India TV ad volumes fall 7% in January-July 2026, while e-commerce surges

India’s TV ad volumes declined 7% year on year in January-July 2026, according to TAM AdEx. FMCG leaders including Reckitt India, HUL and Godrej Consumer remained prominent advertisers, while e-commerce ad volumes rose nearly 10.2 times.

— Source published Fri, 21 Aug, 2026, 16:18 IST · First seen Fri, 21 Aug, 2026, 20:21 IST · Source The Hindu BusinessLine

What happened

TAM AdEx · India’s TV ad volumes declined 7% in January-July 2026, though e-commerce advertising surged nearly 10.2 times. Reckitt India, HUL and Godrej

Key facts

  • TV ad volumes fell 7% in January-July 2026 versus January-July 2025
  • TV ad volumes had fallen 9% in January-July 2025 versus January-July 2024
  • Top 10 advertisers accounted for 43% of ad volumes
  • Top 10 categories accounted for 33% of ad volumes
  • Food and beverage held 23% of overall ad volumes
  • General Entertainment Channels held 30% of ad volumes
  • News channels held 25% of ad volumes
  • 150 categories increased ad volumes
  • E-commerce ad spend rose nearly 10.2 times
  • Biscuits ad volumes rose nearly 2.1 times

Why this matters

Consumer groups and media owners should prioritize partnerships or acquisitions in retail media, commerce analytics and shoppable-video capabilities to capture migrating brand budgets.

What to watch

  • Monthly TAM AdEx TV volume and effective-rate trends, especially for FMCG, personal care, food and household categories.
  • E-commerce and quick-commerce ad-auction CPC/CPM inflation, share-of-search changes and sponsored-placement inventory expansion.
  • Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart disclosure of advertiser tools, audience targeting, closed-loop measurement or premium video inventory.
  • Broadcaster results showing ad-revenue weakness, increased discounting, digital bundling or stronger dependence on sports and live events.
  • FMCG quarterly commentary on marketing-spend mix, e-commerce sales contribution, premiumization and rural-demand recovery.
  • Incremental sales lift from retail media relative to TV reach and brand-lift metrics during major festive and promotional periods.
  • Increase retail-media test budgets for priority FMCG SKUs, with separate measurement for new-to-brand acquisition, conversion and repeat purchase.
  • Rebalance TV plans toward tentpole programming, regional channels and high-frequency brand-building bursts rather than always-on national linear buys.
  • Negotiate cross-screen deals with broadcasters that include connected-TV, OTT, digital video and outcome-based audience commitments.
  • Build incrementality measurement across TV, marketplace ads, quick-commerce media and social video to avoid attributing organic marketplace demand to paid ads.
  • Prepare marketplace-specific creative, search terms, product-page content and in-stock depth before shifting more budget into e-commerce media.

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