India’s e-commerce and POS ad spend jumps 50% to ₹220 billion in CY25
ICICI Securities estimates digital media grew more than 30% in India in CY25, taking its share of ad spending to about 63%. E-commerce and point-of-sale advertising reached ₹220 billion—equivalent to 85% of TV ad revenue—highlighting the rise of commerce-linked media.
What happened
ICICI Securities says India’s digital advertising market accelerated in CY25, with e-commerce and point-of-sale advertising up 50% to Rs 220 billion. Digital
Key facts
- Digital advertising projected to reach ~80% of global ad revenue by CY29P, from ~72% in CY24
- India digital media grew more than 30% year-on-year in CY25
- Digital advertising share of India's ad market rose to ~63% in CY25 from ~56% in CY24
- India digital advertising revenue crossed Rs 947 billion in CY25
- Indian advertising market grew 13.5% to Rs 1.5 trillion in CY25
- E-commerce and point-of-sale advertising surged 50% to Rs 220 billion in CY25
- E-commerce/POS advertising equalled 85% of television advertising revenue
Why this matters
Strategic buyers should prioritize retail-media measurement, ad-tech, loyalty-data and in-store digital-screen assets as commerce media approaches the scale of India’s TV advertising market.
What to watch
- Quarterly ad-revenue disclosures and ad-load changes from leading Indian marketplaces and quick-commerce platforms.
- Growth in sponsored-product CPCs, category-page takeovers and the share of ad revenue generated from non-endemic advertisers.
- Evidence that retail-media spend is coming from TV budgets versus existing digital performance budgets.
- Adoption of closed-loop sales measurement, clean rooms, third-party verification and incrementality testing.
- Expansion of in-store digital screen networks across modern trade, pharmacy, electronics and fuel-retail locations.
- Regulatory or consumer backlash related to preferential paid placement, use of shopper data, or opaque search rankings.
- Major marketplaces and quick-commerce firms will expand self-serve ad tools, off-site audience extensions and brand-lift measurement products.
- Modern trade chains, kirana-tech platforms and payment apps will accelerate POS-screen, loyalty-data and checkout-media offerings.
- Brands will consolidate retail-media buying with fewer preferred platforms while negotiating data access, incrementality tests and bundled media-plus-trade terms.
- Retailers will increasingly use ad revenue to fund lower customer acquisition costs, faster delivery promises and seller incentives rather than treat media as a standalone profit pool.
- Agencies will build dedicated commerce-media teams and push for common India-specific reporting standards across e-commerce, quick commerce and physical POS.