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India’s digital advertising outlook is uncertain. Brands are facing funding shortages, inflation, and global instability. In response, they’re cutting budgets, demanding more results, yet still chasing unrealistically high ROAS targets like it’s 2021.
We’re in a moment where the glittering certainty of digital-first everything is being slowly replaced by cautious recalibration. And as any media planner will tell you: ad rates don’t live in a vacuum.
"The current economic headwinds have created a two-tier effect on India's digital advertising landscape," says Gopa Menon, Chief Digital Officer at Successive Digital. “Premium inventory in finance, luxury, and tech sectors has seen rates increase on an average by 10–15% despite broader economic pressures. These industries consider digital advertising essential, not discretionary.”
At the same time, he adds, “FMCG and mid-market retail sectors have adopted more conservative approaches, negotiating harder on rates and demanding greater performance guarantees. These are pushing CPMs down by approximately 8–12% in these categories compared to late 2024.”
The pricing dynamics on digital platforms is surely not what it used to be: the same platforms, same audience pools, but wildly different ad pricing trajectories depending on whether you're pushing gold loans or shampoo sachets.
A senior marketer who preferred anonymity shared some handy CPM benchmarks that paint a clearer picture: mobile display sits between ?120–180, mobile video between ?180–450, desktop display between ?80–140, and Connected TV — that “must have” screen in everyone’s ad stack — between ?400–800. Social media feed placements hover in the ?180–300 range, while premium programmatic trades at ?200–400.
But averages are only half the story. “Premium inventory on financial, sports content and certain in-app environments can command rates 2–3x higher than these averages,” they add, “while remnant inventory trades at significant discounts.”
This bifurcation has intensified as platforms like Meta and Google increasingly push performance-led solutions with opaque pricing. While Meta's Advantage+ campaigns offer automated optimization, they also muddy the waters when it comes to predicting spend versus yield. As some agencies whisper behind closed doors, ROAS may be rising—but so is the cost of achieving it.
There’s no clearer sign of this shift than the sector-wide sprint toward performance marketing, driven by both necessity and paranoia.
“Amidst the prevailing geopolitical tensions coupled with the already existing economic slowdown, the digital advertising landscape seems quite volatile,” says Shradha Agarwal, Co-founder and Global CEO of Grapes Worldwide. “To navigate the tough terrain efficiently, it is required that industry players be agile enough to adapt to the changing scenario and devise compelling strategies driving maximum output.”
For Agarwal, the prescription is clear: lean on PPC, affiliate models, and cost-effective formats that can calibrate ROI tightly. “Creating omnichannel experiences across a wide range of platforms while exercising discretion in channel selection can amplify reach,” she says. “Brands can support this with strong data and predictive analytics to personalize campaigns and ensure resonance.”
It's not just about where you advertise anymore, but how smartly—and surgically—you can do it.
Menon adds nuance by pointing out category-level shifts that reflect how fluid this new reality really is. “The most notable shift I felt was happening in the automotive sector, which increased digital spend on an average 35% year-over-year, moving significant budgets from traditional media,” he says. But even here, the winds are changing. “We are seeing some pullback now on four-wheeler spends on the branding side from last quarter.”
In contrast, edtech and fintech—once the darling disruptors of digital media—are backpedaling. Their category pullbacks are not just about lower budgets, but shifting goals: short-term ROI over long-term brand equity.
One sector seemingly defying the slowdown? Live sports content, particularly on OTT and CTV platforms. “Premium inventory, particularly around live sports, continues to attract significant interest,” says Garima Vishnoi, SVP, Media Alliances and Partnerships at White Rivers Media. “But there's a noticeable shift towards micro-influencers for targeted engagement. Programmatic buying is on the rise, driven by demands for better insights, influencing pricing dynamics across display advertising.”
CTV's glamor hasn't dimmed, but its economics are being stress-tested. Brands want less spray-and-pray, more pay-for-performance. Expect fewer glossy homepage takeovers, and more targeted snackable ad bursts aimed at specific sub-regions and demographics.
According to Abhilash Madabhushi, Founder of Consuma AI, much of the current instability is rooted not in global turbulence, but in stubbornly local challenges. “From a technology partner standpoint, we see relative stability amongst the chaos. The larger theme, despite the micro-picture of tariffs in the short term, is the consumer spending slowdown that has hit Indian brands hard from the past two quarters.”
For him, the reality is binary. “There is a split of strategies — brands that are going more aggressive in an effort to chase growth (almost at all costs), while some brands remain cautious, worrying more about the return on marketing investment.”
While some fear tariffs and regional instability, others are still stuck in the middle of the older problem: flatlining Tier 2 and Tier 3 consumer demand.
But Madabhushi remains optimistic about Q3: “In our research and data — we do forecast a growth in consumer spending due to income tax breaks. There is great consumer intent to spend rather than save, and the true impact or effect of this will be seen around the Q3/returns period.”
In other words, the market might be holding its breath—but it hasn’t exhaled yet.
One often-overlooked factor quietly reshaping this landscape is policy. Vishnoi notes that recent regulatory changes—such as the removal of the 6% equalisation levy on digital ads, effective from April 2025—will alter inventory pricing and accessibility.
“India's digital advertising landscape is evolving to meet current economic and geopolitical conditions,” she says. “This environment encourages innovation and agility, prompting agencies and brands to refine strategies to deliver value efficiently.”
That agility also shows up in planning cycles. Menon observes a distinct shift from annual budgeting to quarterly planning, with brands preferring shorter commitments to stay nimble. “There’s a greater emphasis on measurable ROAS metrics rather than reach-based KPIs,” he says, “and an increased focus on existing customer retention versus new customer acquisition.”
As 2025 barrels forward, India’s digital ad economy finds itself in the middle of a high-stakes balancing act. Between cutting costs and chasing growth. Between playing safe and going bold. Between betting big on new formats like CTV and doubling down on time-tested ones like programmatic display.
If there’s a consensus, it’s this: performance is king, volatility is the new normal, and the brands that make it through will be the ones that treat their media plans like living organisms—built to evolve, measured to the decimal, and ruthlessly focused on results.
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