Beyond Clicks & Impressions: How JioStar’s New Agentic AI ‘Tara.ai’ Is Rewriting the Connected TV Ad Playbook

As Connected TV (CTV) rapidly transforms Indian living rooms into high-value advertising hubs, media giant JioStar is stepping up to address a fundamental industry challenge: traditional digital metrics like clicks, single-screen impressions, and quick conversions simply don’t work for shared viewing.

To bridge this gap, JioStar announced Tara.ai, an agentic AI platform currently in its alpha stage. Speaking at FICCI FRAMES 2026, Bhaskar Ramesh, Head of Entertainment Sales (Digital) at JioStar, shared how the platform is being built internally to plan high-impact advertising campaigns specifically optimized for premium CTV content.

Decoding Living Room Consumption: The Need for Agentic AI

Planning media for a handheld mobile device is vastly different from targeting a household gathered around a smart TV. While mobile usage is predominantly individual and transactional, CTV viewing is inherently co-viewed, experiences peak viewing hours late in the evening and during weekend afternoons, and commands longer attention spans.

Tara.ai aims to move media buyers away from metrics built around user-generated content and personal devices, introducing a multidimensional framework powered by four intelligence layers:

• Brand Knowledge Graph (Advertiser-Side): Integrates product specifications, brand history, and situational advertising needs.
• Content Graph (JioStar-Side): Maps shows, genres, and contextual elements across premium programming.
• Deterministic Audience Data: Captures co-viewing patterns, household reach, and frequency tracking.
• Viewer Segments: Analyzes granular behavioral and demographic clusters within living rooms.

By fusing these layers, Tara.ai enables marketers to build precision-driven CTV media plans that reflect how families consume content together.

Shoppable TV: Seamlessly Blending Content with Quick Commerce

Beyond smarter ad placement, JioStar is actively testing interactive commerce experiences directly on the big screen. Highlighting a strategic integration with quick-commerce platform Instamart, Ramesh demonstrated how viewers can discover products on CTV and complete transactions seamlessly using their mobile phones in real time.

This frictionless path from content discovery to doorstep delivery turns CTV into a dual-action driver for both brand awareness and quick-commerce conversions.

The CTV Surge: 100 Million Living Rooms on the Horizon

JioStar’s heavy investment in specialized CTV capabilities is backed by massive shifts in consumer consumption on JioHotstar:

• Explosive Watch-Time Growth: CTV's share of overall watch time on the platform surged from 20% in 2022 to 43% in 2026.
• South India Leads the Trend: CTV accounts for over 56% of total watch time in South Indian markets.
• Massive Living Room Footprint: JioStar currently reaches nearly 50 million connected living rooms monthly through its entertainment portfolio.

Looking ahead, industry projections estimate that India’s total CTV footprint will touch 100 million households within the next 24 to 36 months. Platforms like Tara.ai will prove vital for brands seeking to maximize ROI as the living room reclaims its place at the center of media planning.