MAM
ETMoney uses shock and humour to promote tax-saving among mobile-first millennials
DELHI: The end of every financial year is quite a stressful time for the salaried class as they try to manage their hard-earned money through effective tax-saving plans. The pressure of government deadlines amidst the constant hustle of the work leads to buying of tax-saving products which don’t actually benefit much. To counter this, ETMONEY is promoting its unique tax-saving proposition that enables customers to save up to Rs 78,000 in tax savings.
The campaign, conceptualised by DAIKO FHO and produced by Cellardoor in partnership with the Times Internet marketing team led by COO Santosh Navlani features a TVC starring standup comedian and comedy writer Biswapati Sarkar and actor Namit Das. To know more about the campaign, Indiantelevision.com interacted with ETMONEY COO and head of marketing Santosh Navlani, who outlined the basic idea of the campaign and its marketing plans. Edited excerpts follow:
Elaborate more on the campaign: from ideation to execution, what were the touchpoints you were planning to address?
The core idea behind the campaign is that at the end of every financial year, Indians clamour to get done with their tax-saving investments. In the rush to meet the deadline, most people just buy tax-saving products without evaluating if it's doing anything for them beyond the tax-saving. Most often, it is akin to giving away the Rs 100 on something just because you will save Rs 30 (max 30 per cent tax saving). In this rush to save Rs 30, we forget Rs 70 of our hard-earned money is also getting deployed and should ideally make you better off financially or otherwise.
Another part of the problem is that people don’t really know what the maximum tax they can save is. Taxation laws in India are notoriously complicated and figuring out various deductions, the clauses for each and then knowing your maximum tax saving limit is not something that everyone knows at the back of one’s hand. This results in taxpayers leaving money on the table.
With this campaign, our aim is to help Indian taxpayers not only save maximum tax possible but also do it in a way that helps them better their financial lives. As part of the campaign, we first built a solution on ETMONEY that after looking at the user's current life stage and investment gives them a personalised tax plan. It details the maximum tax someone can save along with products where they should invest.
The second part was ensuring we have all the tax-saving products we suggest to be made available for purchase. With this, we are India’s only non-banking fintech app that helps people plan to save as high as Rs 78,000 in taxes & make instant online purchases, right from their smartphones.
Do you think the Indian millennial is serious about tax saving? Most of the marketers see the generation as someone who believes in spending more than saving?
The last quarter of any financial year is the time when every salaried Indian, including millennials think of tax savings, either due to self-realization or due to reminders from HR/Payroll managers. Due to this, there is a big population that comes new-to-market every year as well as people who either have missed the bus of tax-saving in the past or have planned/saved tax earlier that they need to do much more structured in the new year. So, while the audience believes in living life to fullest & maximum spending, the external factors definitely create an environment for them to become self-aware of the need to plan one’s taxes well. We are banking upon this big cohort of such individuals to drive maximum savings for themselves as well as impact for the brand.
Why did you choose Biswapati Sarkar and Namit Das as the face of a campaign? Why do you think a comedian talking about investments will make the cut?
Tax & finance can be mostly boring or has been overly emotional on television advertising. Tax-saving is important, but given the mobile-first Indian millennials we want to target, we wanted to drive home the point through shock or humour. Shock has been demonstrated through one not even being aware that Rs 78,000 tax saving is possible (most people who know, know that it is Rs 46,800). When not shock, we have used humour through the “crazy happiness” one gets when some finds a sum of lost money (i.e. when one accidentally finds some money which was either written off or lost).
Biswa brings that lightness we wanted in the communication to the brink of being scary (through shock). On the other hand, Namit Das is truly representative of ETMONEY users. Young, suave and someone who really knows that making his money work hard is as important as earning it.
What is the effective marketing strategy for the campaign? On which channels and media are we going to see it?
We have significant budgets lined up for promotions across TV, print, outdoor & digital. We are also planning to leverage our audience’s love & passion towards music by producing a music video on tax (a fun song we believe people would want to listen to again & again). Besides, we have created tons of education material that we are putting on YouTube as well as distributing that content via our app & other properties. On outdoor, we are using a concentrated strategy on metro trains, airports & areas where working population flocks.
Our audience on TV is mostly working or earning population. There is a strong affinity towards Live Sports. Hence we are leveraging Live Cricket on TV & OTT platforms. Given our audience likes to stay updated on current events, we are leveraging the reach of news on TV as well as OTTs. We are also making weekend entertainment as well as movies to build out the reach further & increase the frequency.
MAM
India’s financial sector spent less on TV ads in 2025 but flooded the internet
Banks, insurers and lenders cut tv ads as digital jumps, LIC and Muthoot lead tv and Axis Bank tops online
MUMBAI: India’s banking, financial services and insurance sector, one of the most prolific advertisers in the country, delivered a split verdict on media in 2025. It spent less on television, held its nerve in print, turned up the volume on radio and deluged the internet with a ferocity that left every other medium looking pedestrian. The picture that emerges from TAM AdEx’s cross-media report for the BFSI sector is of an industry in transition, still wedded to the news bulletin but increasingly seduced by the algorithm.
Television: a retreat with caveats
TV ad volumes for the BFSI sector fell 16 per cent in 2025 compared with 2024, a sharp reversal after two years of consistent growth that had pushed volumes 16 per cent above 2021 levels by 2023 and a further 7 per cent higher by 2024. Within 2025 itself, the drop was concentrated in the middle of the year: the second and third quarters saw ad volumes slide 35 per cent each against the first quarter, with a partial recovery of 13 per cent in the fourth.
The retreat did not reshuffle the deck. Life insurance retained first place among TV categories with 19 per cent of ad volumes, mortgage loans held second with 16 per cent, and the top ten categories together accounted for 82 per cent of all BFSI television advertising. The dominance of news channels was equally pronounced: news claimed 68 per cent of ad volumes, general entertainment channels a distant 14 per cent and movies 12 per cent. Together, news and GEC captured 82 per cent of the sector’s television spend. News bulletins alone took 48 per cent of programme-genre volumes, with feature films second at 12 per cent. Prime time, between 6pm and 11pm, drew 34 per cent of ad volumes, followed by afternoon at 22 per cent and morning at 20 per cent. A full 82 per cent of all ads ran between 20 and 40 seconds.
Life Insurance Corporation of India was the sector’s biggest TV spender with 11 per cent of ad volumes. Muthoot Financial Enterprises came second with 9 per cent, followed by National Payments Corporation of India at 6 per cent, Tata AIG General Insurance at 5 per cent and State Bank of India at 5 per cent. The top ten advertisers together accounted for 51 per cent of total TV volumes. Three names were new to the top ten in 2025: Tata AIG General Insurance, IIFL Finance and Tata Capital. At brand level, Muthoot Finance Loan Against Gold led with 9 per cent share, Tata AIG Health Insurance entered the top ten for the first time, and the top ten brands together contributed 35 per cent of ad volumes.
Print: the long climb continues
Print told a different story. Ad space for the BFSI sector has grown every year since 2021, rising 16 per cent in 2022, 30 per cent in 2023, 51 per cent in 2024 and 64 per cent in 2025, all measured against a 2021 baseline. Within 2025, ad space was flat in the second quarter but surged 46 per cent in the third and 33 per cent in the fourth compared with the first. Life insurance led print categories with 21 per cent of ad space, followed by mutual funds and banking services and products at 13 per cent each, and corporate financial institutes at 11 per cent. The top ten categories together took 82 per cent of print ad space. LIC led print advertisers with 6 per cent share, and the top ten together covered just 19 per cent of ad space, a reflection of how fragmented print spending remains. Three new entrants joined the top ten in 2025, with Billion Brains Garage Ventures the only exclusive presence not seen in 2024’s list. In the top ten brands, LIC dominated with a 2 per cent share, while Nippon India Mutual Fund rose to third position from fourth in 2024. English accounted for 62 per cent of print ad space, Hindi for 20 per cent. Business and finance publications took 59 per cent of the genre split. The south zone led regional spending with 33 per cent of print ad space, Bangalore topping that zone, while New Delhi and Mumbai were the leading cities nationally.
Radio: louder than ever
Radio ad volumes for the BFSI sector have climbed steadily, rising 12 per cent above 2021 levels in 2023, 36 per cent in 2024 and 45 per cent in 2025. The quarterly pattern within 2025 was volatile: a sharp drop of 43 per cent in the second quarter and 42 per cent in the third, followed by a near-full recovery in the fourth. Life insurance led radio categories with 22 per cent of volumes, banking services and products second at 14 per cent and corporate NBFCs third at 11 per cent. LIC of India held its position as the leading radio advertiser with 20 per cent of ad volumes; the top ten radio advertisers together covered 69 per cent. Muthoot Financial Enterprises led radio brands with 10 per cent share, five of the top ten brands belonged to LIC alone, and SBI Mutual Fund made a remarkable leap to fifth position from 272nd in 2024. Evening and morning time-bands together captured 84 per cent of radio ad volumes, with evenings at 44 per cent and mornings at 40 per cent. Maharashtra was the leading state for radio BFSI advertising with 18 per cent share; Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh together accounted for 43 per cent.
Digital: the five-times surge
If one number defines the 2025 BFSI advertising story, it is five. Digital ad impressions for the sector multiplied fivefold between 2021 and 2025, having already doubled in 2023 and doubled again in 2024 before the 2025 leap. Within the year, impressions dipped 19 per cent in the second quarter and 12 per cent in the third before recovering 8 per cent above the first quarter by the fourth. Banking services and products led digital categories with 27 per cent of impressions, life insurance and credit cards tied at 19 per cent each, and securities and sharebroking organisations fell from first place in 2024 to fourth in 2025. Axis Bank was the runaway leader among digital advertisers with 12 per cent of impressions, followed by ICICI Bank at 9 per cent, IDFC First Bank at 7 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank at 6 per cent. The top ten digital advertisers covered 59 per cent of impressions, and seven of them were new entrants compared with 2024, signalling rapid churn in the digital spending hierarchy. At brand level, Axis Bank led with 9 per cent, ICICI HPCL Super Saver Credit Card vaulted to third place from 921st in 2024, and six of the top ten digital brands were new to the list. Programmatic buying accounted for 91 per cent of all digital BFSI transactions; combined with ad networks, it captured 96 per cent.
The data from TAM AdEx paints the portrait of a sector that still believes in the power of the television news bulletin to sell insurance to the masses, but increasingly knows that the next generation of borrowers, investors and cardholders is scrolling, not watching. The race is now on to reach them before the algorithm serves up someone else’s loan offer first.
