression volume, no priority placement, and no floor price protection (beyond the publisher's set floor). What you get is access to the full available inventory pool and maximum bid efficiency through bid shading.
Open auction is appropriate for:
- Always-on audience campaigns where delivery flexibility is acceptable and scale matters more than placement certainty
- Testing new publishers and content categories before committing to a deal
- Efficiency-focused campaigns where Target CPM automation and bid shading can optimise spend
- Campaigns that span many publishers simultaneously (reach extension across JioHotstar, SonyLIV, Zee5, and mid-tier publishers in a single buy)
The primary risk in India CTV open auction is inventory quality. Spoofed app bundles and low-quality FAST channel inventory enter the open auction. Always run with authorised sellers enforcement (app-ads.txt filtering active in DV360 or TTD) and a publisher allow list for brand-sensitive campaigns.
Private marketplace (PMP)
A PMP is a private auction between a specific publisher and a select group of buyers, enabled through a deal ID. The publisher creates a deal in their ad server (GAM, SpringServe, PubMatic), sets a floor price above open auction, and shares the deal ID with chosen buyers. Buyers who hold the deal ID get access to the publisher's inventory at that floor, with priority over open auction buyers.
PMP deal IDs are the most common way India CTV agencies buy programmatically from premium publishers. The deal gives priority access to premium content (sports, prime-time drama) that might otherwise be difficult to win in competitive open auction at reasonable CPMs.
PMP is appropriate for:
- Guaranteed access to high-competition content without committing to a fixed volume IO
- Publisher-curated audience packages — e.g., JioHotstar's "Sports Enthusiasts" segment available only through a PMP deal
- Premium content adjacency — cricket pre-roll, prime-time drama breaks — where open auction win rates are low
- Brand safety: PMP inventory is pre-vetted by the publisher; you know exactly whose inventory you are buying
PMP does not guarantee delivery. The publisher prioritises PMP over open auction, but if their own direct campaigns fill the inventory first, PMP buyers may not receive their desired impression volumes. During heavy direct sales periods (IPL, major award shows), PMP delivery can fall short.
Programmatic guaranteed (PG)
Programmatic guaranteed combines the operational efficiency of programmatic (trafficking through the DSP, automated reporting, creative served via VAST) with the commercial certainty of a traditional IO. The buyer and publisher agree on a fixed CPM, a guaranteed impression volume, and a flight date range. The publisher reserves that inventory; the buyer commits to purchase it.
PG delivery uses a deal ID like PMP, but with the highest priority in the publisher's ad server — it runs before PMP and open auction. The publisher cannot sell PG-reserved inventory to anyone else. In return, the buyer must deliver the creative on time and meet minimum spend commitments.
PG is appropriate for:
- Tentpole events — IPL, Cricket World Cup, major Bollywood releases — where impression delivery must be guaranteed before inventory sells out through direct IO
- Upfront planning cycles where brands want TV-equivalent certainty for quarterly CTV budgets
- Publisher-exclusive audience segments or content adjacencies that cannot be accessed programmatically any other way
- Campaigns requiring third-party measurement alignment — PG deals are easiest to reconcile between publisher, DSP, and verification vendor reporting
The cost of PG: less flexibility. You are committed to the volume and flight dates. Creative changes require publisher re-approval within the deal timeline. If the campaign underperforms, you still owe the committed spend. PG is not appropriate for experimental campaigns or for buyers without established publisher relationships (PG requires a sales conversation to negotiate terms).
India publisher deal access
How to access PMP and PG deals from each major India CTV publisher:
- JioHotstar: PMP deal IDs are available through the JioHotstar programmatic sales team. Access via DV360 (preferred — GAM is JioHotstar's primary ad server) or TTD. PG deals require a direct conversation with the JioHotstar sales team; they are not self-serve. Agency holding group relationships (GroupM, Publicis, IPG) have pre-negotiated PMP deal packages that agencies can activate without individual negotiations.
- SonyLIV: PMP available through Magnite and SpringServe. DV360 and TTD both access SonyLIV PMP inventory. PG negotiated directly with Sony's programmatic sales team.
- Zee5: PMP available via PubMatic. PG through Zee's programmatic sales team. Zee5's free-tier regional inventory is most accessible at scale through open auction or standard PMP; premium Hindi entertainment PG requires direct negotiation.
- Independent trading desks: India-based trading desks (Xaxis/GroupM, Essence/GroupM, iProspect/Dentsu) maintain pre-negotiated deal IDs with all major India CTV publishers. Advertisers working through these desks can access premium PMP inventory without individual publisher negotiations — a significant operational advantage for campaign launches under time pressure.
Choosing the right route
A practical decision framework:
- Always-on audience reach campaign: Start with open auction + authorised sellers enforcement + publisher allow list. Layer a PMP deal for the primary publisher if open auction win rates for that publisher fall below 20%.
- Sports tentpole (IPL, cricket): PG or direct IO for the publisher carrying the rights (JioHotstar for IPL). Open auction for non-live sports sports content reach extension. Do not rely on open auction for live IPL inventory — it will be outbid by direct and PG buyers.
- Brand launch / high awareness campaign: PMP deals across JioHotstar and SonyLIV for premium content adjacency, open auction for volume at the tail. Confirm impression delivery pace daily in the first week — PMP delivery can lag if the publisher's direct sales team is filling the same inventory.
- First CTV campaign, testing the channel: Open auction only. Learn the effective CPMs, win rates, and VCR on India CTV inventory before committing to PMP floors or PG volumes.