Festive ad spends set to rise 10–15% in 2025, digital-first brands lead the charge – Brand Wagon News

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The spending forecast for this year’s festive season looks promising, with Raksha Bandhan already setting the tone for higher advertising spends. Industry experts expect a healthy 10-15% growth in ad spend this festive season over last year to reach anywhere between 55,000 to 60,000 crore. Nearly half of the industry’s annual advertising expenditure is expected to come from the festive months.

According to Shekhar Banerjee, chief client officer at Wavemaker (WPP Media), ad spending may get a bigger boost this year if the proposed GST reforms come into effect. “We anticipate more disposable income in the hands of consumers. That would lead to a surge in festive purchases, particularly of household products, consumer durables, automobiles, and lifestyle categories. This uplift in consumer demand will translate into higher marketing and media investments,” says Banerjee.

In any case, the festive season is make-or-break for many brands in terms of sales mop-up, observes Mitchelle Rozario Jansen, senior vice-president for business strategy & growth at White Rivers Media. “With UPI penetration, vernacular content, and regional creators gaining traction, brands are localising campaigns to resonate beyond metros. Regional influencer ecosystems, hyperlocal activations and vernacular digital video commercials are becoming as critical as national campaigns,” says Jansen.

Prashant Puri, co-founder & CEO at AdLift (Liqvd Asia), notes that advertisers are allocating more of their budgets towards performance marketing while reducing their dependence on mass media campaigns. “This advertising shift reflects a broader trend towards data-driven, ROI-focused strategies in response to evolving consumer behaviours and economic pressures,” he says, adding that advertisers are shifting focus towards digital platforms due to their ability to deliver measurable results.

Let’s get phygital

Given the growing adoption of e-commerce and quick commerce shopping, industry observers note that the key channels for brands would be retail, social, OTT and connected TV. Sandeep Ranade, executive vice-president and head of Quantitative Research Division at Hansa Research, says marketers are focussing on a more ‘phygital’ connect because consumers are making a significant volume of purchases offline as well. “The core target audience that a brand is targeting decides the distribution of advertising budgets by channels. We expect digital to lead but traditional media like TV will help drive reach, and local messaging such as out-of-home, print and radio too are gaining ad spends,” Ranade explains.

Although digital-first strategies account for over 60% of media spending during the festive season, Jansen stresses that traditional media remains non-negotiable for scale. Advertisers are no longer just “spending more” but are also looking at a sharper play by blending broad-reach traditional media with highly targeted digital media.

On their part, consumers across the board are willing to increase their spending compared to last year. The consumer spending will be driven by tier II and III towns and rural areas on the back of a good monsoon, higher government spending in rural markets and e-commerce reach in smaller towns, say experts. The changes in income tax slabs could also leave consumers with more money in hand. All this augurs well for ad spending.

Loud and clear

The signals are loud and clear. According to the June quarter report from data analytics firm NielsenIQ, rural India’s FMCG volume growth outpaced urban areas for the sixth consecutive quarter, though the gap is narrowing. Overall, the Indian FMCG industry saw a 13.9% value increase, fueled by rural demand and urban recovery. E-commerce surged, particularly in southern metros, while small manufacturers drove consumption.

Predictably, the big spenders will be auto, FMCG, jewellery, handset and e-commerce brands. Digital-first D2C brands in particular are expected to ramp up spending with some reportedly allocating over 40% of their annual ad budgets for festive campaigns.

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