TV ad volumes fall 11% in 2025 while FMCG leads spending: Report

Television advertising volumes in India declined 11% in 2025 compared with 2024, even as certain sectors and categories continued to record growth, according to the TAM AdEx – 2025 Television Advertising Recap report.

The report, which tracks advertising across more than 600 television channels, said the second quarter of 2025 saw a 6% increase in ad volumes compared with the first quarter. However, momentum weakened later in the year, with the fourth quarter recording a 10% drop compared with the third quarter.

Average ad volumes per channel per day stood at 6,547 seconds in January-March 2025, 6,918 seconds in April-June, 6,703 seconds in July-September and 6,048 seconds in October-December, with 2024 indexed at 100.

Food and Beverages emerged as the largest advertising sector, accounting for 21% of total ad volumes in 2025, followed by personal care and personal hygiene at 15% and services at 14%. household products accounted for 10%, personal healthcare 7%, before laundry, building, industrial and land materials/equipment, hair care, auto and banking, finance and investment. The top 10 sectors together contributed 87% of total ad volumes during the year.

At the category level, Toilet Soaps led with a 6% share of ad volumes in 2025. Toilet and Floor Cleaners also held a 6% share, followed by Washing Powders and Liquids at 4%.

Other categories in the top 10 included commerce -media, entertainment and social media at 3%, chocolates at 3%, milk beverages at 2%, ecom-online shopping at 2%, before others. Retail outlets-jewellers rose to ninth position in 2025 from 16th in 2024. The top 10 categories together accounted for 32% of ad volumes.

Hindustan Unilever remained the largest advertiser in 2025, with a 14% share of total television ad volumes. The top 10 advertisers together accounted for 44% of ad volumes. Coca-Cola India and Nestlé India entered the top 10 advertisers list in 2025, ranking sixth and ninth, respectively, up from 12th and 15th positions in 2024.

Among brands, Dettol Toilet Soaps topped the list in 2025, followed by Harpic Power Plus 10x Advanced, Dettol Antiseptic Liquid, Jio Hotstar App and Lizol All In 1.

The top 10 brands together contributed 10% of total television ad volumes. Reckitt Benckiser (India) accounted for seven of the top 10 brands. Lizol Shakti climbed more than 17 positions year-on-year to rank seventh, while Sensodyne Toothpaste (GSK) was a new entrant to the top 10 in 2025.

More than 170 categories recorded positive growth in ad volumes in 2025. Toilet and Floor Cleaners posted the highest increase in ad secondages at 13%. Vocational Training Institutes recorded the highest percentage growth among the top 10 growing categories, expanding 2.5 times compared with 2024.

Other growing categories included e-commerce online shopping at 24%, aerated soft drinks at 15%, retail outlets-jewellers at 13%, non-aerated soft drinks at 19% above rest categories.

General Entertainment Channels (GEC) continued to lead channel genres, accounting for 30% of ad volumes in both 2024 and 2025.

News channels followed with 26%, Movies with 22%, Music with 10% and Kids channels with 4%. The top five channel genres together accounted for more than 92% of total ad volumes in both years.

Co-branded advertising with movies accounted for more than 571 hours of television ads in 2025. Comfort Fabric Conditioner was the leading brand associated with movies, with a 23% share of co-branded ad volumes, followed by Cadbury Gems at 18% and Dr Ortho Strong Oil at 8%.

Brands associated with the film Pushpa 2 accounted for 23% of total co-branded ad volumes during the year.

Nearly 60 films partnered with brands in 2025. 120 Bahadur had the highest number of brand partnerships at seven, followed by Fateh with six. Four other films were associated with five brands each during the year, the report noted.