Advertisers are pulling out all the stops to cash in on what is often referred to as the industry’s ‘make-or-break’ season. Industry estimates indicate that festive advertising is poised to grow by around 10% during the September to November period this year, with ad spends likely to touch Rs 66,000 crore. Industry observers note that consumer and advertiser sentiment looks positive, despite inflationary pressures, rising media costs and geopolitical conflicts.
A recent consumer survey from Hansa Research shows that 67% of Indian consumers plan to spend 25% more than usual this festive season, with categories like fashion, furniture, electronics and consumer durables expected to see the highest spending. Pramod Pawar, national head, Quantitative Research, Hansa Research Group, says despite positive consumer sentiment, growth may be slightly lower than the 2025 festive season. “Current geopolitical factors are likely to have some impact on festive advertising spends. Higher crude prices, inflation and currency volatility could make some advertisers more cautious. The impact is likely to be more pronounced in categories such as auto, travel, luxury and discretionary consumption,” he says.
In 2025, festive ad spending grew by an estimated 15-16% to hover around Rs 60,000 crore. Digital is expected to account for 40%-50% of the ad spending this year, as ad campaigns become more integrated.
Short-form video, OTT platforms, connected TV (CTV) and retail media will drive ad spending. “Broadly, brands are moving towards measurable, commerce-linked formats, though the pace of growth varies by category,” Mitchelle Rozario Jansen, senior VP, business strategy & growth, White Rivers Media. “The real shift is in composition rather than scale. Ad spending will continue to rise, but it will be distributed more deliberately across channels and moments this year.”
Linear TV advertising is expected to shrink further this season, with a declining share of 35-40%, as per industry estimates. Brands are likely to also divert around 20-30% of traditional TV budgets towards CTV. Advertisers in categories like auto, jewellery and consumer durables are also adopting hyperlocal on-ground activations and outdoor advertising bursts in markets like West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan during the festive months. Outdoor is likely to see 15-20% growth during the season, say experts.
A big challenge this year is television measurement, say experts. With ratings disrupted, advertisers are relying on historical data and other signals to plan mass media spends. Social, creators and content-led partnerships are gaining ground alongside television and print. Jansen expects creator-led advertising to grow at least 30% over last year.
The mood across categories is one of cautious optimism, observes Sajal Gupta, CEO of Kiaos Marketing. “There is a certain fear of the unknown with the ongoing geopolitical tensions on the one hand, and the rising influence of AI on the other. Advertisers are therefore carefully spreading their budgets across channels that will deliver outcomes, across CTV, linear TV, retail and OTT,” he adds.
Strategic spending
For brands like CaratLane, the approach for this quarter is to be sharper, not just bigger. The major shift isn’t in the overall budget size as much as where it’s going, points out Shaifali Gautam, chief marketing officer, CaratLane. Digital now takes a 50-50 split with outdoor, compared to previous festive seasons when television commanded a noticeably larger share. “We’re prioritising platforms and formats that give us precision, the ability to target intent-heavy audiences and move spends quickly based on what’s actually converting,” she says.
Original content creation and influencer marketing are seeing higher budget allocations. “The channel mix overall is leaner. We’d rather have fewer platforms working harder than spread ourselves thin across all of them,” explains Gautam.
Challenges notwithstanding, there is also much reason for advertisers to stay upbeat, judging by India’s GDP growth of 7.8% in the June 2026 quarter. “FMCG companies have also been hiking ad spends in the last quarter, which bodes well for the festive months,” notes Gupta.
While Nestle India raised its ad spending by 40% YoY in the June quarter, Colgate-Palmolive hiked its ad spending by 33.7% and Marico recorded a 25% increase in ad spends last quarter. In CY25, FMCG was India’s largest spending category, accounting for Rs 31,000 crore in ad spends. The category is likely to be the biggest spender this year too, followed by e-commerce, auto, jewellery and consumer durables.