Ahead of its formal launch on 24 February in Mumbai, Madison World, in partnership with Pitch and exchange4media, unveiled a preview of the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2026.
The full report will be followed by a conference featuring keynote sessions and panel discussions. Chief Guest Amit Syngle, Managing Director and CEO of Asian Paints, will share the advertiser’s perspective. Girish Prabhu, VP and Head of Amazon Ads India at Amazon, joins as Special Invitee, while Shivam Puri, CEO of Cipla Health, will deliver the closing keynote.
Market Overview
Under an expanded AdEx framework, India’s advertising market reached Rs 1,55,105 crore in 2025, marking 12% growth over 2024. By incorporating Quick Commerce and MSME digital spends into the calculation, the report finds that digital media now commands 60% of total ad expenditure, with traditional formats accounting for 40%.
Using the legacy definition applied in earlier editions, AdEx rose 7% to Rs 1,15,291 crore. On this basis, digital holds a 46% share, while traditional media retains 54%. Taken together, the two measures indicate that while overall growth has softened, the market structure has shifted decisively towards digital.
A Larger, More Digital Market
On the expanded base, digital ad spend in 2025 stood at Rs 93,156 crore, up 22% year on year. Traditional media declined 1% to Rs 61,949 crore. Digital now comprises core formats such as search, social, video, display and ecommerce, alongside Rs 4,000 crore from Quick Commerce advertising and Rs 35,814 crore from MSME digital investments.
Looking ahead, PMAR 2026 projects that total AdEx will rise to Rs 1,74,605 crore in 2026, implying growth of 12 to 13%. Digital is expected to account for nearly 64% of the market, at Rs 1,11,976 crore. Under the older definition, the market is forecast to grow about 9% to approximately Rs 1,25,600 crore, highlighting that incremental value is increasingly being generated within new age digital ecosystems.
Conference Focus
The report launch will convene marketers, media leaders and strategists to assess advertising’s evolution amid economic pressures, platform shifts and AI driven transformation.
Following the presentation by Sam Balsara, Chairman of Madison World, and a strategic outlook from Ajit Varghese, Partner and Group CEO, discussions will explore what has scaled, what has faltered and how agency models must evolve.
Vikram Sakhuja, Non Executive Director at Madison, will lead a debate on whether brands are better served by holding companies, independent agencies or in house teams. Pulkit Trivedi, Managing Director of Snap Inc, will examine performance metrics in modern advertising. Vivek Das, Chief Digital Officer at Madison Media, will moderate a session on short form content and the growing role of AI.
Overall, the agenda underscores a sector moving beyond rapid digital expansion towards efficiency, accountability and full funnel growth, with retail media, AI, measurement and agency restructuring at the centre of industry debate.
