Magnite and PubMatic are the two leading independent SSPs for India CTV publishers. Both have local India teams, established publisher relationships, and integrations with the major DSPs buyers use to purchase India CTV inventory. The choice between them — or the decision to use both — depends on your scale, the demand sources you need to access, and which SSP's tooling fits your ad operations workflow. This article gives you an honest comparison for India CTV specifically.
Magnite in India CTV
Magnite (formed from the merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria in 2020, and SpotX in 2021) has a strong CTV heritage from Telaria and SpotX, which were specialist video SSPs before the mergers. This lineage gives Magnite deep CTV infrastructure — particularly for SSAI integration, deal management, and CTV-specific analytics.
In India, Magnite has relationships with major OTT publishers and a local team that manages publisher accounts and DSP demand partnerships. Their SpringServe ad server (acquired 2021) is used by some India publishers as a standalone CTV ad server, giving Magnite insight into inventory quality that an SSP-only relationship wouldn't provide.
Magnite strengths for India CTV publishers:
- Strong CTV-specific deal management: PMP and preferred deal workflow is mature
- SpringServe integration for publishers who want SSP + ad server from one vendor
- The Trade Desk's OpenPath programme flows through Magnite for some publishers, giving direct TTD demand
- CTV analytics: completion rate by deal, DSP, and creative — more granular than some competitors
PubMatic in India CTV
PubMatic is headquartered in Redwood City but has significant India roots — co-founder Rajeev Goel and a large India engineering team give PubMatic genuine local presence beyond a sales office. PubMatic has invested heavily in CTV infrastructure since 2021 and has active India CTV publisher relationships.
PubMatic strengths for India CTV publishers:
- Connect platform: PubMatic's publisher-facing platform has strong floor price management and yield analytics
- Audience Encore: PubMatic's audience data product lets publishers package and monetise first-party segments through PubMatic's demand network
- Activate product: enables audience-guaranteed PMPs without publishers needing to build their own data infrastructure
- India engineering team proximity: local support for technical integrations is faster than Magnite's primarily US-based CTV engineering team
Head-to-head comparison for India CTV
| Factor | Magnite | PubMatic |
|---|---|---|
| CTV heritage | Strong (Telaria/SpotX lineage) | Growing since 2021 investment |
| India presence | Sales + publisher team | Engineering + sales + local roots |
| Ad server option | SpringServe (CTV-focused) | No standalone ad server |
| Audience data tools | Basic segment packaging | Audience Encore + Activate |
| TTD OpenPath | Yes, for select publishers | Yes, for select publishers |
| Best for | Publishers needing SSAI + SSP | Publishers monetising 1P data |
Should India CTV publishers use one or both?
Most India CTV publishers with 1M+ MAU work with both Magnite and PubMatic simultaneously. Running two SSPs enables header-bidding-style competition between demand sources and typically yields 10–20% CPM uplift over single-SSP setups. The operational overhead (two integrations, two sets of reporting) is worth it above the 1M MAU threshold.
Below 500K MAU, start with one SSP and optimise before adding a second. PubMatic's local engineering support makes them slightly easier to integrate for smaller publishers without dedicated ad tech teams.