The ban has left nearly Rs 1,500 crore in expected RMG ad investments off the table, including Rs 150–200 crore that would typically have been spent during the festive window, say experts
India’s festive advertising season looks noticeably different this year — and not just because of shifting consumer trends, but also due to the recent ban on real-money gaming.
This festive quarter marks the first since the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (effective 1 October 2025) that bans real-money gaming and its promotion. Industry sources estimate that the pull-out of real-money gaming (RMG) brands has resulted in a 10–12 per cent drop in festive season ad volumes compared to the previous year. The ban has left nearly ?1,500 crore in expected RMG ad investments off the table, including ?150–200 crore that would typically have been spent during the festive window, say industry experts.
According to Anil Solanki, Senior Director at DentsuX, “The RMG ad ban has definitely left a noticeable gap this festive season — especially across cricket and high-impact TV and digital properties, where real-money gaming brands were aggressive spenders. We estimate a 10-12% dip in festive ad volumes compared to last year purely due to their absence.
"However, this gap is being gradually filled by e-commerce, FMCG, and auto brands that have upped their investments to ride on the festive sentiment. Additionally, categories benefiting from recent GST cuts — particularly consumer durables and electronics — have further boosted their spending, helping offset some of the decline. Fintech and consumer tech brands are also stepping up on digital, keeping the overall market sentiment buoyant despite the RMG pull-back," he said.
Further colour comes from Brijen Desai, Associate Vice President at White Rivers Media, who said that the RMG ban has reshaped this festive season in a very real way.
"You can see the gap across digital, sports, and creator-driven channels. Real-money gaming brands were among the most aggressive buyers, especially around live sports and tentpole moments, so their absence is hard to miss. What we’re seeing now is a quiet re-balancing.
"Entertainment, fintech and e-commerce brands have stepped in to occupy that premium inventory, but this isn’t a like-for-like replacement. RMG brands brought consistent, high-frequency visibility, and that energy has been difficult to replicate. The next few quarters will be interesting. Brands are already rethinking their approach, focusing more on performance and storytelling instead of pure volume. The upside is that this shift is forcing the market to be more inventive with how attention is built, especially across digital and influencer-led platforms," he said.
Off-the-record media planners say that the entire RMG industry spent around ?1,500 crore annually across IPL, digital, TV and other media; with lead brand Dream11 alone estimated at about ?500-700 crore in a full year. With the festive quarter typically counting for a significant portion of that, a decline of ?150-200 crore in festiveperiod investment is consistent with the 10–12% drop estimate.
The bill, introduced following extensive engagement with online gaming companies, banks and other stakeholders over three years, passed both Houses of Parliament in August 2025.
The rules came into force from 1 October 2025, under which real-money gaming is criminalised, its advertising banned, and non-compliance carries penalties of up to three to five years’ imprisonment and fines up to ?1 crore (and for repeat offenders up to ?2 crore) — including for promoters, payment facilitators and banks.
In the ad-buying ecosystem, it is this first full “festive quarter without RMG ads” that is being closely tracked. The boundaries of this ban are clear: the legislation forbids offering or promoting “online money games” and bars banks and financial institutions from processing funds for such services.
In the regional festival window of Onam this year— a key market for Malayali audiences both inside and outside Kerala — national brands in FMCG, telecom, BFSI and e-commerce treated Onam as a pan-India opportunity rather than a purely regional one, deploying region-first creativity in Malayali markets. This suggests that while the exit of RMG ads may have left some predictable ad-spend void, other categories were ready to fill some of the inventory, indicating potential resilience ahead of the larger national festivals.
According to Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions, the RMG advertising ban has created a clear gap in the market during the festive window. The impact has been most evident on high-traffic digital platforms such as YouTube and sports-driven inventory. He noted that this space was swiftly taken over by e-commerce, fintech, auto, FMCG, as well as several D2C and quick-commerce brands that capitalised on temporarily reduced competition for premium placements.
Hamidani estimated that digital AdEx saw an approximate 4–5 percent dip in the pre-Diwali phase due to the absence of RMG’s typically aggressive, high-frequency campaigns. The short-term revenue pressure was more visible on OTT and sports-linked properties. He added that the long-term outlook remains positive with the expectation of improved ecosystem stability and brand-safe environments.
Providing a similar view on market movement, Ambika Sharma, Founder and Chief Strategist, Pulp Strategy, said, “I have seen a clear gap in ad volumes this festive season due to the RMG advertising ban. The void is particularly visible in digital video, influencer collaborations, and high-frequency performance campaigns where gaming platforms were heavy investors. Categories like e-commerce, fintech, auto, and FMCG have increased spends to capture share of voice, but the tonality of festive advertising feels more brand-led and less performance-driven compared to last year. The timely announcement of GST corrections were a huge boost in spirit and in spends.
While it is early to give final numbers, the absence of RMG ads is estimated to have caused a 6 to 8 percent dip in overall digital ad volumes for October–November compared to last year’s festive window.
Last Diwali, RMG brands like Dream11, MPL, and WinZO were among the top digital advertisers across YouTube and programmatic buys. This year, that space is being taken up by retail, smartphone launches, and consumer tech, which are driving festive discovery spends in place of gaming promotions.”
She highlighted that the market has shifted toward more brand-building communication, rather than the aggressive performance-led pushes seen previously from RMG advertisers.
In a media landscape without RMG mainstays, inventory freed up in sports sponsorship, high-impact TV, digital high-impact zones, creator–driven channels and influencer networks is being snapped up by brands with both strategic intent and high festive momentum. Yet the underlying uncertainty remains: will this substitution persist, or will the market recalibrate to a lower-volume equilibrium with different frequency dynamics?
During Diwali last year, many gaming brands had increased their ad spends by almost 20%, said experts. One of the gaming companies Felicity Games had increased its ad spends by 40 % focusing heavily on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
This strategic investment aimed to connect with a broader audience and drive a 25-30% boost in player engagement compared to previous months and the goal was to make the festive season memorable for players through unique experiences that celebrate various holidays inclusively.
The RMG brands like Dream11, Felicity Games, Zupee and more have pivoted towards social gaming experiences offering free-to-play options with ads and sponsorships. Similarly, Zupee, a leading Indian online gaming and entertainment company, has now introduced Zupee Plus Membership, a premium subscription model through which subscribers can enjoy uninterrupted gameplay across its most popular titles such as Ludo Supreme, Carrom, and Snakes & Ladders.
“Games like rummy, poker and teen patti have long been a Diwali tradition, but this year marks a clear transition — the focus has moved from money-based play to more social, casual gaming experiences,” said an industry observer.
