If 2025 had a mood, it would be one of acceleration tempered by introspection. The year moved fast, faster than brands, platforms, and media systems were sometimes ready for, but it also forced a pause. Not the dramatic kind, but a quieter reckoning about what actually works, what merely looks good on dashboards, and what people truly respond to in an over-stimulated, always-on environment.
Digital, which has long been the centre of gravity, finally stopped being treated as a frontier and became infrastructure. AI was at the heart of this shift. What began as excitement quickly turned into ubiquity. Tools multiplied, output exploded, and efficiency peaked, but so did fatigue. Brands learned, sometimes the hard way, that speed without context leads to sameness, and automation without cultural understanding rings hollow. AI didn’t replace creativity in 2025; it exposed its absence. The most effective work came not from those who used AI the most, but from those who used it with intent, quietly powering prediction, personalisation, planning and performance while keeping storytelling human at the surface.
At the same time, screens reorganised themselves. OTT and Connected TV stopped behaving like extensions of mobile and claimed their place as primary viewing destinations. Large screens mattered again, not just for reach, but for immersion. Language-first content, cultural familiarity, and formats built for shared viewing drove engagement across homes, especially as FAST platforms gained scale. This wasn’t fragmentation as much as rebalancing. Attention didn’t disappear; it redistributed itself across contexts that felt more deliberate and less noisy.
Media planning reflected this maturity. The obsession with raw scale gave way to sharper questions around attention quality, business outcomes, and relevance. Scroll-led behaviour dominated daily consumption, turning social platforms into full-funnel ecosystems where discovery, influence, and commerce blurred into one continuous experience. Performance and branding no longer lived in separate silos. Instead, accountability became the common currency - across OTT, CTV, quick commerce, and social, each of which crossed meaningful economic thresholds and demanded smarter measurement and integration.
Brands, meanwhile, were forced to keep up with consumers who expected everything faster, smoother, and more intuitive. Quick commerce didn’t just change logistics; it reshaped expectations around availability, convenience, and decision-making. Digital acceleration became less about presence and more about responsiveness. Yet, in the middle of this high-speed environment, something interesting happened. Sustainability stepped out of the checklist and into the brand core, not as virtue signalling, but as credibility. Consumers became sharper at spotting tokenism, and brands that embedded purpose into product, supply chains, and communication found stronger differentiation. Alongside this, a challenger mindset emerged. Many brands stopped trying to please everyone and instead chose to stand for something, sometimes risking polarisation in exchange for relevance.
Traditional media didn’t fade into the background; it evolved. Radio, in particular, underwent a quiet reinvention. No longer just a broadcast channel, it became a gateway to local communities. Advertisers stopped buying spots and started buying trust - regional relevance, cultural familiarity, and real-world connection. Integrated storytelling across radio, digital, social, and live formats allowed brands to show up in people’s daily lives with authenticity. With IP-led content, diversified revenue models, and regulatory momentum, radio reasserted itself as a medium built on credibility and outcomes, not just reach.
Out-of-home followed a similar path. The year marked a shift from visibility to impact. OOH stopped functioning as background noise and began working as an emotional cue, using context, timing, and environment to make messages land. Digital screens, real-time triggers, and smarter placements allowed brands to speak to people in moments that mattered. Experiential marketing amplified this further. Live events, shared cultural moments, and physical interactions gained renewed importance in a digitally fatigued world. As Indian cities expanded and mobility increased, OOH transformed into an experience-led medium that could be measured, felt, and remembered.
Print, often written off in conversations about the future, found renewed relevance through trust. In a content ecosystem crowded with half-truths, misinformation, and fleeting attention, credibility became currency. Readers gravitated towards well-edited, purpose-led journalism that offered depth and utility - across news, finance, health, careers, and culture. Publishers embraced AI to improve speed and efficiency, but editorial judgment remained firmly human. The year reinforced a long-standing truth: India is not one market. Regional and vernacular publications outperformed national platforms on trust and engagement, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. Integrated print-digital solutions emerged as powerful tools for recall and brand safety.
Creativity, too, recalibrated itself. Advertising stopped trying so hard to be loud and started trying to be useful. Creative departments turned into testing grounds, using AI to iterate faster while focusing on reducing friction for consumers. The emphasis shifted from performance theatre to real-world impact. In India, some of the most resonant work came from unexpected collaborations and culturally grounded storytelling, especially beyond the metros. The year marked a subtle but important shift: marketing began listening more than it performed.
Television reflected this broader reordering of attention. Connected TV reclaimed the living room, bringing families back to shared viewing experiences. Short-form content continued to evolve, with platforms experimenting to crack local sensibilities and sustainable monetisation. Micro-dramas began to find early traction not as a threat to long-form storytelling, but as a new habit altogether. News, meanwhile, transformed rapidly. TV broadcasters became strong digital-first news brands, optimising content for mobile and social without abandoning their legacy credibility.
Taken together, 2025 wasn’t about certainty or clear answers. It was about systems changing shape. Media, marketing, creativity, and technology didn’t move in straight lines; they overlapped, collided, and redefined each other. The year didn’t reward the loudest players, but the most thoughtful ones, those who understood that growth today is less about doing more and more about doing better.
2025 saw brand marketing moving at a much quicker and more deliberate pace. Digital acceleration, powered by technology, data, AI, and the emergence of quick commerce, emerged as a huge enabler shaping how brands were expected to show up to meet the consumer demands of speed, convenience, and online-first experiences. On the other hand, sustainability stepped out of the compliance box and became the foundational driver of credibility and differentiation for brands. And somewhere between this high-speed and high-stakes environment, a challenger mindset emerged, with brands opting for bold and opinionated stances with a willingness to effectively disrupt the status quo rather than being a part of it.
By Antora Chakraborty
WINNING THE ‘Many Indias’
Promeet Ghosh
MD & CEO, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited
In 2026 the defining trend is ‘Mastering the Many Indias’—premiumisation is accelerating beyond metros as digitally savvy, aspirational consumers in Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 cities demand feature‑rich durables. Winning this wave requires tailored channel strategies and a focus on localised marketing. Crompton’s 2.0 strategy is focused on driving portfolio premiumisation, intensifying its distribution network, and localising creatives with activations to meet the nuanced needs of these diverse, high-growth markets.
CONVENIENCE IS NOW MAINSTREAM
Rajeev Jain
Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing, DS Group
E-commerce and quick commerce are set to continue their rapid growth, evolving from an emerging channel into a primary strategic pillar for 2026. As consumer penetration deepens and more shoppers migrate to high-speed platforms, FMCG companies must align their offerings by reorganising assortment planning, pricing, packaging and hyper-local fulfilment to capture this expanding wave of convenience-orientated buyers.
THE HUMAN EDGE
Kavita Chaturvedi
Chief Executive, Business Unit - Biscuits and Confections, Foods Division, ITC Limited
Marketing is undergoing a rapid transition driven by AI, but as we move into 2026, storytelling will matter most. In a cluttered world with shrinking attention spans, authentic storytelling will be the true differentiator. People connect with stories, not products. AI will help brands understand consumer perception, needs and behaviour, but human-led authenticity cannot be undermined. Balancing AI-powered precision with human judgement will be essential to build meaningful connections.
THE PHYGITAL SHIFT
Siddharth Gupta
General Manager, Marketing, Britannia Industries
As we move forward, media mixes will increasingly be shaped by how people actually consume content. Consumers are actively seeking phygital experiences, which will result in stronger communities and sustained interaction. Alongside this, immersive brand experiences will evolve beyond being only technology-led to becoming more meaningful and integrated into relatable consumer moments. As a result, our campaigns will become more integrated and tech-forward, with immersive and culturally relevant storytelling at the core.
THE PREMIUM PLAYBOOK
Nitin Saini
Vice President, Marketing, Mondelez India
We will see continued premiumisation across categories in 2026 with consumers looking for more premium and sophisticated experiences. This will further get fuelled by the expansion of quick commerce, as we saw in 2025 as well. The other trend will be AI and how marketers leverage the same to be more efficient in both creative development and media planning.
PERSONALISATION GOES CULTURAL
Arjun Bhatia
Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Matrimony.com Ltd.
In 2026, the biggest trend I see is AI unlocking true cultural personalisation at scale. We’re moving beyond demographics to understand nuanced community preferences – whether that’s Nadar vs. Vanniyar traditions or what ‘modern’ means to a Punjabi Khatri vs. a Telugu Reddy family. At Bharat Matrimony, this isn’t just a trend – it’s already becoming our reality, and I expect it to get stronger.
2025 marked a decisive reset for the media industry, shifting focus from scale to meaningful value, attention quality, and measurable business outcomes. Consumer engagement became scroll-led and mobile-first, turning social platforms into always-on discovery, influence, and commerce engines across the full funnel. AI moved into everyday operations, accelerating creation while reshaping search, personalisation, and monetisation. As per experts, OTT, Connected TV, and Quick Commerce each crossed the billion-dollar threshold, redefining planning, targeting, and accountability. As attention fragmented and growth became harder to predict, integrated, outcome-led media solutions replaced linear, volume-driven playbooks.
By Jennifer Thomas
WITH AI AS AN OS, ATTENTION WILL BE CURRENCY
Amin Lakhani
President - Client Solutions, WPP Media - South Asia
In 2026, these forces will shape the next phase of media growth. First, AI will move from experimentation to becoming the operating system. Platforms like WPP Open will connect briefly to outcome, enabling speed and scale while keeping human insight at the core. Second, attention will become the true currency, with brands investing across a collapsed funnel, rebuilding top-funnel memory structures alongside performance and commerce, especially through quick-commerce and retail media.
AI AND RESPONSIBLE MEDIA WILL REDEFINE MARKETING
Mohit Joshi
CEO, Havas Media Network India
As we look towards 2026, AI will evolve from an efficiency tool into an intelligence layer that actively shapes planning and decision-making. The convergence of content, commerce, and communities will redefine relevance, while responsible media anchored in transparency, sustainability, and brand safety will firmly move onto the boardroom agenda. Together, these shifts will demand sharper thinking, stronger accountability, and deeper collaboration across the ecosystem.
RISE OF DETERMINISTIC AUDIENCES
Lalatendu Das
CEO, Publicis Media South Asia
In 2026, we could see a rise of Deterministic Audiences. As the ecosystem gets more and more fragmented by walled gardens, brands will look for access to 3rd party deterministic audiences to orchestrate experiences across media channels. This goes beyond probabilistic targeting and enabling brands to truly know their customers - understanding behaviours, preferences, and intent with greater accuracy, consistency, and respect for privacy. This will unlock smarter planning, sharper personalisation, and higher ROI.
RISE OF OUTCOME-LED PARTNERSHIPS & TRUSTED MEDIA
Ajit Varghese
Partner & Group CEO, Madison Media & Hiveminds
Outcome-based partnerships between clients, agencies, and platforms will deepen. The future will belong to integrated models where media, creative, commerce, and data work together, with agencies playing a larger role as growth partners rather than execution vendors. Premium content and trust-led environments will gain disproportionate value. As inventory clutter and low-quality creatives (AI-based and platform-based) rise, brands will increasingly invest in credible platforms such as sports, high-impact videos, and trusted publishers, to build long-term brand equity alongside performance.
CONVERSATIONAL SEARCH WILL REDEFINE SEO
Sujata Dwibedy
CEO, dentsu X India
Looking ahead, 2026 will be less about experimentation and more about intent. Technology will continue to advance, but success will depend on how thoughtfully it is applied. Conversational search will redefine SEO. Discovery will move beyond keywords to intent-driven, conversational queries across AI interfaces, social platforms, and commerce environments. Brands will need to think in terms of search everywhere, earning visibility and credibility wherever consumers are asking questions.
By 2025, advertising moved from chasing attention to solving for people. AI transformed creative departments into agile testing labs, powering everything from ideas to execution while brands focused on simplifying decisions and reducing friction through more intuitive, human experiences. Broad-stroke marketing gave way to accountability and real impact, with AI filtering noise and curbing over-inflated reach metrics. In India, creativity found momentum through unexpected collaborations and deeper connections with Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 audiences, where cultural relevance trumped metro sameness. Ultimately, 2025 marked the year marketing stopped performing and started listening.
By Yash Bhatia
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE BRAND–PERFORMANCE DIVIDE
Dheeraj Sinha
Group CEO, FCB India and South Asia (now CEO, McCann)
The traditional divide between brand building and performance will continue to dissolve. Marketing will be expected to deliver impact now while simultaneously compounding brand value over time, with the same ideas doing both jobs. Marketing organisations will need to continuously adapt their structure, skills, and ways of working. Agility won’t be a transformation project; it will become a permanent capability.
AI WILL BECOME THE BACKBONE
Anupama Ramaswamy
Managing Director & Chief Creative Officer, Havas Creative India
AI will increasingly work quietly in the background, less visible, yet far more powerful. It will move from being the headline to becoming the backbone. From sharper writing and faster production to smarter personalisation, AI will elevate creative quality without calling attention to itself. The best work will feel more thoughtful and intuitive, not because technology is leading the idea, but because it is seamlessly enabling it.
END-TO-END EXPERIENCE INTEGRATION
Babita Baruah
Chief Executive Officer, VML India
Brand experience and frictionless customer journeys increasingly define a brand’s true value. While this isn’t new, organisations that unify brand experience (BX), customer experience (CX), and commerce into connected solutions will gain a clear edge delivering seamless, end-to-end journeys that drive growth and foster deeper client–agency partnerships beyond marketing-led agendas alone.
THE RISE OF HUMAN-CENTRIC STORYTELLING IN AN AI-SATURATED MARKET
Kartik Smetacek
CCO, Saatchi and Saatchi India
A direct consequence of AI-powered everything will be the value given to human storytelling. When we’re drowning in mass-manufactured content, I think honest, insightful work will make a comeback. 2026 will also be the year marketing goes micro. Technology will allow you to go both wider and deeper simultaneously. Expect to hear a lot about micro markets, micro influencers, micro communities, micro everything.
AI’S VERNACULAR AWAKENING
Himanshu Saxena
Managing Director – BBH India and President (North & East) – Saatchi & Saatchi India, Propagate India
India is witnessing a decisive shift away from metro-led aspiration. Tier-2 and Tier-3 audiences no longer look to metros for borrowed cultural cues. This vernacular turn is not cosmetic; it signals a deeper demand for dignity, authenticity, and relevance. Hyperlocal creators are evolving from distribution channels into trusted cultural curators, as the industry moves from a ‘standardised India’ to a ‘deep India’, where local language, idiom, and context carry greater weight.
END OF FREE PITCHING
Girish Narayandass
Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Bares Bones Collective
The top trend in the Indian ad space, in terms of creativity, has been ‘unexpected collabs.’ It’s been around for a while now, and is still going strong. The top trends for 2026, according to me, are pitch fees becoming a norm and a renewed focus on long-term brand building. Also, advertising budgets are declining by the day, I hope that trend stops soon.
The year 2025 was all about acceleration and reckoning for digital in India. AI raced from discovery to normalisation, exposing that creation without context, culture, or storytelling falls flat. Much of the adoption was driven by anxiety, not strategy, even as AI quietly became marketing’s operating layer—powering prediction, personalisation, and efficiency. CTV and OTT matured into primary screens, with language-first, culture-native content driving engagement across large screens and FAST ecosystems. Meanwhile, Martech shifted from experimentation to execution, with GenAI, agentic systems, composable CDPs, and zero-trust frameworks redefining how data, creativity, and commerce come together. 2025 was less about certainty—and more about structural change.
By Ruchika Jha
Digital Agencies
BRAND PAGES TRANSFORM INTO ENTERTAINMENT PLATFORMS
Harikrishnan Pillai
CEO and Co-Founder, TheSmallBigIdea
Social media brand pages will evolve from corporate notice boards into dynamic content engines. Brand IPs and characters will take center stage, with storytelling driving engagement while products subtly recede into the background. Brands will operate like individual content creators, building universes, developing narratives, and fostering genuine communities.
THE HUMAN PREMIUM
Chetan Asher
Founder & CEO, Tonic Worldwide
As AI-generated content floods every feed, the scarcity shifts. What becomes valuable isn’t production anymore. It’s Taste. Judgement. Cultural intuition. The strategist who knows what to make. The creative director who can spot soulless output. 2026 will position humans as the quality filter, not the assembly line. Speed is table stakes (baseline) now. Discernment is the differentiator.
THE BHARAT SHIFT
Russhabh R Thakkar
Founder and CEO, Frodoh
The next 100 million premium digital consumers will come from Bharat, not metros. In 2026, Tier-2/3 India will drive the majority of growth in categories like auto, finance, personal care and electronics. These users display metro-level purchasing power but expect regional-first storytelling, simplified journeys, and trust-led communication. Brands will rewire media mixes, creative stacks, and even product positioning to treat Bharat not as a segment, but as the centre.
THE RISE OF REAL TIME BRAND HEALTH MANAGEMENT
Bharat Subramaniam
Founder & Managing Director, BigTrunk Communications
As digital noise intensifies, brands will prioritise continuous monitoring of reputation, sentiment and performance across channels. Real time dashboards, automated alerts and AI assisted insights will help businesses respond faster, optimise communication and protect brand equity. This ‘always-on’ brand vigilance will become essential for growth and risk management in 2026.
PERSONALISATION WILL BE THE NORM
Sahil Chopra
Founder and CEO, iCubesWire
Brands have changed their approach of looking at marketing as one size fits all. They’re now using real-time data along with sharper strategies to build experiences based on what people actually do and like. One shift you’ll see by 2026 is that personalisation won’t be anything special, it’ll just be normal. Next in line is the smart integration of AI in our everyday workflows.
Martech
COMMODITISATION OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Anand Jain
Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, CleverTap
The long-standing advantage large companies held, access to expensive talent, sophisticated analytics stacks, and teams capable of building complex heuristics, will begin to erode. AI will infer patterns, generate insights, and turn them into actions automatically, reducing reliance on specialised analysts. As a result, smaller businesses will gain access to intelligence capabilities once reserved for large enterprises.
PRIVACY-FIRST MARTECH DRIVES THE NEXT GROWTH WAVE
Ankit Utreja
Co-founder & CTO, WebEngage
Looking ahead to 2026, the martech industry is forecast to grow 15–20% as brands prioritise responsible AI, advanced consent management, and privacy-first design amid DPDP legislation and stricter enforcement. In India, growth will accelerate with rising digital penetration, a booming e-commerce ecosystem, and scaled AI-powered content, experience, and customer-journey orchestration.
Social media
GEN AI WILL LEAD THE TRANSFORMATION OF CONTENT
Saugato Bhowmik
Director, Automotive, D2C, and CPG, Meta India
IG Reels is already the undisputed leader in short-form video across India. In 2026, we expect brands to supercharge this growth by harnessing GenAI tools and cutting-edge AI capabilities. For India’s marketers, this means the power to instantly transform cultural moments into discovery that spurs commerce, deepens customer loyalty, and unlocks unprecedented business growth.
RISE OF VERNACULAR PERSONALISATION & CREATOR-LED COMMUNITIES
Manohar Singh Charan
Co-Founder & CFO, ShareChat
For 2026, AI-driven personalisation in vernacular languages such as Hindi and Tamil will be central to reaching the next billion users, blending culturally nuanced storytelling with shoppable features. Alongside this, interactive creator communities powered by UGC and AR will evolve into digital public squares, our modern chowks, fostering deeper engagement and monetisable habits for brands across industries.
OTT
RISE OF MOBILE-FIRST MICRO-DRAMA AND NEW FORMATS
Kartik Mahadev
Chief Marketing Officer, ZEEL and ZEE5
2026 will see fast, current formats like short-form and micro-dramas evolve from snackable content into serious storytelling and insight tools for mobile-first, younger, language-agnostic audiences. Live programming - festivals, reality peaks and special events - will revive appointment viewing and shared emotion at scale. Together, these formats will unlock new monetisation models and bridge entertainment, community participation and real-time cultural expression, where brands, fandom and conversation converge.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AGENTIC WILL BECOME OPERATIONAL FOR CMOS
Rajesh Jain
Founder, Netcore Cloud
2026 is when Agentic Marketing becomes operational for CMOs. AI stops assisting teams and starts executing—planning, orchestrating, and optimising toward clear business goals. Execution becomes cheap; outcomes become scarce. Software becomes a workforce, not a tool. As AI agents mediate discovery and decisions, retention—not acquisition—emerges as the primary growth lever. In a world of infinite production, human attention becomes the scarcest and most valuable asset.
2025 marked a quiet shift in how Indian homes consumed content. Connected TV moved beyond being just another screen, reclaiming the role of the living-room television and bringing families back into multi-generational co-viewing. At the same time, short-form formats continued to evolve, with platforms experimenting to crack Indian sensibilities, local storytelling and sustainable revenue models. Micro-dramas began finding early traction, not as a replacement for long-form content but as a new viewing habit. These shifts reflect attention being reorganised, not fragmented. The biggest change came in TV news, increasingly optimised for social and mobile, with broadcasters emerging as strong digital news brands.
By Pritha Pahari
GEOPOLITICS, NATIONALISM, AND ECONOMIC IMPACT WILL DRIVE TV
Ashish Sehgal
CEO, Times TV Network & Chief Growth Officer, Times Media & Entertainment Network
In the first half of 2026, TV news will be event-heavy, with high-stakes assembly elections and the scheduled SIR in multiple states setting the political tone. News from eastern India will dominate, with West Bengal and Assam, alongside a volatile Bangladesh heading into elections amid heightened socio-political currents. Southern state elections in Tamil Nadu and Kerala will also carry national implications. The year will open with intense Budget coverage, followed by a historic IPO wave of over 190 listings shaping the financial narrative. Geopolitics, nationalism, and economic impact will continue to be the biggest drivers of TV news in 2026.
FUTURE OF HINDI NEWS IS BRIGHT
Varun Kohli
Director & Group CEO, Bharat Express News Network
2025 was a challenging year for Hindi news, marked by shifting viewer expectations and intense competition. As we step into 2026, national Hindi news channels must redefine themselves for a more discerning audience that values credibility, depth, and innovation. The future of Hindi news is bright; it will grow alongside entertainment and sports genres, reaching audiences through wider screens like Connected TVs and dynamic digital and social media platforms. We are evolving into a truly omni‑channel ecosystem that blends real-time reporting with personalized AI‑driven summaries and regional storytelling. At Bharat Express, we see this as an opportunity to transform news into an immersive, multi-platform experience that resonates with every viewer, everywhere.
THE RISE OF AI
Hiren Gada
CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment
AI will move from experimentation to everyday use across the value chain. We are already seeing early use cases, but the real impact will come as AI gets woven into content creation, programming decisions, audience analytics, and operational processes. Over time, it will start functioning as the underlying infrastructure that makes the businesses run more efficiently. Lastly, beyond these industry-led shifts, there is a larger external factor at play. If consumption continues to revive on the back of supportive government policies, advertising growth should follow. Lower inflation, softer interest rates and changes in tax structures create the right conditions for discretionary spending to return.
RISE OF OPINIONATED CONTENT
Rajeev Devaraj
Executive Editor, Mathrubhumi News
There will be a continued and intensified trend toward news focusing less on ‘what happened’ and more on ‘what you should think about it.’ Opinionated content will dominate the conversation. News organisations will need to accelerate the introduction of alternate revenue streams, such as IP, branded content, and exclusive premium products, to ensure sustainability.
In 2025, credibility emerged as the defining force in a landscape flooded with content. As media consumption fragmented, audiences gravitated towards purpose-led, well-edited journalism that delivered tangible value across news, finance, health, careers, and culture. While digital continued to drive reach and convenience, print reaffirmed its role as a trusted, brand-safe medium, strengthening confidence among readers and advertisers alike. Publishers accelerated the use of AI across newsrooms and operations to enhance speed, accuracy, and efficiency, without diluting editorial judgment. The year also reinforced that India is not one market; regional and vernacular media outperformed national platforms on trust and engagement, particularly in Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 markets. Integrated print-digital solutions and high-impact formats emerged as key drivers of recall and measurable outcomes.
By Yash Bhatia
SENSORY-LED INNOVATION
Sivakumar Sundaram
CEO (Publishing), BCCL
Going into 2026, we expect Print to continue on its trajectory of growth along the trends of continued sensory engagement, mixed reality solutions and conversation-starting narratives. People are increasingly looking for off-screen experiences to combat digital fatigue. Print being the only medium that can engage all 5 senses offers a unique playground for brands to innovate and experiment with storytelling. While we saw multiple sensory innovations in 2025, we expect this trend to only grow going forward.
AI MATURING INTO A RESPONSIBLE NEWSROOM CAPABILITY
Manoj Sharma
CEO – Magazine, India Today Group
In 2026, AI should become a stable part of newsroom operations, supporting research, content adaptation, and workflow efficiencies. Its effectiveness will depend on thoughtful integration, with human editors guiding context, ethics, and storytelling. The focus will shift from experimentation to accountability, ensuring that technology strengthens editorial quality rather than driving it.
PRINT-FIRST, DIGITALLY AMPLIFIED JOURNALISM
Lakshmi Menon
CEO, The New Indian Express
The top three trends to watch out for in 2026 will be:
(1) Print-first journalism with digital extensions—where strong reporting in print is amplified through video, podcasts, newsletters, and explainers across digital platforms.
(2) A deliberate shift towards reader revenue, as legacy brands leverage decades of trust to grow subscriptions, memberships, and premium offerings.
(3) AI as an enabler, not a replacement—working behind the scenes to improve newsroom efficiency, content discovery, and personalisation, while editorial judgement and accountability remain firmly human.
RISE OF SUBJECT-DRIVEN MEDIA
B. Srinivasan
Managing Director (MD), Vikatan Group
Readers will increasingly gravitate towards publications that organise content around clear subjects and everyday needs, prioritising depth, clarity, and practical relevance over volume. Vertical-first content structures spanning areas such as finance, health, careers, and culture will drive stronger loyalty by offering utility with intent. For advertisers, these focused environments enable sharper contextual alignment and more meaningful engagement. Overall, 2026 will reward content ecosystems where relevance is built through clarity, participation, utility, and trust.
REGULATION FORCES PLATFORM ACCOUNTABILITY
Devika Shreyams Kumar
Director - Operations, Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Ltd.
In 2026, accountability will move to the forefront of the digital media agenda. With the enforcement of DPDP norms, AI-content labelling, and tighter regulatory oversight, platforms will be compelled to take greater responsibility for uncurated user-generated content. Recent instances of social media-driven mobilisation and unrest across geographies have underscored the risks of unchecked virality. As a result, striking the right balance between free expression and platform accountability will become central to safeguarding democratic processes and social stability.
FROM CHASING IMPRESSIONS TO EARNING ATTENTION
Deepak Saluja
CEO, Vijay Karnataka
In 2026, marketing teams will shift focus from chasing impressions to earning attention to build mental availability. Attention will be driven by relevance and emotional resonance, strengthening the role of vernacular print, where native-language storytelling delivers deeper engagement and stronger recall. As media consumption accelerates across Tier-2 to Tier‑4 cities and rural India, regional-language editions will gain further momentum, enabling advertisers to unlock growth beyond metros. Print will also integrate more closely with hyperlocal commerce, community participation, and on-ground activations, reinforcing its influence at the last mile and its ability to convert trust into action.
In 2025, radio in India evolved from a pure broadcast medium into a local experience platform. Advertisers began buying access to local communities, not just airtime. As audiences, especially Gen Z and young millennials, sought authenticity, regional identity and cultural rootedness; the demand surged for immersive and culturally resonant experiences. Brands responded with integrated, platform-agnostic storytelling across radio, digital, social and live formats. With diversified revenues, IP-led content and regulatory progress, radio emerged as a complete, outcome-driven brand solution built on trust and relevance.
By Pritha Pahari
AUDIO BECOMING A STRATEGIC PILLAR IN MEDIA PLANNING
Ashit Kukian
CEO, BIG FM
Audio will emerge as a strategic pillar rather than a tactical add‑on in media plans. With increasing on-screen fatigue, consumers will turn to audio for companionship, information and entertainment. Radio and digital audio will together offer scale, intimacy and frequency. Marketers will value audio for its ability to stay present throughout the day without demanding visual attention.
AUDIO+ EXPERIENCE ECOSYSTEM ON THE RISE
Nisha Narayanan
Director & COO, RED FM
In 2026, the industry is expected to see a deeper convergence of radio, digital audio, live events and experiential storytelling, creating an integrated ‘audio + experience’ ecosystem where content is supposed to flow seamlessly across platforms. Hyper-local and culturally rooted narratives are expected to gain greater prominence, particularly in Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 markets where radio continues to hold strong community influence.
OUTCOME OVER REACH
Yatish Mehrishi
CEO, Entertainment Network India Limited (Radio Mirchi)
Radio has always been resilient, but this year tested the whole media industry. The biggest trend is clear: audio is being valued for outcomes, not just reach. In 2026, momentum will come from three areas: diversified revenue streams, solution-led partnerships, and fresh formats that combine radio’s scale with digital-era storytelling to stand out in a crowded attention economy.
PENETRATION TO MICRO GEOGRAPHIES
Mayura Shreyams Kumar
Director - Digital Business, Mathrubhumi
Radio will see deeper penetration into micro geographies, where it is uniquely positioned to address local marketing challenges for brands. It will continue to remain a resilient medium for influencers and highly engaged audiences. Growth will be driven by solution-led sales, innovative content formats, and government policy support, ensuring radio’s relevance and impact in a dynamic media landscape.
AI WILL POWER RADIO, LED BY HUMAN EMOTION
Manoj Mathan
CEO, Radio Mango
AI will become deeply embedded in radio workflows like in music programming, show planning, ad production, personalisation, and analytics. However, the RJ’s human emotion, humour, and local context will remain irreplaceable. Stations that use AI to amplify creativity (not replace it) will win. We believe that the Radio Mango-style warmth, spontaneity, and awareness of cultural nuances become even more valuable in an AI-saturated media environment.
In 2025, out-of-home advertising quietly but definitively reformed itself. The conversation shifted from how many people saw a message to how deeply it landed. OOH this year stopped being just a background reminder and started working as an emotional primer, using context, timing and environment to cut through digital fatigue. On the experiential side, the growing pull of live events and shared cultural moments further amplified this shift. Digital screens and real-time responsiveness allowed brands to speak to people in moments that matter rather than at random locations. As cities kept expanding and mobility increased, this turned OOH into an experience-led, accountable medium that engages, immerses, and builds meaningful brand impact across India’s urban landscape.
By Antora Chakraborty
GAMIFICATION OF THE STREET
Yuvrraj Agarwaal
Chief Strategy Officer, Laqshya Media Group
As Gen Z matures and Gen Alpha enters the consumer cycle, OOH will shift from ‘broadcasting to interaction’. In 2026, we will see OOH evolve into a ‘Phygital Playground’ Billboards will serve as triggers for AR gaming, content creation, and instant commerce. The street will become an extension of their digital feed, demanding creativity that is unfiltered, authentic, and instantly shareable. 2026 will see OOH as a trigger for social sharing, ‘shoppable’ billboards and gamified screens.
PROGRAMMATIC TAKES OVER
Dr Yogesh Lakhani
CMD, Bright Outdoor Media Limited
Programmatic DOOH at scale will redefine how outdoor media is bought and managed in 2026, shifting the focus from static planning cycles to agile, responsive execution. As digital screens multiply across urban centres and transit environments, advertisers will increasingly rely on automated systems to deploy campaigns swiftly, adjust messaging on the fly, and maintain consistency across locations.
ATTENTION IN TRANSIT
Aman Nanda
Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Marketing and HR, Times OOH
Airports and metro OOH are set to become the new premium mass media in 2026, offering brands high-impact visibility. With India’s rapid aviation and metro expansion, these transit hubs will anchor premium advertising. High dwell times, controlled environments and affluent, intent-driven audiences will make airports and metros the preferred choice for high-impact national and launch-led campaigns.
THE METRICS-LED TURN
Nipun Arora
Co-founder, OSMO
Data-led planning will redefine OOH by emphasising attention metrics, footfall attribution, and behavioural insights to guide investment decisions. Brands will demand measurable outcomes and greater accountability from agencies. This trend matters because it reduces wastage and proves ROI. It’s happening as AI modelling, telco data, and advanced attribution tools make outdoor advertising far more precise, predictable, and performance-driven for brands.
GREEN METRICS FOR OOH
Anuj Bhandari
Co-founder, TRIOOH
Sustainable OOH energy-efficient screens, recyclable materials, and low-emission operations will take centre stage in 2026. As brands integrate ESG goals into marketing, outdoor partners must demonstrate environmental responsibility. This trend will rise because both regulators and consumers expect greener practices, making sustainability a core criterion for campaign approvals, not an optional value add.
Experiential Trends
INDIA TAKING CENTRE-STAGE
Sabbas Joseph
Co-Founder & Director, Wizcraft
The world is looking at India and that will not change. We are destined to be the third largest economy in a few years and we represent the future opportunity. More global opportunities, more international experiences will converge and collaborate with India’s best. This will happen across business conventions, corporate events, mall engagement, weddings, concerts, sporting events, exhibitions and city festivals.
FROM REAL TO SURREAL
Sameer Tobaccowala
CEO, Shobiz
In 2026, the boundary between physical environments and digital fantasy will vanish. Our execution of the Kia Seltos World Premiere, proved that audiences now crave ‘physical immersion.’ Moving forward, XR (AR, VR, MR) will move beyond ‘gimmicks’ to become the primary narrative tool. Brands will use these technologies to transport audiences into ‘surreal’ realms, where data visualisation and storytelling become tactile, interactive experiences.
POWERED BY TECH
Chanda Singh
CEO, XP&D Platform
Integration of advanced technology will make experiential marketing more connected. Technology continues to elevate experiential marketing by making experiences more immersive, interactive, and unforgettable. In 2026, brands will increasingly use AI-driven personalisation and responsive environments to enhance engagement on-site and bridge physical and digital touchpoints.
