Connected TVs drive revival of long-format video in India
The resurgence of the big screen reveals a bifurcation of digital consumption: while doomscrolling drives short views on social media, long-format videos are reviving viewership in living rooms. Platforms like YouTube and creators are getting ready for this boom.
Long-format content is finding an unlikely coexistence amid the shrinking attention spans of the mobile era, with television.
Connected TVs are gradually shifting viewership from handheld devices to larger screens, prompting creators and platforms like YouTube and MX Player to produce engaging vlogs, podcasts, movies, and web shows in the 4K format suitable for the bigger screen.
Internet-enabled TV reaches over 75 million adults in India, according to data from YouTube. Over 50% of watch time in India is spent on content longer than 21 minutes.
“Connected TV (CTV) has consistently been our fastest-growing screen in India, and its impact on the digital ecosystem is profound," said Gunjan Soni, managing director of YouTube in India. "We are witnessing a fundamental shift in how India consumes content–where the personal, lean-forward experience of the smartphone coexists with the collective, lean-back experience of the living room."
The resurgence of the big screen reveals a bifurcation of digital consumption: while doomscrolling drives short views on social media, long-format videos are reviving viewership in living rooms. YouTube has even rolled out features like personalized recommendations and seamless phone-TV sharing to boost discovery and commerce.
Connected TVs go mainstream
India's smart TV sales, which declined in 2023 and 2024 due to inflation, are estimated to have shown modest growth in 2025, according to tech market researcher Counterpoint’s data. The demand is projected to expand at a 5% compound annual growth rate through 2030, driven by increased penetration in Tier 2 and beyond cities following the goods and services rate cuts and the expansion of rural broadband via BharatNet.
"Starting in 2026, the Smart TV market is projected to resume steady growth as inflation moderates," noted Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research. Demand for premium features, including mini-LED and AI, will accelerate, especially in tier-3 and 4 markets, he said.
By comparison, according to Pathak, Counterpoint expects a flat to -1% decline in smartphone sales for the entire 2025 to 152-153 million units, marking four straight years of stagnant demand as buyers hold on to their smartphones for longer, featurephone users are not upgrading, and the secondary and refurbished market grows.
The number of home broadband connections in India surged over 2.5 times to 59 million in the five years through November 2025, according to data from the telecom regulator. Along with fibre-to-the-home connections, telecom operators have been offering 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) to connect homes.
Tablets are also blending mobility with larger displays. India shipped 1.33 million tablets in the third quarter of 2025, according to data from consumer research platform International Data Corp. While that represented a 19.7% decline over the previous year, consumer sales surged 13.5%—the strongest in over a decade—fueled by discounts that drove 53.9% year-on-year growth in festive sales for online electronic retailers.
"Tablets are increasingly emerging as a viable device for both content consumption and creation," said Navkendar Singh, associate vice president of IDC.
Creators, OTTs chase early opportunity
Platforms are offering higher payouts to creators to develop longer videos, as the demand is high and there is an initial scarcity of content suitable for connected TVs. And such content is more rewarding.
The advertisement revenue generated from YouTube for viewership of content on TV is over double what creators receive from mobile and tablet, and desktop viewing falls somewhere in between the two, according to Ayush Guha, Business Head at Creator 18, an influencer management agency.
“As people are consuming so much content, now, they are also looking for value addition in terms of gaining knowledge from viewing so many videos that teach, also do well," Guha said. He advised creators to look at long-form content, even if they owe their fame to short-form virality.
Some creators are expanding into high-value projects, building their own intellectual properties in the form of fiction and even reality shows. Ashish Chanchlani created the sci-fi web series Ekaki and released it on YouTube. The first four episodes, which are live, averaged around 25 million views each.
Amazon’s MX Player is embracing fictional content from creators and producing many ‘mini-web series’ with them. Reality TV-like shows, often featuring comedians and creators, are also becoming popular.
“We produced our first concept show — The Pretty Good Roast Show by Aashish Solanki — in 2024 after spotting a clear gap in IP-led long-format comedy despite growing demand on YouTube," said Manmeet Singh, production head at Playpause Studio.
As the roast show and India’s Got Latent gained popularity, the studio dived into long-format productions to create 12 shows in the past two years.
“While mobile continues to drive the bulk of consumption in India, long-form viewing on connected TVs has been steadily growing, especially on YouTube," Singh said. “If creators can retain attention, long-format content is significantly more monetizable. We now have 20 more long-format shows, including a fictional series, in the pipeline designed for TV and OTT audiences."
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