Seizing the CTV Opportunity: CereOne Media and FreeWheel lead the charge

In this interview with Adgully, Deepak Karnani, Director and Harish Patil, Co-founder, CereOne Media, share insights into their visionary collaboration with FreeWheel, marking a pivotal moment in CereOne’s journey. Positioned as a trailblazer in addressing market needs, CereOne’s integration of FreeWheel’s digital full stack signifies a bold step towards revolutionizing the landscape of advertising solutions. The synergies between CereOne and FreeWheel are expected to unlock unprecedented opportunities and shaping the future of digital advertising in India and beyond.

How does the partnership with FreeWheel correspond with your strategic vision?

Deepak Karnani: At CereOne, we have always been ahead of the curve in terms of addressing the needs of the market. Whether it was introducing integrated native advertising and content marketing solutions at scale or high-impact brand-safe advertising via WeTransfer, our offerings have been unique with a goal of addressing specific gaps in the market.

While the demand for video and CTV inventory is growing, the market is fairly fragmented, especially when it comes to CTV ads. There are also challenges in terms of scale, brand safety, and analytics.

Our collaboration with FreeWheel not only helps in addressing these challenges by providing a premium solution in the CTV advertising space, but also aligns with our vision to be an integrated media solutions provider via our native, display, content and now video + CTV advertising capabilities.

How will the integration of FreeWheel’s digital full stack bolster CereOne’s capabilities?

Deepak Karnani: FreeWheel is a leading global provider of video and CTV advertising solutions. Its comprehensive suite of digital advertising solutions (digital full stack) gives us and our partners (publishers and advertisers) access to the best-in-class solutions for ad serving, programmatic advertising, audience targeting and data & analytics.

What’s the current and potential growth that we will witness in India?

Deepak Karnani: As per current market estimates, we have 25 million to 35 million CTV households in India translating to a viewership base of 80 million to 110 million.

While linear TV continues to have massive reach, nearly 85% to 90% of all new TVs sold are smart TVs. The growth of streaming services, coupled with growing access and penetration of internet at affordable prices, is going to ensure that CTV households could likely double by 2027, offering a tremendous growth opportunity in the CTV advertising space in India.

How do you intend to utilise your market leadership to foster adoption and achieve success within the Indian advertising landscape?

Harish Patil: While we have been around for close to seven years, the CTV advertising ecosystem is fairly new and growing. The first step to drive adoption was to listen to and understand the requirements of our clients and publisher partners. Based on the feedback received, we are working closely with FreeWheel to address some of these challenges to help with growth in the region.

Have you signed up any publishers?

Harish Patil: We’re engaging with some of the leading publishers and OEMs as well as major OTT players, with a particular emphasis on regional OTT players, to onboard their India supply. We are in an advanced stage of discussions with some of these, and we will keep you posted as we sign up for premium supply from the region.