According to recent research based on 3,500 respondents across Australia, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, shared screen moments on CTV are among the highest-performing advertising environments available to APAC marketers.
The PubMatic report, “How Co-Viewing Redefines Attention: Unlocking Shared Screens with Programmatic,” adds that mobile dominates solo, habitual consumption, and the television is where audiences gather and focus together, making connected TV a high-attention environment with consistent, targetable inventory windows.
The findings indicate that shared screen moments on connected TV are among the highest-performing advertising environments available to marketers in APAC. The report presents data related to programmatic connected TV and its role in regional media plans.
“The findings show APAC to be high-intensity co-viewing markets where CTV-led programmatic strategies can unlock outsized emotional engagement and conversion potential,” said Luke Smith, Senior Director CTV, APAC at PubMatic.
“When advertisers align their buying strategies to co-viewing behaviors – accounting for everything from timing and content genre to device choice – they can access premium moments that consistently drive stronger recall and meaningful post-ad action.”
The Shared Screen Is Where Attention Concentrates
According to the findings, co-viewing – the act of watching video content with others – is a predictable, recurring ritual across APAC households, and it creates advertising conditions that are measurably superior to solo viewing. When consumers watch together, the impact compounds:
- 42% pay more attention to ads than when watching alone
- 53% recall brands more effectively
- 70% are more likely to take action after ad exposure
- 44% report a stronger emotional response to content and advertising • 43% discuss or react to ads during the viewing moment itself
PubMatic said the findings represent a fundamentally different quality of consumer attention – one that translates directly into the performance and outcomes advertisers are increasingly being asked to prove.
CTV Is the Co-Viewing Screen – and It’s Underleveraged
The research found that 78% of co-viewing in APAC happens on CTV, and is concentrated within predictable moments – weekend evenings, particularly Saturdays, during prime-time (5-9pm) and late evening (9-11pm) slots. Family-friendly programming, movies, TV series, and live events are the content categories most likely to draw shared audiences.
Solving for What APAC Advertisers Need
Transparency and Cost Efficiency: Programmatic buying gives advertisers visibility into where their ads are running, at what cost, and against what audience – addressing transparency challenges in premium CTV environments.
Performance and Outcomes: The co-viewing data suggest CTV extends beyond a brand-only channel. With 70% of co-viewers more likely to act post-exposure and higher brand recall compared to solo viewing environments, the findings point to a measurable performance component.
Workflow Efficiency and Access to Advanced Technology: Reaching co-viewing audiences at the right moment—such as Saturday evenings, live sports broadcasts, or specific content genres—requires targeted execution across timing and content.
Southeast Asia: The Highest-Converting Co-Viewing Market in the Region
According to the findings, Southeast audiences exhibit some of the strongest co-viewing-to-conversion signals across APAC.
Co-viewing in the subregion skews slightly more spontaneous than the broader average (41% vs. 40%), meaning shared audiences form organically and in real time – precisely the environment programmatic is built to activate against. 73% of SEA co-viewers reported being more likely to act after ad exposure, outpacing the APAC average by three points.
You can download the report here.
Featured image via BOOM Photography.
