India’s advertising market crosses ₹1 lakh crore, digital takes centre stage

India’s advertising market has crossed the ₹1 lakh crore mark, with digital media now accounting for nearly 46% of total ad spend in FY25. The surge is fuelled largely by social media and short-form video content, reflecting changing consumer habits and platform preferences. Traditional media’s share continues to decline as advertisers increasingly opt for digital channels that offer sharper targeting and better cost efficiency.

India’s advertising market has achieved a landmark milestone, crossing the ₹1 lakh crore mark in the last fiscal. What makes this achievement even more significant is the dominance of digital media, which now accounts for nearly 45-46% of total ad spend, up sharply from 24% in FY20. This shift underscores how both brands and consumers have transformed in their approach to media and content.

Digital Advertising Outpaces Traditional Media
The growth of digital advertising continues to outperform all other mediums. Digital ad spend is expected to grow by 9-11% this fiscal, a pace far ahead of traditional media channels, which are seeing stagnation or decline. In comparison, television and print—once dominant forces—have seen their combined share shrink from nearly 65% in FY20 to about 46-47% in FY25.

The shift is visible across consumer-facing industries such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), automobiles and e-commerce. FMCG companies now allocate 55-60% of their ad budgets to digital, up from around 30% in fiscal 2020, including influencer marketing, targeted campaigns and content collaborations. Automobile companies have increased digital ad spends to 35-40% in fiscal 2025, compared with 15-20% in fiscal 2020. For e-commerce players, digital now accounts for up to 60% of their total advertising budgets.

Traditional Formats Feel the Pressure
The digital boom has significantly impacted traditional advertising formats. Television ad revenues are increasingly being diverted to over-the-top (OTT) platforms, while direct-to-home (DTH) services lost over 10 million subscribers between December 2020 and 2024. Print media has also faced challenges, with stagnant circulation and advertisers shifting their budgets to digital platforms. Overall readership fell by nearly 500 basis points between FY20 and FY25.

One of the biggest shifts in digital advertising has been in content formats. In FY20, search advertising dominated with a 40-42% share, while social media accounted for about 31-33%. By FY25, social media has overtaken search, climbing to 40-45%, powered primarily by short-form videos and influencer-led campaigns. YouTube’s share alone has doubled to 20-22% due to its extensive reach in both rural and urban India, coupled with affordable data plans and widespread smartphone penetration.

India’s digital evolution has been central to this transformation. The number of smartphone users rose to 700 million in 2024 from 500 million in 2019. Mobile data in India remains among the cheapest globally at just $0.16 per GB, compared to a global average of $2.50. Daily screen time has jumped to over five hours from four in 2019, with OTT and social media accounting for nearly 60% of that usage. Much of this time is spent on short, engaging formats like reels and trending videos, reflecting a shift toward instant, immersive content.

A Digital-First Advertising Future
Digital platforms offer several advantages over traditional channels, including sharper audience targeting, cost efficiency and measurable performance metrics. As a result, brands—both established and new—are adopting digital-first advertising strategies. Even businesses traditionally reliant on television and print are strengthening their digital presence to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving landscape.

While digital dominance is transforming India’s advertising ecosystem, most digital ad spends currently flow to foreign-owned platforms such as Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google. With India’s digital economy set to expand further, there is a growing need to develop and promote domestic digital platforms to retain value within the country and create a more self-reliant digital advertising ecosystem.