Consumer durables see 17% YoY surge in digital ad spends: A marketer’s perspective

As temperatures climb and the T20 World Cup captivates millions of homes, sales of air conditioners, fans and big screen televisions spike nationwide. For consumer durable brands, summer and the cricket season are not merely weather and sporting moments, they are high intensity commercial opportunities. Yet even as these seasonal peaks continue to fuel volumes, the way brands harness demand is shifting significantly. Digital is no longer playing a supporting role - it is rapidly becoming the core of consumer durables marketing strategy.

According to the dentsu-em Digital Advertising Report 2026, consumer durables have increased their digital ad share from 32 per cent in 2024 to 49 per cent in 2025.That 17 percentage point rise within a single year reflects more than a simple budget reshuffle. It indicates a deeper evolution in how brands react to consumer behaviour, media habits and performance accountability.Explaining why digital now influences the entire decision ecosystem, impacting both online and offline purchases, Nikhil Gupta, Head of Strategy and Marketing at Signify says,

"We leverage video led storytelling and emerging digital formats to showcase innovation, educate consumers and drive deeper engagement across both consumer and professional segments. In addition, we focus on e-commerce, quick commerce, influencer marketing and interactive formats to strengthen impact across the digital journey. For 2025, our digital media mix reflects a balanced full funnel approach, with around 40% directed towards online video and connected TV, 30% towards search and social media, and the remaining 30% towards quick commerce and e-commerce platforms."

A decade ago, lighting was largely about function. Today, it revolves around aesthetics, personalisation and architectural design. Gupta highlighted that the lighting and home upgrade journey typically starts online, with consumers seeking décor ideas, assessing options and comparing prices before finalising the purchase either digitally or in store.

This behaviour intensifies during peak buying windows. The start of summer drives air conditioner and fan sales, while the cricket season lifts demand for large screen televisions as families upgrade for better viewing experiences. Many of these purchases align with life stage events such as moving homes, renovation cycles or coping with seasonal heat. Increasingly, the first touchpoint in these journeys is digital.

CTV relevant for consumer durable brands?

The growth of connected TV is narrowing the divide between linear and digital. Girish Hingorani, VP Marketing for Cooling and Purification Appliances at Blue Star, sees the transition as unavoidable."All the TVs now are smart. About 12 to 14 million TVs are sold every year and all of them are smart." For him CTV represents an evolution of television that offers digital style capabilities. "You can target audiences, you can choose your cohorts, you can decide what frequency you want accurately. So it is nothing but an extension of television with digital properties but finally it is TV," he said.

For categories such as air conditioners and large appliances that depend on brand building during summer peaks, the big screen continues to matter. "From a brand building perspective I am a very strong proponent of TV and CTV," Hingorani added. "People are buying bigger and bigger televisions. If they were not watching TV, why are they investing so much in OLEDs and large screens. They want to watch content and they are receptive to ads at that time."At the same time, he recognised that digital formats on handheld devices operate under different consumer mindsets. "When you are in a handheld and searching for something specific, if my ad comes, chances are that the consumer is likely to skip it. The consumer is not in the mind space to watch TV scenes. It is like clutter."

Full funnel accountability

For other brands, digital’s real advantage lies in its measurability. Ayesha Prasad Narain, AGM Marketing at Kärcher India, argued that while television offers broad reach, it requires repeated bursts to achieve meaningful brand stickiness."TV is mass media, it has sustained eyeballs, but unless you have consistency in TV bursts across multiple platforms and episodes, you will not get any brand entrenchment," she said. "Therefore we are looking at digital which is more cost effective, more targeted and gives us the ability to remarket to our consumer cohorts." Narain stressed that digital makes tracking possible across the complete consumer journey.

"The full consumer journey is more measurable with digital. I can actually enable a customer lifetime value via digital. From social media to affiliate, email marketing, WhatsApp and AI journeys, it is the most data driven option that can elongate the lifespan of my brand with a consumer."This rise in accountability has reinforced marketer confidence. Signify’s Nikhil Gupta observed that improvements in attribution and performance tracking have enhanced the ability to connect digital spends to concrete results such as leads, store visits and sales.

"With greater platform maturity, we now deploy a holistic digital mix spanning video, influencer marketing and e-commerce, enabling full funnel impact at scale rather than restricting digital to performance channels alone," he said.

Digital as lead driver, not support medium

GoBoult, the wearables brand, leans even more heavily on digital. Co-founder Varun Gupta said the company maintains overall marketing spends at 7 to 8 per cent of revenue, with almost 95 per cent of the Mustang collaboration campaign centred on digital."That is where our core consumer is discovering and transacting," he said. "We track performance very closely through CTRs, conversions and ROI to ensure efficiency." He added that influencer strategy is also shifting. "Earlier, the focus was largely on tech creators, but now we are integrating more lifestyle influencers who can communicate aspiration, design and premium appeal. As the category matures, it is no longer just about specs. It is about how the product fits into a consumer's lifestyle."

The IPL and summer season will continue to serve as demand catalysts for air conditioners, fans and televisions. New home purchases and renovations will keep driving upgrades in lighting and appliances. What has changed is the path to purchase.Consumers now move between inspiration videos, product reviews, price comparison platforms and marketplace listings before visiting a store or completing a purchase online. Connected TV is reshaping how mass content is consumed. Performance marketing is closing the gap between intent and availability.

The near double digit increase in digital share within a year indicates that for consumer durable brands, this is not a short term trial. It represents a reset of the marketing playbook. Television may still anchor flagship moments like the IPL, but digital increasingly maintains engagement before, during and after the spike.As Gupta summarised, the true shift is not about replacing one channel with another.It is about creating a more accountable, intent driven ecosystem where inspiration, evaluation and commerce are seamlessly connected. In a category defined by high consideration and seasonal surges, that integration could shape the next phase of growth.

The Digital Don

Digital media contributes Rs71,621 crore, commanding a dominant 59 percent share of the Indian advertising industry. And, by the end of 2027, digital is projected to account for 70 percent of total advertising spends, touching Rs 98,034 crore and growing at a CAGR of 17 percent, driven by expanding digital infrastructure, deeper integration with commerce platforms and increasingly measurable performance outcomes.

Programmatic buying is further speeding up this shift. By the end of 2025, programmatic accounted for 42 percent of India’s digital media spends, translating to Rs 30,081 crore, marking a 19 percent increase over 2024. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.77 percent to reach Rs 42,435 crore by 2027, taking its share to 43 percent of digital spends.

Within this expanding digital landscape, consumer durables contribute Rs 7,450 crore, accounting for 6 percent of the total advertising industry, and are progressively recalibrating their media mix to align with the broader digital momentum.