India’s CTV and FAST players explore formation of industry council

Senior executives from across India’s Connected TV (CTV) and Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) ecosystem have come together to explore the formation of an independent industry body, the proposed India Connected TV & FAST Council (ICFC).

The inaugural ICFC roundtable was convened by Runn Media Labs (RunnTV) and brought together representatives from major players including JioStar, Zee, Magnite, The Trade Desk and CloudTV. The informal gathering focused on common industry priorities and the potential for collective action to improve transparency, trust, standardisation and sustainable growth in the sector.

Discussions centred on the potential need, scope and role of such an industry body, including its proposed structure, governance, funding model, membership categories and representation of different stakeholders.


Participants stressed the importance of creating an independent and inclusive institution with balanced representation across stakeholder segments, along with safeguards against domination by any single company or industry category. The roundtable included stakeholders from broadcasters, FAST and OEM platforms, content and channel owners, brands and advertising agencies.

The proposed council could address areas including audience measurement, industry standards and quality, data and privacy, research and insights, policy engagement and broader ecosystem collaboration. The meeting was intended to gauge the industry's alignment and appetite for collective action and examine what such an initiative could look like.

Manish Sinha, Founder and CEO, RunnTV, said the CTV and FAST ecosystem was growing rapidly but remained fragmented and underserved by infrastructure. He said the coming together of industry players could help create common standards, shared measurement and a credible industry voice.

Abhijeet Rajpurohit, COO, CloudTV, said the shift in user behaviour towards OTT and FAST on CTV pointed to significant growth for the Indian CTV ecosystem this decade. He said an industry-level push was needed to harness its potential for all stakeholders.

The initiative comes as the government is taking steps towards creating a formal regulatory framework for FAST and Application-based Linear Television Distribution (ATLD) services, adding to the relevance of discussions around industry standards, measurement and policy engagement.

The inaugural roundtable therefore marks an initial industry effort to assess whether stakeholders across India's CTV and FAST value chain can come together around a common, independent and representative institutional framework.