AD Agencies
Indian ad industry to grow up to 8% annually on average: Group m forecast
Mumbai: GroupM has released its ‘This Year, Next Year’ global end-of-year forecast that shows a much faster expansion in the advertising industry than previously anticipated (driven primarily by growth in the US, UK, and China). India is among the top ten markets that are expected to grow between six to eight per cent annually, on average. Digital advertising accounted for 64.4 per cent of all advertising in 2021, up from 60.5 per cent in 2020, even as the big tech firms such as Alphabet, Meta and Amazon accounted for 80-90 per cent of the global total.
In the top ten advertising markets, including India, growth should get back to the mid-to-high-single digits over the next five years, predicted the global report.
Digital advertising is likely to end 2021 on a high, growing by 30.5 per cent, up from June’s forecast of 26 per cent growth, estimates the global agency.
Television advertising, on the other hand, is forecasted to grow by 11.7 per cent in 2021, up from June’s estimate of 9.3 per cent. Given 2020’s decline of 13.7 per cent, the industry is not expected to return to 2019 levels until 2023. The report predicts that subsequent years will be roughly flat—up 1-2 per cent per year through 2026—for television advertising in most major markets around the world, as the largest advertisers continue to incrementally shift spending.
Overall, Connected TV+ will account for about 10 per cent of total TV advertising in 2022 ($17 billion of a total of $171 billion) and is expected to double by 2026.
TV still typically accounts for nearly half of large marketer budgets, incrementally down over time. A superficial read of the data included in ‘This Year, Next Year’ might leave one with the impression that because 64 per cent of the world’s advertising revenue is generated by digital media and 21 per cent goes to TV, that marketers are allocating 64 per cent of their budgets to digital media and 21 per cent to TV, on average. This would be a mistaken interpretation because many advertisers—especially small ones and those whose businesses operate entirely online—often allocate all or nearly all of their budgets to digital media while large businesses typically allocate higher shares of their budgets to television.
Audio advertising which took off in the pandemic is expected to grow 15.6 per cent in 2021 and 6.4 per cent in 2022. In subsequent years, however, group m assumes a reversion to historical trends: largely flat.
OOH advertising, which took a beating in most major markets during the pandemic-induced lockdowns, is expected to grow 17.1 per cent in 2021 and 14.9 per cent in 2022. In subsequent years, the report predicts a reversion to historical trends: mid-single-digit growth.
Many underlying trends appear to be disproportionately concentrated in the US, the UK, and China, which together account for approximately 70 per cent of all the industry’s growth, despite making up about 60 per cent of the total market, says the report.
Some of the key global factors causing faster-than-expected growth are new small businesses allocating greater resources to nationally oriented digital advertising, China-based marketers capitalizing on low-cost international shipping and using global digital platforms to reach overseas consumers, and app developers or other ‘digital endemic’ businesses rooted in the internet economy, many of which focused on advertising-driven top-line revenue growth
AD Agencies
AdTrust Summit 2026 to examine trust, AI and Gen Alpha in advertising
Two-day summit in Mumbai to explore ethics, regulation and the future of advertising trust
MUMBAI: At a time when advertising is navigating a delicate trust deficit, the Advertising Standards Council of India is preparing to bring the industry to the table. On 17 and 18 March, the body will host the inaugural AdTrust Summit 2026 in Mumbai, a two-day gathering designed to spark conversation around responsibility, regulation and credibility in modern advertising.
The summit, to be held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Bandra Kurla Complex, will bring together leaders from advertising, media, technology and policy to examine how brands can build trust in a marketplace increasingly shaped by algorithms, influencers and artificial intelligence.
In an age of deepfakes, dark patterns and blurred lines between content and commerce, the question is no longer just how brands capture attention, but whether audiences believe what they see. The AdTrust Summit aims to unpack that challenge.
Day one will turn its attention to the youngest digital natives. Titled Decoding Gen Alpha, the session will unveil ‘What the Sigma?’, a study by ASCI and Futurebrands Consulting that explores how children growing up in a hyper-digital environment encounter advertising and commercial messaging.
The report presentation will be delivered by Santosh Desai, founder and director at Think9 Consumer Technologies and a social commentator known for his insights into consumer behaviour. The discussion that follows will attempt to decode how Gen Alpha consumes media, interacts with brands and navigates the growing overlap between entertainment and marketing.
In a move that mirrors the subject itself, two Gen Alpha students will also join the conversation, offering a rare perspective from the generation advertisers are trying to understand.
The second panel of the day will shift the focus from observation to implication, asking what the report’s findings mean for brands, agencies and society. Speakers include Karthik Srinivasan, communications strategy consultant; Preeti Vyas, president at Mythik; and Abigail Dias, associate president planning at Ogilvy. The session will be moderated by Sonali Krishna, editor at ET Brand Equity.
Day two moves from insight to regulation. Under the theme From Compliance to Trust, ASCI will release its Ad Law Compendium, a comprehensive guide to India’s advertising regulations.
The day will open with a keynote by Sudhanshu Vats, chairman at ASCI and managing director at Pidilite Industries, followed by a chief guest address by Sanjay Jaju, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Legal experts from Khaitan & Co., including Haigreve Khaitan, senior partner, and Tanu Banerjee, partner, will present an overview of the current advertising law landscape in India and examine whether existing frameworks are equipped to deal with emerging technologies and formats.
Subsequent panels will explore issues increasingly shaping the industry’s ethical compass. Conversations will range from the limits of persuasive design and the rise of dark patterns, to the growing scrutiny brands face from digital creators and consumer watchdogs.
One session will also feature Revant Himatsingka, widely known online as the Food Pharmer, whose critiques of packaged food brands have sparked debate around transparency and corporate accountability.
Later discussions will turn toward media literacy among Gen Alpha, asking how children can be equipped to navigate a digital world where gaming, content and commerce are becoming indistinguishable.
The summit will conclude with a final panel on the future of advertising, bringing together voices from agencies, legal circles and technology platforms to discuss how innovation, intelligence and integrity can coexist.
For an industry built on persuasion, trust has always been its quiet currency. But as audiences grow more sceptical and digital ecosystems more complex, that currency is under pressure.
Events like the AdTrust Summit suggest the advertising world knows it cannot afford to take credibility for granted. The real challenge now is turning conversation into commitment.
