CTV is a pivotal frontier for advertisers today: Max Life Insurance's CMO Rahul Talwar

India's booming CTV market coupled with IPL is a magnet for viewers, broadcasters, and advertisers alike. CTV reaches audiences who are no longer watching traditional cable or may never do so, making it a vital medium to connect with viewers shifting towards digital platforms. As per a Dentsu consumer study, CTV viewers have a higher engagement level with 2.2x engagement level compared to 1.4x on offline media like QR scan, coupon redemption or installs. 

Sharing his views on the digital versus TV debate, Rahul Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance says, “Between linear TV and connected TV,  CTV would be one of those pivotal frontiers for advertisers today. We know that all traditional or newer choices of media and their outcomes are reflected on measurability. At the end of the day, a marketer is also now responsible for driving revenue."

Talwar adds, “CTV is that it not only offers a larger screen to consume content and for brands to be present in, it’s also one of those pieces where we have realized that if the viewer wants to have control in his or her hand, it allows you to have that versus say a set content that would have been available in the past. And for life insurance, which is a family conversation, we believe that CTV would be definitely playing a role.

On the transition from linear TV to CTV, Talwar believes that there is still much more distance to cover and to reach that stage, as there is a great degree of efficiency that gets driven by linear TV. “But I equally believe that going forward, there would always be a role for a specific objective that would be fulfilled by CTV being in the media, mix in that sense."

IPL is a play that allows interactions with the viewer or with the end user in many ways. Talwar says, "At  Max Life, we have very strategically aligned ourselves with cricket for two reasons; one, because we fundamentally believe that if GenZs and millennials are two important cohorts for Max Life Insurance or life insurance in general, then to be able to leverage IPL in some shape and form is important."

IPL brings about this entire manifestation of real-life heroes, and Max Life is all about trying "to ensure that we celebrate these real life heroes or in traditional ways as we call them the breadwinners," he adds.

"If you were to look at a last three year trend, we have always been floating around with IPL, with our strategic partnerships earlier with team Royal Challengers Bangalore, more recently with Mumbai Indians, and we have ensured that we are in a very smart way present in and around IPL to be able to ensure that we are looking at our brand mind measures moving up."

This is despite the fact that IPL as a property or as an engagement touchpoint would come in those parts of the year which are typically not that high on seasonality for this category, unlike a beverage category which would witness a peak season in the months of April and May. Life insurance tends to pick up beyond May, but despite that IPL can play an universal role. 

Max Life has also embraced the Diversity and Inclusion conversation by leveraging Women's Premier League by extending partnerships with the Mumbai Indians women’s team.