Diwali 2025: OOH industry grows with record spends, regional surge, & digital reinvention

India’s out-of-home (OOH) advertising industry entered Diwali 2025 positively, surpassing last year’s results with strong growth in spending, higher site occupancy, and renewed enthusiasm from advertisers. Industry estimates indicate that OOH revenues increased by nearly 15 to 20% compared to 2024. This growth was fueled by a strong consumer market and a favourable GST relaxation that boosted advertising demand in key categories like automobiles, consumer durables, and e-commerce.

If 2024 was about recovery, 2025 was about resurgence. The overall OOH market grew from Rs 4,650 crore in 2024 and is expected to exceed Rs 5,200 crore in 2025. This growth shows double-digit expansion in both traditional and digital formats. Industry executives report that inventory use in major cities rose by nearly 20% this festive season. Many premium digital sites in metro areas were booked weeks in advance. 

Festive rebound fueled by confidence and policy tailwinds

Diwali 2025 witnessed a clear upswing in both advertiser sentiment and spending. The GST rate revision acted as a direct catalyst, especially for categories such as automobile and consumer durables, which leveraged OOH to capture pent-up consumer aspirations. Interestingly, categories like lifestyle, fashion, and FMCG brands drove the surge in Tier-II cities. According to some industry estimates, over 70% of India’s e-commerce Diwali orders came from non-metro cities, reinforcing the narrative that expansion into Bharat is no longer an experiment; it’s a strategy.

With festive demand in full swing, India’s real estate sector is witnessing a remarkable surge in housing sales across key markets. Strong buyer confidence and growing preference for luxury have fueled this momentum.

The shift in buying preference from mere location to trust, familiarity, and lifestyle offerings has further driven developers to invest heavily in OOH as a powerful lever to build visibility and credibility. As brands compete to capture attention and strengthen emotional connections, OOH has become an unskippable part of the real estate media mix, helping developers stand out in a high-growth market. 

Tech-first Diwali OOH landscape

The OOH scene changed this Diwali, moving beyond static billboards. Digital OOH (DOOH) continued its upward trend. Airports, commercial centers, metro corridors, and arterial roadways were illuminated by bright LED walls that provided dynamic ad rotations and real-time content flexibility. Experiences that were interactive also became popular. The boundaries between entertainment and advertising were blurred by gamified billboards that allowed customers to test-drive virtual automobile models or take part in QR-based contests. These developments provided marketers with new ways to stand out in congested holiday marketplaces, frequently combined with social media amplification.

The most effective Diwali 2025 OOH advertising was conducted online rather than on the streets. Outdoor creatives were created by brands with the intention of being photographed, shared, and hashtagged. Using QR codes, AR filters, or built-in selfie zones, billboards encouraged people to interact and spread the word on YouTube, Instagram, and X. Client demand for data dashboards that record foot traffic, dwell time, along attention and engagement metrics has increased significantly, according to several agencies. The conversation has shifted from impressions to attention, what we call the ‘new currency’ at OSMO. Brands are increasingly assessing the success of outdoor ads based on audience engagement levels rather than just exposure. 

Diwali 2025 creatively underlined Indian advertising's emotional foundation. Heartfelt words of reunion, togetherness, and nostalgia were displayed on billboards, reflecting the post-pandemic yearning for a sense of community. Fashion and leisure businesses embraced uniqueness in family environments, while consumer durable and automotive brands emphasised 'New launches', 'homecoming', and 'gifting' themes. 

Narratives with a purpose also gained popularity. Major cities saw the emergence of sustainability-focused initiatives encouraging eco-friendly festivities and mindful consumption. As consumers' awareness of the environment has grown, several firms have included recyclable materials into their creatives or substituted solar-powered installations for conventional lighting displays. The storytelling palette was further enhanced by the regionalisation of creativity.

Outdoor advertisements in South India adopted regional idioms and traditional themes, while in North India, humour and cultural symbolism were given fresh life. As a result, India's variety was more accurately represented than before in a creative landscape that was emotionally complex and geographically nuanced. 

Emerging trends for the next festive season 

Diwali 2025's performance suggests important patterns that will shape the OOH sector in the years to come. The first is the ongoing growth of Programmatic DOOH, which will drive the medium toward increased data integration and responsibility. Digital screen installations will also occur in smaller communities as the cost of digital infrastructure decreases, closing the technological divide between urban and rural areas.

Second, the importance of innovative localisation will not change. In order to reach a wide range of consumers, brands are anticipated to make greater investments in local cultural tie-ins, language adaptations, and city-specific marketing. A patchwork of micro-campaigns, each synchronised with its geographic rhythm, is probably what the OOH of 2026 will look like. Thirdly, there will be a greater convergence of digital and outdoor media. Since every billboard has the potential to be a social media post, engagement metrics like scans, shares, and content production will be used by advertisers to gauge success instead of traditional impressions.

Finally, the new currency will be attention. The industry is moving toward more outcome-based measurement frameworks as advertisers start to evaluate the duration and significance of audiences' interactions with their OOH advertising. 

What the industry needs to scale further 

Even with its expansion, the OOH industry continues to face structural issues that need to be resolved in order to maintain long-term growth. Clarity in regulations is the most urgent requirement. Large-scale outdoor planning is frequently difficult in India due to the country's disjointed local rules, uneven licensing requirements, and overlapping levies. More institutional investment and operational efficiency could result from a single national policy.

Another crucial gap is the standardisation of measurements. The industry needs widely recognised methods to analyse efficacy across formats as brands want attention-based analytics and ROI tracking. Cross-comparison is challenging because current measurements frequently differ by vendor or city.

Diwali 2025 was a clear reminder that the OOH medium is evolving faster than ever, driven by technology, policy alignment, and a shift in how brands value real-world engagement. As digital fatigue sets in, outdoor media offers something uniquely powerful: unskippable, human-scale storytelling that combines emotion with innovation.

This article is penned by Nipun Arora, Co-founder, OSMO.

Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication.