Retail media’s festive ad spend set to reach ₹11,500 crore

India’s festive advertising market is widening, but the sharper growth sits at the bottom of the funnel. Datum Intelligence projects overall festive advertising expenditure at ₹60,000–62,000 crore for 2026, up from roughly ₹53,000 crore in 2025. Within that, commerce and retail media spending is estimated at ₹11,500 crore, a 27% year-on-year jump, while quick-commerce advertising is expected to reach ₹2,200 crore, up 50%.

For context, e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms crossed ₹2,000 crore in advertising revenues during the September–October 2025 festive window, a 25% year-on-year increase. Those two sets of numbers are not a like-for-like comparison because the market definitions and measurement periods differ.

The buy moment is becoming an ad network

Retail media is gaining because it sits exactly where people browse, compare and buy. “Retail media ad revenue is growing because more brands that previously did not have a presence in the channel are now becoming active, while existing advertisers are increasing its share in their media mix,” said Sairam Ranganathan, head of commerce at WPP Media, India.

The strategic shift is bigger than budgets. Retail media is expanding from demand conversion toward demand creation. Sale events such as Amazon’s Great Indian Shopping Festival and Flipkart’s Big Billion Days now work as discovery moments, not just discount deadlines. Amazon Ads’ consumer survey found that 65% of consumers expected to spend more this Diwali than last year, and 91% of potential online Diwali shoppers expected to engage with Amazon or its offerings during or before the festive season.

The numbers behind the movement

• Overall festive advertising: ₹60,000–62,000 crore forecast for 2026, from about ₹53,000 crore in 2025.
• Commerce and retail media festive spend: ₹11,500 crore, up 27%.
• Quick-commerce advertising: ₹2,200 crore, up 50%.
• 2025 festive e-commerce and quick-commerce ad revenue: ₹2,000 crore, up 25%.

One media agency expert said commerce and retail media could account for about 19% of total festive advertising expenditure this year, up from 17% last year. That still leaves television, social and other digital channels doing the heavy lifting on reach and awareness. MTR’s chief marketing officer Anupam Nair said television remains critical, especially for established products such as gulab jamun, even as the brand intensifies digital investment.

Connected commerce, not a line item

FNP’s chief marketing officer Avi Kumar offered the clearest strategic cue. Rather than treating retail media as a standalone budget, FNP sees it as “part of a connected commerce ecosystem, where each channel has a distinct role” in the shopper’s gifting journey. Quick-commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart matter most for impulse and last-minute gifting.

The category mix reflects that split. FMCG, beauty, personal care and gifting are estimated to account for 65–70% of quick-commerce advertising, while electronics and smartphones continue to compete for premium placements on marketplaces.

For brand marketers, the lesson is not to chase retail media because the forecast is large. The smarter move is to match each retail surface to the shopper job it performs: marketplaces for discovery and comparison, quick commerce for speed and occasion-led purchases, and broadcast for broad reach.

Source: ETBrandEquity.com