Back from a MMA India#SMARTIESUNPLUGGED2026 CMO roundtable on CTV+ Linear TV , on the future of TV in India, and still working through few questions.
India has about 193M TV homes. About 65M are connected (FICCI-EY 2026), and roughly 52M of those stream through a smart TV’s own apps. That’s the base CTV planning works with today.
What I’m learning is how platforms work out which of those homes already saw a brand’s TV ad, so CTV can reach new households instead of repeat ones. Smart-TV data helps, but it covers some TVs, not all.
Three things I’ll now look at in any CTV plan:
1. How much of the CTV audience the data can see
2. Cost per new household, not just CPM
3. A test that shows what CTV added in sales
Attended #SMARTIESUnplugged2026 and walked away with one thought: technology may level the playing field, but ideas create the difference.
One of the sessions that particularly stood out was by Hephzibah Pathak, Creative CEO, WPP India and Executive Chairperson, Ogilvy India, on “Creating Magic in the Multiverse.”
Technology gives every brand access to the same tools. AI, platforms, creators, data and emerging technologies are increasingly democratizing what brands can do.
So, where does distinction come from? It comes from the brand itself and from the intersections where magic happens:
• Creators × Culture
• Platforms × Communities
• Purpose × Technology
• Product × Personalization
• Commerce × Connection
When brands genuinely work these intersections, they stop being sponsors and start becoming participants in culture.
And amidst all the AI, automation and emerging technology, one thing remains unchanged: The real competitive advantage is still human insight + a great idea. Because technology can help you create faster.
Marketing is evolving. Are we evolving the way we think about it?
That was one of my biggest takeaways from MMA India's SMARTIES 2026 - a day of thought-provoking conversations on AI, brand building, consumer attention and the future of marketing.
A few insights that stayed with me:
1. AI should drive growth, not just efficiency. The real opportunity lies in turning productivity gains into new possibilities.
2. Reach isn’t influence. Context, consumer intent and quality of attention matter more than simply being present everywhere.
3. The funnel is no longer linear. Consumer discovery, consideration and purchase happen across an increasingly fragmented ecosystem.
4. More content doesn’t mean stronger brands. Distinctive ideas and creative consistency matter more than content volume alone.
5. Brand visibility is changing. As consumers turn to AI platforms for answers and recommendations, understanding where and how brands appear is becoming increasingly important.
At OptimizeGEO.ai, this is the shift we’re focused on: helping brands understand and strengthen their visibility across AI-driven discovery platforms.
MTR Foods Private Limited’s Rooted, Remix, Relevant philosophy was another great reminder that innovation works best when brands evolve without losing their identity.
A big shoutout to Moneka Khurana and the MMA India team for bringing together industry leaders and sparking conversations that challenge conventional thinking.
As AI reshapes how consumers discover brands, are we measuring visibility where consumers have traditionally searched or where they are beginning to discover?
“If the moment belongs to a machine, does contextual marketing die – or matter more than ever?”
That was the question we closed on at MMA IndiaSMARTIES Unplugged 2026 – and across 30 unfiltered minutes, the answer became clear: context is not what it used to be. It’s what AI finally made possible.
Hybrid India was proud to host 'Contextual Marketing in the AI Era' on the Unplugged stage – a panel built not to pitch contextual, but to pressure-test it.
What’s real. What’s hype. What’s working in Indian media plans today. And what marketers should actually ask for before they sign the next deck.
Ketan Deorankar rightly set the tone for the room. Today’s AI doesn’t just read what the page is about. It reads the image. It reads the sentiment. It reads the intent. It reads the moment the user is already in.
But that opens a sharper question for the buyer side – how do you tell the difference between real AI-driven contextual intelligence and marketing hype?
At Hybrid, this is the thesis we build on every day. #Attention is the real currency of digital advertising. Context is one of the sharpest tools we have to earn it. #VOX by Hybrid – our AI-Vision platform – exists to put brands where attention already lives: inside the content, inside the moment, inside the question the user is actively asking.
