India's digital ad market to grow at 15% a year to hit $19 billion by 2029: Bain & Co report

India’s advertising economy is set for rapid expansion over the next five years, with digital firmly at the centre, according to Bain & Company’s new report ‘Advertising in the Digital Age, in India and Around the World’.

The consultancy estimates India’s overall advertising market at $16–18 billion in 2024, about 0.4% of GDP, and projects it will grow at 10–15% annually to reach ~0.5% of GDP by 2029. Digital already contributes 50–60% of total ad spends and is expected to grow faster, at ~15% CAGR, to $17–19 billion by 2029.

“India’s digital advertising market is at an inflection point,” said Prabhav Kashyap, Partner at Bain & Company. “The convergence of mobile-led consumption, the rapid rise of video formats, and the integration of AI into every stage of the advertising process is reshaping how brands connect with consumers. The leaders will be those who diversify beyond mega platforms, design content for each channel from the ground up, and harness AI and first-party data to deliver high-impact campaigns.”

Growth drivers

India remains among the fastest-growing ad markets in Asia-Pacific and globally. Growth is expected to be driven by rising private consumption (10–12% between 2024 and 2029), expansion of 4G/5G coverage to over 90% of subscriptions by 2029, and surging digital adoption.

 Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and direct-to-consumer brands are also driving the shift, with their share of digital ad spends expected to rise from 37% in 2024 to more than 40% by 2029. Many of these advertisers are mobile-first, ecommerce-heavy, and skewed towards performance marketing.

“SMEs are increasingly focusing not just on reach but on performance, optimising ROI so that spends deliver measurable outcomes,” Kashyap said.

Strategic shifts for brands

Advertisers are moving away from over-reliance on Google and Meta, with spends diversifying into quick commerce, ecommerce platforms, and high-engagement inventory such as the Indian Premier League. Bain noted that IPL accounted for 4.5% of India’s digital spends in 2024 and could scale to 7% in the next six to seven years. Flipkart Ads has scaled strongly, with revenues estimated at $0.8–1 billion in 2024.

Mobile remains dominant, accounting for 70–80% of digital spends in India, while in-app video formats are gaining traction and expected to expand their share by 6–8 percentage points over five years. Connected TV, though still small at under 5% of India’s digital spends, is forecast to grow over 30% annually, adding 3–4 percentage points to its share by 2029. “CTV is one of the fastest-growing channels in India and is likely to come closer to the global share of ~10%,” said Devika Mittal, Associate Partner at Bain & Company.

Challenges and opportunities

Mittal added that brands will need to address creative fatigue by shifting to contextual and personalised advertising to grab attention. “To combat ad fatigue, contextualisation and personalisation will be critical to differentiation,” she said.

The rollout of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act is also changing the rules of engagement. Large brands are building first-party data engines — for instance, one FMCG major has over 75 million contactable customers — while smaller players are adopting universal ID and clean-room models to collaborate securely. “The ecosystem is evolving rapidly to balance scale and privacy compliance. Brands need to be clear about the value they want from their first-party data investments,” Mittal said.

Adtech players, meanwhile, are positioning themselves as full-stack partners, offering ROI analytics, real-time targeting and cross-channel attribution. “Adtech platforms are becoming more intelligent, but publishers will also need to support with better attribution and performance data for the ecosystem to mature,” Mittal noted.

Testing and learning at scale remains nascent in India, with few brands dedicating 5–10% of budgets to experimentation. Mittal said wider adoption of such practices is critical for optimising spends and improving ROI.

Looking ahead, Bain believes India could evolve a distinct adtech model shaped by local nuances, including quick commerce and IPL, alongside global trends such as mobile and CTV. “India’s ad market is moving toward a multi-channel, diversified model, and certain platforms will scale differently compared to the US or China,” Mittal said.

Note: This story has been updated to correct attributions and market definitions. The $16-18 billion figure refers to India’s overall ad market in 2024.