India’s Digital Ad Spend to Cross ₹1.2 Lakh Crore by 2025–26, Driven by Video & Retail Media
What Happened — India’s Digital Ad Spend Surges Toward ₹1.2 Lakh Crore
December 8, 2025 — Chennai, India:
India’s digital advertising market is on track to exceed ₹1.2 lakh crore by FY 2025–26, marking one of the strongest growth cycles for the country’s media ecosystem. The surge is driven by rapid adoption of video advertising, the expansion of retail media, and increased dependency on AI-powered campaign management.
Industry reports highlight that India remains the fastest-growing digital ad market in Asia-Pacific, outpacing global averages for three consecutive years. While TV and print still play niche roles, platforms like YouTube, Meta, Amazon Ads, and programmatic DSPs are commanding the highest performance-led budgets.
Video formats—short-form, OTT, and Connected TV—are projected to absorb 35–40% of digital ad spending by 2026.
Key Insights — What’s Driving the Growth in India’s Digital Ad Spend
Video Advertising Becomes the Centerpiece
Short-form videos, CTV ads, and interactive OTT formats have transformed content consumption. Platforms such as YouTube Shorts, Reels, and local OTT apps are seeing exponential engagement, prompting brands to shift their storytelling to video-first campaigns.
Retail Media Accelerates Performance Marketing
Retail ecosystems like Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, JioMart, and other commerce platforms are becoming essential to brand discovery and conversion. Closed-loop attribution and deep audience insights are pushing FMCG, beauty, electronics, and D2C brands to invest heading
AI-Driven Optimization Improves Efficiency
Tools like Google Ads AI, Meta’s Advantage+, and automated programmatic bidding are reducing acquisition costs, improving audience matching, and enabling faster scaling across in
Regional Language Content Consumption Rises 33%
A major shift in digital growth comes from regional users. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi content now outperforms English and Hindi in several categories, increasing the demand for vernacular-first marketing.
Programmatic Advertising Gains Momentum
With performance marketers moving away from manual buying, programmatic media—especially CTV programmatic—is expanding rapidly across real estate, BFSI, and auto
Why It Matters — Impact on Marketers, Brands & Business Leaders
India’s digital ad shift influences multiple industries:
Impact on Digital Marketers
Budgets must diversify across video, retail media, and AI-led bid automation, requiring stronger measurement frameworks and creative planning.
Impact on Real Estate Developers
The rise of CTV and regional video content has made hyperlocal audience targeting more efficient. Virtual tour ads and visual storytelling formats are driving higher engagement.
Impact on FMCG & D2C Brands
Retail media’s deterministic attribution is outperforming social ads, helping brands scale faster through data-backed visibility.
Impact on Tech, SaaS & Startus
AI-optimized campaign tools are reducing cost per acquisition, helping SaaS and fintech brands speed up customer growth.
Impact on Business Leaders
The digital-first mindset requires alignment between marketing, sales, and product teams. Businesses that adapt early to the ₹1.2 lakh crore digital ecosystem will outperform competitors.
Expert Take — DIGILOGY’s Strategic Insight for 2025–26
To thrive in India’s fast-growing digital economy, brands should:
- Build video-first communication frameworks
- Adopt AI-powered campaign optimization for scalable efficiency
- Allocate budgets to retail media + programmatic buying
- Strengthen regional language content output
- Implement structured end-to-end attribution models
DIGILOGY observes that brands integrating these strategies are already seeing higher ROAS as India transitions toward a digitally dominant advertising landscape.
FAQs — India’s Digital Ad Spend Growth (2025–26)
What is driving India’s digital ad spend past ₹1.2 lakh crore?
Video advertising, retail media expansion, AI optimization tools, and the surge in regional content consumption.
Which industries will spend the most on digital advertising?
FMCG, retail, real estate, fintech, automotive, SaaS, and D2C categories.
How can brands benefit from this rapid growth?
By adopting video-first strategies, leveraging AI-driven bidding systems, and using retail media platforms for high-intent conversions.
Final Takeaway & Soft CTA
As India’s digital ad ecosystem grows at unprecedented speed, marketers must adopt smarter strategies, stronger measurement frameworks, and future-ready creative planning to stay ahead.
To support this shift DIGILOGY helps businesses navigate India’s evolving digital landscape with data-driven insights and advanced marketing solutions.
Take the next step with Digilogy now — and build stronger, data-backed, future-ready marketing campaigns that match India’s 2025–26 digital transformation.
