Digital media expected to take over more than 60 per cent of India’s ad spends in 2026

India’s advertising expenditure (ADEX) will reach ₹1,74,605 crore in 2026, implying 12-13 per cent growth, with digital pushing its share to about 64 per cent (₹1,11,976 crore), while traditional media shrinks to 36 per cent, as per the latest Pitch Madison Advertising Report (PMAR).

India’s advertising market reached ₹1,55,105 crore in 2025 under an expanded ADEX definition that incorporates quick commerce and MSME digital spends into total ADEX, growing 12 per cent over 2024. The expanded lens includes three digital components: core digital (search, social, video, display, e-commerce), advertising on quick-commerce platforms (₹4,000 crore), and MSME sector’s digital spends (₹35,814 crore).

“Every year, people ask if Indian advertising is slowing down. PMAR 2026 tells a different story: Headline growth has moderated, but the market has quietly crossed ₹1.55 lakh crore and 60 per cent digital share when you count what actually matters—retail media advertising, and MSME ad spends,” said Sam Balsara, Chairman of Madison World.

ADEX to go up further

For 2026, PMAR forecasts large-screen ADEX to rise further to about ₹40,855 crore (+5 per cent), with CTV expected to grow by another third to about ₹8,000 crore, even as linear TV remains flat in value. Quick-commerce (q-comm) ADEX is expected to reach around ₹6,000 crore in 2026, implying 50 per cent growth in a single year and cementing q‑comm’s status as a core performance engine in Indian advertising. Retail media (e-comm + q‑comm) is now a five‑figure‑crore opportunity that connects media directly to commerce outcomes, far beyond the “experimental” budgets of a few years ago.

Further, estimating MSME sector’s digital advertising spends stood at ₹35,814 crore in 2025, up 21 per cent over 2024, PMAR expects the sector to grow a further 20 per cent to about ₹42,976 crore in 2026. This means MSME digital budgets already represent about 38 per cent of expanded digital ADEX, making this “invisible majority” of small- and mid-sized advertisers.

Considering digital’s growth, Madison suggested digital infrastructure such as data, signals, measurement and optimisation become the starting point of planning ADEX, not the add-on. TV, print, OOH and radio remain critical, but they must now be layered onto a digital spine.

Further, advertisers must plan large screen as a single strategic bucket, with linear TV and CTV as levers inside it. With retail media (e-commerce and quick commerce) now contributing significantly in ADEX, marketers should deliberate strategic choices, designing full media-to-money loops from large screen and digital video through to e-commerce marketplaces and q-comm shelves.

On the legacy definition used in earlier editions of PMAR, the market grew 7 per cent to ₹1,15,291 crore, with digital at 46 per cent and traditional at 54 per cent. Further, ADEX is expected to grow about 9 per cent to around ₹1,25,600 crore in 2026, basis previous definition, underlining that incremental market value now comes primarily from new-age digital ecosystems rather than legacy media.

Published on February 25, 2026