India's Digital Advertising Market: FY2025 Snapshot
After mapping the digital marketing funnel from awareness to conversion, the next question is where Indian advertising budgets are actually moving. FY2025 marked the year digital advertising overtook television for the first time in India, making this snapshot useful for understanding spend share, growth, mobile, video, programmatic shifts, and channel-wise budget movement.
- Digital advertising overtook television for the first time in India during FY2025, marking a watershed moment for the industry.
- Total Digital Ad Spend was ₹49,000 Crore, equal to 44% of total ad spend.
- YoY Growth was ~20%, compared with 8% for TV.
- Mobile accounted for 78% of all digital ad spends.
- FMCG + E-commerce contributed 68% of digital ad revenue.
- Video was 35%+ of digital and growing fastest, while programmatic was 40%+ of display inventory traded via RTB.
- India's digital advertising market was valued at $13.6B in 2024 and is projected to reach $32.3B by 2030 at a 15.3% CAGR.
The big picture is simple: in FY2025, digital became India's largest advertising channel. The channel split shows digital at 44% of total ad spend, ahead of television at 27%, print at 18%, and other channels with smaller but distinct roles.
FY2025 Digital Advertising Snapshot
Digital advertising overtook television for the first time in India during FY2025, marking a watershed moment for the industry.
Programmatic advertising uses RTB, or real-time bidding, for digital ad inventory. In FY2025, 40%+ of display inventory was traded via RTB.
India Ad Spend Channel Split in FY2025
The FY2025 channel split shows where budgets are moving across digital, television, print, OTT, OOH, radio, and cinema.
Where Budgets Are Moving
Digital was 44% of total ad spend at approximately ₹49,000 Cr and was growing 20%+ YoY. Television stood at 27% at approximately ₹30,000 Cr, with a flat to declining trend and shifting to CTV/OTT.
Print was 18% at approximately ₹20,000 Cr, showing a slow decline while still relevant in Tier 2-3. OTT, or Connected TV, was 5% at approximately ₹5,500 Cr and the fastest growing segment at 30%+ YoY.
Out-of-Home, or OOH, was 3% at approximately ₹3,300 Cr, recovering post-COVID with digital OOH growing. Others, including Radio and Cinema, were also 3% at approximately ₹3,300 Cr and stable with niche use cases.
Mobile, Video, and Programmatic Shifts
Mobile accounted for 78% of all digital ad spends. Video accounted for 35%+ of digital and was growing fastest.
Programmatic accounted for 40%+ of display inventory traded via RTB. The pattern shows that digital growth in FY2025 was not only about higher total spend, but also about mobile, video, and automated display inventory becoming central to the market.
Top Spending Categories
FMCG + E-commerce accounted for 68% of digital ad revenue. This makes them the top spending categories in the FY2025 digital advertising snapshot.
Market Projection
India's digital advertising market was valued at $13.6B in 2024 and is projected to reach $32.3B by 2030 at a 15.3% CAGR.
The most frequent error is treating television as the default largest advertising channel despite FY2025 marking the year digital overtook television. This misses the core shift in the market: digital reached 44% of total ad spend, grew ~20% YoY, and became India’s #1 advertising channel.
Conclusion
FY2025 was the watershed year when digital became India’s largest advertising channel, led by ₹49,000 Crore in spend, 44% share, strong mobile dominance, fast-growing video, and 40%+ programmatic display inventory traded via RTB.
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