Paywalled ads better for brand recall: Report

New Delhi: Despite 600 million Indian consumers spending half their digital time on the open internet, marketers still allocate 5.5 times more of their advertising budget to paywalled content, according to a report by The Trade Desk and Kantar.

The report, which analyses consumers’ digital behaviour in India and across Asia, suggests that although open internet users exceed those accessing walled gardens, paywalled content remains the most effective for garnering consumer attention.

According to the report, consumers accessing walled gardens are 33% more likely to engage with ads on premium OTT and CTV platforms than open platforms like YouTube. This group is also 22% more likely to recall ads on closed platforms. The report projects India’s OTT/CTV market to grow from $3.76 billion in 2023 to $5.51 billion in 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 10.1%. A walled garden is when a user signs up or logs in to an app to view content. This includes closed services of Google, Facebook and Youtube.

The report added that with the decline of linear TV, 65% of consumers prefer CTV over its linear counterpart, and close to 80% of linear TV users plan to switch to CTV within the next year. Linear TV programming is when consumers watch predetermined or scheduled shows, unlike on OTT platforms, where they choose what to watch.