India’s television advertising volumes declined by 11 per cent year-on-year in 2025, reflecting cautious advertiser sentiment amid shifting media consumption patterns, according to the latest TAM AdEx report.
Despite the overall slowdown, the second quarter of 2025 offered a brief respite, registering a 6 per cent sequential growth over Q1. However, momentum weakened in the latter half of the year, with ad volumes in Q4 falling 10 per cent compared to Q3, highlighting uneven advertiser confidence across the year.
Food and beverages emerged as the largest advertising sector on television, commanding a 21 per cent share of total ad volumes in 2025. Personal care and personal hygiene followed with a 15 per cent share, while services accounted for 14 per cent. Together, the top ten sectors contributed 87 per cent of total television ad volumes, indicating continued concentration of spends among a few dominant categories.
At the category level, toilet soaps retained their leadership position with a 6 per cent share of ad volumes, closely followed by toilet and floor cleaners at an equal share. Washing powders and liquids ranked third with 4 per cent. A notable shift was seen in retail outlets–jewellers, which climbed to the ninth position in 2025 from sixteenth in 2024, signalling increased branding efforts in the jewellery segment.
FMCG companies continued to dominate advertiser rankings. Hindustan Unilever remained the largest television advertiser with a 14 per cent share of ad volumes, followed by Reckitt Benckiser (India) and Godrej Group. Coca-Cola India and Nestlé India entered the top ten advertisers in 2025, indicating rising competition from beverage and packaged food brands on television .
Brand-level data further underlined Reckitt Benckiser’s dominance, with seven of its brands featuring in the top ten most advertised brands on television. Dettol Toilet Soaps led the rankings, followed by Harpic Power Plus 10x Advanced and Dettol Antiseptic Liquid. Lizol Shakti recorded one of the sharpest year-on-year jumps, moving up over 17 ranks to secure the seventh position in 2025.
In terms of growth, more than 170 categories registered positive expansion in 2025. Toilet and floor cleaners saw the highest absolute increase in ad volumes, growing 13 per cent year-on-year. Vocational training institutes posted the strongest per cent age growth, expanding 2.5 times over 2024, while branded jewellery and e-commerce-led categories also witnessed robust gains.
General entertainment channels continued to attract the highest share of television advertising, accounting for 30 per cent of ad volumes in 2025, followed by news channels at 26 per cent and movies at 22 per cent. The top five channel genres together captured over 92 per cent of total ad volumes, reinforcing the dominance of mass-reach television formats .
Co-branded advertising with movies remained a strong engagement strategy, with brands clocking over 570 hours of co-branded ads on television in 2025. Comfort Fabric Conditioner led movie-linked brand associations with a 23 per cent share, while films such as ‘120 Bahadur’ and ‘Fateh’ partnered with the highest number of brands during the year.