MAM
Digital boom spells out recovery for the industry during festive season
MUMBAI: As the world adapts to the post-pandemic world, there’s been a significant shift in the way people shop, eat and look for entertainment among other things. With the festive season around the corner, there are massive expectations riding on digital media as brands experiment and figure out ways to reach their consumers effectively within the online space.
The rapid expansion of the digital advertising space in India has opened up a promising avenue for businesses and brands amid the pandemic. According to Dentsu’s Ad Spend Report from June 2021, the digital ad spend in India has grown from 20 per cent in 2019 to 29.4 per cent in 2021. And while television remains the most popular medium for advertising, its growth was just 7.7 per cent, which goes to show that the digital advertising ad spend is fast catching up with TV.
Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI’s) ‘Trust in Advertising’ report interestingly revealed that it is not just the metro cities that are viewing ads online. The viewership of digital ads in rural centers, too, was found to be at par with the metros.
“The consumer today is looking out for convenience, everything at the press of a button,” says Madison Media Ultra COO Jolene Fernandes Solanki. “Digital advertising is expected to be the driver for growth across businesses during festivals. With online being the only medium that has grown during Pandemic, digital ad-ex will gain momentum and further grow during this festival. With this significant growth, digital will maintain its second position and contribute a share of 32 to 35 per cent.”
The online market is also seeing an upsurge in Direct-to-consumer players. D2C brands have seen a nearly 200 per cent growth in categories such as beauty, personal care, nutrition, and small electronics, as per industry experts. Brands such as Mamaearth, MyGlamm, SUGAR Cosmetics, Lenskart, Licious, Zivame, Epigamia, BoAt, Wow Skin Science, Country Delight, among others are establishing a strong presence in the D2C arena, fulfilling customer demands despite the challenges thrown in by the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the digital revolution that is connecting customers and businesses across the country, the rise of the usage of social media, apps, and instant messaging platforms has been witnessed. According to Admitad Affiliate India, head, eCommerce vertical Abhijit Banerjee, a lot of brands will be experimenting with digital platforms, which will not just be limited to promotion but will also be the preferred point of purchase. “Each year, brands are leveling up with different marketing strategies and choosing ROI driven marketing channels, coupon codes, deals, and discounts for their consumers,” he says.
The spending skew in digital is growing steadily this time around since it is getting increasingly cluttered on traditional media to get consumer attention, feel industry executives. Apart from that, brands agree that it is much more efficient to tap into new geographies with digital rather than TV. Even as major players already dominate the online space, now smaller, regional players are realising the importance of the medium. Brand advocacy on digital has become quite important; brands are not hesitating to opt for the influencer marketing route like last year as their brand advocates in their campaigns.
The gap between ad spends on TV and digital is narrowing every year. Digital at 35 per cent market share has overtaken print at 16 per cent and is closing the gap with television which stands today at 45 per cent, as per estimates by media agency GroupM.
According to Voiro founder and CEO Kavita Shenoy, online spending is on a steady upward trajectory and digital-first businesses are leaning on this trend to encourage customer consumption. This will see advertisers explore new ways of addressing target segments, across media inclusive of music apps, gaming, contextual commerce, and of course live events.
“Marketing spends will be performance focussed and largely be focussed online as the world is still in lockdown and consumers are still wary of stepping out of home, but prefer to transact online, for everything from groceries to luxuries,” Shenoy says, adding, “The spends indicate that the addressable advertising audience is far more engaged online and that it is easier for brands to measure effectiveness and see ROI in real-time.”
With e-commerce driving consumption, online advertising spends are likely to see a significant uptick this festive season. According to e-retailer Myntra, the adoption of digital channels for shopping continues to accelerate, and there is a continuous increase in the number of categories a customer purchases. The festive sales season which started last week will go on till Diwali and later Christmas and New Year’s, driven by purchases from tier 3 and 4 cities.
As per a recent study conducted by the HI + AI research division, ‘Gipsi’, eCommerce/ Online shopping now has become a habit and will continue to see a rise in spends during the festive season. Even the digitally-hesitant audiences who used to prefer digital shopping only during offers and sales are now shopping online as a convenient option, says Tonic Worldwide’s Unmisha Bhatt.
While digital spends have been consistently rising for the past many years, the pandemic accelerated it to another level. Coupled with the issues with deliveries of newspapers during the extended lockdown, the percentage share of digital spends has spurted in the last year and a half, with digital spends now second only to TV.
“This year, we are slowly seeing things going back to normal but changes in the marketing landscape might stay, ” says DViO Digital founder and CEO Sowmya Iyer. “Brands see a good return on ROI with digital marketing and with the advanced technologies we have at our disposal today, it opens up a wide range of possibilities right from gamification to user-generated content. A lot of brands were seen collaborating with the OTT and gaming platforms for integrating their products and advertising purpose. Here, the targeting is very specific and we see more and more brands wanting to allocate their marketing budgets for OTT collaborations,” she adds.
Pandemic has indeed turned out to be a catalyst for digital transformation. “The non-adaptors of digital media (laggards and e-payment skeptics) were also forced to bite the bullet since physical shopping/ consumption was practically impossible during the lockdown. Digital has already taken a larger share in the media ad spend pie overtaking Print. It can now, in fact, be termed ‘mainstream,” says Havas Media India managing partner Saurabh Jain.
MAM
Brands push beyond compliance as trust takes centre stage
ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026 spotlights shift from legal checks to credibility.
MUMBAI: In a world where a disclaimer can be legally sound yet socially suspect, brands are learning that compliance may tick boxes but trust wins markets. At the inaugural ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026, a panel on “Beyond Compliance: The New Currency of Trust” unpacked a growing industry reality: the gap between what the law permits and what consumers accept is widening and fast.
Moderated by Meenakshi Ramkumar of National Law School of India University, the discussion brought together leaders across law, marketing and academia to examine how brands must evolve in a digital ecosystem increasingly shaped by scrutiny, scepticism and speed.
Ramkumar set the tone by highlighting a critical shift, advertising today operates in the same digital space that fuels misinformation, scams and fake news, making credibility harder to establish. “The challenge is not just about what brands do, but the broader context of low institutional trust,” she noted, adding that when violations go unchecked, trust erodes not just in brands but in the regulatory system itself.
This vacuum, she said, has given rise to consumer activism from boycotts to social media backlash as a parallel accountability mechanism.
For Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer at Marico, the distinction was clear, legal compliance is non negotiable, but insufficient. “Compliance is the minimum threshold. The real challenge is staying aligned with changing consumer expectations,” he said.
He pointed to how advertising narratives have evolved from traditional depictions of gender roles to more shared responsibilities reflecting a broader societal shift. “Earlier, it was fine to show one person doing the household work. Today, that may not land well. Consumers expect brands to reflect reality,” Bhasin observed.
He also highlighted internal debates where campaigns that may be legally permissible are still rejected for being culturally insensitive, noting that responsible advertising often requires asking uncomfortable questions before the public does.
If compliance is the baseline, reputation is the battlefield.
Bhasin noted that reputational risk has become a far greater concern than legal exposure, particularly in an era where campaigns can be dissected within hours online. “Earlier, a controversial ad might invite a newspaper editorial. Today, within hours, you’re at the centre of a storm,” he said.
Brands, he added, now evaluate campaigns through a dual lens legal viability and reputational vulnerability with the latter often proving more decisive.
From a healthcare perspective, Satish Sahoo of Cipla Health underscored the complexity of operating within fragmented yet stringent regulatory frameworks, spanning drugs, food, cosmetics and Ayush. “Anything under a drug licence is the most tightly regulated,” he said, adding that this necessitates proactive, not reactive, compliance.
He shared an example from the oral rehydration salts (ORS) category, where Cipla resisted the temptation to position products aggressively despite competitive pressure. “Our product is WHO compliant, and our communication reflects that. We chose not to blur the lines, even if others did,” he noted.
The long term payoff, he suggested, lies in credibility built over consistency, not quick wins.
Yet, as Harsha N of National Law School of India University pointed out, even perfect compliance does not guarantee trust. Drawing from historical and modern examples from exaggerated product claims in the 1800s to contemporary environmental and health advertising, he argued that legal frameworks often lag behind consumer expectations. “A brand can be fully compliant and still be perceived as misleading,” he said, citing instances where fine print disclosures fail to reach or convince the average consumer. He added that larger companies carry a disproportionate responsibility to set ethical benchmarks, even in areas where the law remains silent.
The conversation also turned to digital advertising, where the challenge extends beyond content to how ads are experienced. From algorithmic targeting to personalised messaging, brands now operate in an environment where regulation struggles to keep pace with technology.
Sahoo noted that social media has amplified awareness, with influencers and consumers increasingly scrutinising product claims and calling out inconsistencies. “Awareness has gone up dramatically. People are questioning what goes into products and what brands are saying,” he said.
The role of self regulatory bodies such as Advertising Standards Council of India also came under the spotlight.
Harsha acknowledged that while SROs play a crucial role, they are not immune to criticism, particularly around perceived conflicts of interest and enforcement gaps. “SROs have a higher threshold of responsibility not just to interpret the law, but to anticipate societal expectations,” he said.
He added that failures in self regulation often push the burden back onto government intervention, underscoring the need for stronger, more proactive oversight.
One of the more nuanced debates centred on whether building trust comes at a cost. While Sahoo acknowledged that quality and compliance can increase costs, he argued that companies must absorb them as part of their long term strategy.
Bhasin, however, framed the challenge differently not as cost, but as competitiveness in a market where not all players play by the same rules. “The real tension is when others cut corners and you choose not to,” he said.
The panel concluded with a call to embed trust into business metrics.
Sahoo suggested that organisations must go beyond revenue targets to include consumer equity and trust based KPIs, ensuring that ethical considerations are not sidelined in the pursuit of growth. “Trust sounds abstract, but it can translate into measurable consumer equity,” he said.
As the discussion wrapped up, one message stood out: the rules of advertising are being rewritten not just by regulators, but by consumers themselves. In an ecosystem where attention is fleeting and scepticism is high, brands that merely comply may survive, but those that build trust are the ones that endure.
