The Indian festive season is a time when families come together to celebrate through traditions, shared viewing, and shopping. Taking an early lead in this season with Gamesh Chaturthi can help brands secure prime attention before the clutter sets in. States in Western & Southern India, i.e., Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, and beyond, especially become highly active near this period with a surge in festive content consumption on various digital platforms. CTV, especially, sees an increase in co-viewing and creates a powerful opening for advertisers, where families are participants with every moment of attention having the potential to turn views into action.
Notably, unlike pan-India festivals that rely on mass campaigns, Ganesh Chaturthi invites brands to engage audiences through hyperlocal and emotion-first vernacular stories. This is powered by an inclusive CTV ecosystem that enables advertisers to deliver interactive, commerce-enabled ad experiences right where cultural moments unfold. For example, a confectionery brand can target a family streaming Ganesh aarti on their smart TV in the evening, focusing on the tradition of offering sweets during prayers. By seamlessly blending their ad into their viewing experience and leveraging a QR overlay, they can influence consumer purchase intent and persuade them to make a purchase.
Additionally, the ability to personalize at scale is a key strength CTV brings to the table, where campaigns can adapt in real time to regional audiences, speak to them in their own language, and in the right context across platforms. They also get access to CTV’s memory and precision analytics to track and optimize campaign performance based on past engagement, viewing habits, and preferences. This data helps advertisers make improved campaign decisions and stay ahead of competitors. For example, a confectionery brand runs a festive campaign across India, with ads highlighting traditional modaks in Marathi in Maharashtra, sweets popular in local festivals in Tamil Nadu with regional messaging, and a focus on gifting assortments in Hindi or English in Delhi. All of this happens dynamically, ensuring every household sees content that resonates with their region, language, and festive preferences.
The opportunity extends far beyond India’s borders as Ganesh Chaturthi is increasingly celebrated across New Jersey, Dubai, and Singapore, where families tune into live-streamed visarjans and festive OTT specials. With global CTV inventory available through the exchange, advertisers can seamlessly extend their campaigns to these households, reaching audiences who carry strong cultural nostalgia and an even stronger impulse to shop for festive essentials, whether it’s ordering sweets, buying attire, or gifting back home in India. For these families, CTV becomes more than entertainment but a way of staying connected to their roots, and brands that tap into this sentiment find themselves part of that bridge.
Finally, what makes the medium truly transformative is its ability to shorten the path from viewing to buying. QR-enabled shoppable ads on CTV create a closed-loop funnel: viewing → scan → purchase → attribution. Whether it’s ordering modaks mid-stream, ordering festive outfits post cultural programming, or accessing gifting apps during a family movie, brands can map impact precisely and convert storytelling into story-selling.
To conclude, Ganesh Chaturthi is more than a festive celebration, it’s a convergence of shared attention. For advertisers, Connected TV provides the tools to turn this into tangible outcomes via targeting precision, creative relevance, and commerce-driven formats. This season, as families welcome Ganpati into their homes, every stream can be a celebration and every impression, a purchase. Because when families stream together, they also shop together.
Written by – Sanjeev Bankira, Country Head Applabs, India & MENA
