LOADING...
Summarize
India's digital ad market to hit $19B by 2029: Bain
India's overall ad spends to climb to 0.5% of GDP

India's digital ad market to hit $19B by 2029: Bain

Aug 26, 2025
02:34 pm

What's the story

India's digital advertising sector is set for a major boom in the next five years, according to a report by Bain & Company. The study, titled "Advertising in the Digital Age, in India and Around the World," predicts that India's digital ad market will grow at an annual rate of around 15% to $17-19 billion by 2029. The growth will be fueled by mobile consumption and the rise of video formats and AI integration into advertising processes.

Market growth

India's overall ad spends to climb to 0.5% of GDP

The report estimates that India's digital ad market, which stood at $16-18 billion in 2024, will reach a significantly higher market size by 2029, given the compound annual growth rate of about 15%.India's overall ad spends are expected to climb from 0.4% of GDP today to around 0.5% by 2029. This marks one of the fastest growth rates globally, though the country will still trail China and Japan in the ad-to-GDP ratio, the report noted.

Consumption trends

Mobile-led consumption driving digital ad spends

Mobile-led consumption is driving digital ad spends in India, accounting for nearly 70-80% of total spends. This is higher than the global average. Consumers spent an average of 4.8 hours a day on their devices in 2023, up from 3.7 hours in 2019. In-app video formats are growing rapidly and are expected to gain a bigger share over the next five years.

Market shift

Six key strategies for advertisers

Small and medium enterprises and direct-to-consumer brands are also driving the shift in digital ad spends. Their share is expected to rise from 37% in 2024 to over 40% by 2029. Many of these advertisers are mobile-first, e-commerce-heavy, and focused on performance marketing. The report identifies key strategies for advertisers: diversifying beyond major platforms like Google and Meta; adopting platform-specific creative strategies; building personalization engines using first-party data; allocating more budget to mid- and bottom-funnel campaigns; and testing at scale.

Industry hurdles

Ad fatigue and privacy regulations challenges

As consumers spread their attention across more devices and platforms, ad fatigue becomes a real concern. Privacy regulations like India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act are changing how brands collect and use data. The report warns that building trust-based first-party data ecosystems will be harder in India than in more mature markets.