MAM
Times Internet forays into content marketing with ‘Spotlight’
MUMBAI: When conventional modes of communication are failing marketers, they are increasingly looking to reinvent the old formulas in a new light, content marketing being one of them. Not just the media and creative start-ups but digital media behemoths like Times Internet have invested in the content game. Times Internet has recently launched a one stop digital content solutions studio -‘Spotlight.’ With an aim to be strategic partners with brands, Spotlight will cater to branded content needs of the clients.
“Spotlight will help marketers define their content strategy, create it and distribute it, not only on our platforms but across their own and others. We will also help them understand how to measure their return on their branded content efforts by helping them translate them into traditional marketing metrics. What makes Spotlight stand out will be its ability to create branded content not only in English, but 9 other Indian regional languages across 150 million users,” said Times Internet, CRO, Gulshan Verma.
The company is banking on its massive reach in the country through multiple content based platforms like Times of India, Economic Times, NavBharat Times, iDiva Gaana, MagicBricks, and many more. Spotlight intends to tap into the interest graph of its client’s target audience and drive brand recall and preference through contextualizing reach.
“It’s been on our mind for a while and we finally had a robust plan together and got all the experts we needed to start the process and we did! With some of the best minds in the business across genres it’s makes absolute sense to give the very best we have to offer to our clients. Neha Gupta, who comes from NDTV Convergence will be heading the operations at Spotlight and I’m positive she will do a stellar job,” he added.
When it comes to production, Verma informed that Spotlight will produce a huge chunk of the content in-house backed by capabilities in terms of photos, videos and articles, while also exploring commissioning options as well. “We have our in-house team of experts with in-depth knowledge across industries who work with the brand to understand the key result areas and building content with them, and thereafter they ideate and create the final product with the production team, who have been specially brought in the Spotlight team. We provide end to end solutions,” he said.
Though digital videos are often synonymous with short form content, Spotlight will explore a ‘bit of both.’ With an intention to go beyond engaging audience over snack-sized content, Verma shared that they don’t mind investing in long term projects that may give rise to an extended storyline or even a web series.
“We would prefer to work with marketers on a comprehensive plan and sometimes that may involve building a long term story including a video web series, but also articles, questionnaires, photo shoots. As to whether it would be long or short form – it depends on what the goal is – initially, the focus for a marketer is to do bite size content that can be consumed quickly and spark interest, but as you draw audiences in, it could be taken forward. We even partner with our brands to create on the ground events such as the one we recently did with GE at the ET Health World launch where CEOs and decision makers in that space got together for an evening,” explained Verma.
Since the video boom, advertisers are jumping on the content marketing bandwagon. However, more often than not they make one time small investment that doesn’t give them the promised result from the medium, which in turn affects the adopt-ability of the marketing form.
When asked how Verma intends to handle this trend within advertisers, he shared, “It’s a complicated and tedious process to coordinate one activity for a marketer and get content producers, execution and promotion across to a large audience in one place today. The power of content marketing is being realized through increasing adoption of native advertising already. The slower adoption rate is a function of lack of content experts who can create meaningful and qualitative content on a large scale and engage mass audience within the defined TG. Most marketers need to connect with one unit for content and another for reach. Spotlight intends to bring every aspect of content marketing as a one stop creative powerhouse.”
With its brand new content marketing arm, Times Internet plans to become an umbrella under which all types of brands can seek solutions, rather than taking the specialisation route.
“In the Industry we can see the first movers being mostly consumer brands but education, finance and real estate are also getting into content space extensively. Times Internet can help you along every stage of the sales funnel. From creating awareness, to driving trials, to point of sale conversions and re-targeting loyal consumers. This makes Spotlight the partner of choice for most industry categories. We have the capability of combining content marketing with the desired impact at any stage of sales process,” Verma shared, adding that they already are in talks with several brands to sign deals.
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.
