The Pitch Madison Advertising Report has always been an industry guide to spends, in a rather complex Indian market. In an in-depth chat, Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World tells Neeta Nair, Editor of IMPACT, how 2025 just turned out to be a blockbuster year for Digital, the areas where India’s AdEx is punching above its weight in the global scheme of things and introduction of an expanded definition of AdEx that covers the MSMEs and Q-commerce, over and above the legacy one, in PMAR 2026
Q] From 10% in 2023 to 9% in 2024 and now 7% in 2025, why is AdEx growth (legacy definition) sliding? Was it just Covid catch up earlier or is there more to the story?
In pure numbers, yes, growth has slowed from 10% to 9% to 7% on the legacy AdEx definition. But that narrative is too comforting, because it suggests a natural comedown after Covid. The data says something sharper: India has moved from an expansion phase to an allocation phase.
Two things are happening together. First, macro headwinds—inflation, tighter liquidity, geopolitical uncertainty, the RMG shock—have made advertisers cautious. Second, and more important, the quality of growth has changed. Traditional media shrank by Rs 739 Crores in 2025, while Digital added Rs 8,050 Crores on the legacy view and Rs 16,895 Crores on the expanded view. Every rupee of net growth came from Digital; Traditional was a net drag.
So, the story is not ‘AdEx is slowing’, it is ‘the market is forcing discipline’. India is entering an early maturity phase where the question is no longer ‘How much more can I spend?’ but ‘How well can I allocate?’ That is uncomfortable for all of us who grew up in a world where growth was driven by buying more GRPs (Gross Rating Points) and more inches, but it is the new reality.
Q] In 2025, which mediums surprised you and which ones shocked you?
Two mediums surprised us on the upside and one shocked us.
The positive surprise was OOH. When Traditional AdEx as a whole fell 1%, OOH still grew 4% to Rs 4,835 Crores—making it the only Traditional medium with healthy growth. Real Estate alone grew 20% on OOH (Rs 1,007 Crores to Rs 1,206 Crores), pushing its share of the medium to 25%. That tells you advertisers are not abandoning physical media; they are deprioritising undifferentiated media. OOH has quietly become the premium offline anchor for a Digital journey.
The ‘expected surprise’ was CTV. Linear TV fell 5% and volumes fell 10%, but CTV doubled from about Rs 3,000 Crores to Rs 6,000 Crores. When you combine the two, Large Screen (TV+CTV) actually grew by 4% from Rs 37,453 Crores to Rs 38,855 Crores. So, TV is dead only if you insist on defining it as linear FCT; on a Large Screen view, it is evolving, not dying.
The real shock was not a medium but a definition: on the expanded AdEx view—including Q Comm and MSME—India is already at 60% Digital fuelled by explosive growth in these segments, which are set to rise further in the near future as global average is 79%. One always knew that Digital is the future but frankly that it is already 60% is a bit of surprise to me. Possibly, time for FMCGs to re-evaluate role of Digital in their plans. And also, time for FMCGs to take Sports more seriously for greater impact rather than dismiss it on grounds of cost.
Q] This year we see a new AdEx definition alongside the old one. What have you added, and which should a marketer use?
The old definition is what the industry is used to: TV, Print, Radio, Cinema, OOH and Core Digital.
The new definition adds two things that were hiding in plain sight: Quick Commerce advertising and MSME Digital spends. Together they were Rs 39,814 Crores in 2025—Rs 4,000 Crores from Q Comm and Rs 35,814 Crores from MSMEs—accounting for 43% of total Digital AdEx and taking Digital’s share of the market to 60%.
Which should marketers use? I would say the Advertiser and the Media must refer to the new enlarged definition, because after all, it is all advertising and each ad competes with every other ad for attention. Also, both spends by MSME (Rs 35,814 Crores) and on Q-Commerce (Rs 4,000 Crores) is quite substantial, to be not recognised as Spends. Q-Commerce has grown rather rapidly from few hundred Crores in 2023 to Rs 4,000 Crores today. In the detailed report we have also elaborated on highly advertised categories. The uncomfortable conclusion: India is already a majority Digital market; any strategy that treats Digital as a bolt on is already outdated.
Q] AdEx has more than doubled in 10 years (old definition) and India has already reached digital majority as per the new one. In the next 2–3 years, which Traditional medium will face the maximum brunt of the latter development?
The obvious answer is TV, but the data forces a more nuanced view.
Linear TV is clearly under structural pressure: AdEx down 5%, share down from 32% to 28%, volumes down 10%, and nearly 500 advertisers exiting. Yet when you add CTV, Large Screen still grows. So, I would say Linear TV as we knew it—year round GRP machines, broad FCT buys—is the one that will feel the maximum pain, not ‘television screens’ as a whole.
Print is the other candidate. It grew 3% in value in 2025 with flat volumes, which means it is premiumising, not scaling. English is driving growth; several regional languages are seeing declines. Over the next 2–3 years, Print will be forced to become a high yield, narrow role medium—credibility, detail, very specific geographies—rather than a mass reach workhorse.
At Rs 61,949 Crores of Traditional AdEx recorded in 2025 I would say this is also a bit of a surprise. Too-few large countries would have 40% contribution from traditional AdEx.
If we use the word ‘brunt’, I would say: the brunt of Digital majority will be borne by any Traditional medium that insists on behaving like it is still 2015. That includes TV networks that sell only GRPs, and publishers who sell only space, not engagement and outcomes.
Q] India is much more balanced on Traditional (54%) vs. global’s share of traditional - 21%. How long will legacy media continue to perform well here?
Our data suggests two truths can coexist. On the legacy definition, Traditional is still 54% of Indian AdEx, compared to just 21% globally. India remains structurally friendlier to legacy media because of language, distribution realities, and the role of TV and Print in politics, culture and credibility. The intrinsic strength of newspaper in terms of news value, announcements essentially from Real Estate and Automobiles, are keeping newspapers going. And, they have recorded a minor growth of 3%. The oldest medium Outdoor is also growing at its own pace and now holds a 3% share of total.
But on the expanded definition, Traditional is already down to 40%, and Digital is at 60%. So, the performance of legacy media is increasingly about holding value, not driving growth. In 2025, Traditional added almost nothing in net terms; all the growth came from Digital. In 2026, Traditional is forecast to grow about 1% versus 20% for Digital (expanded).
So ‘how long’ is the wrong question. Legacy media will not suddenly disappear in India; it will become more selective, more premium and, frankly, more accountable. The question is: how long will marketers continue to overpay for legacy behaviour in legacy media? The moment we start buying TV and Print for explicit, evidence backed roles—not habit—the illusion of ‘Traditional is doing well’ will fade very quickly.
Q] How is India faring compared to global markets?
On size, India is still small—about 1% of global AdEx. So not fully there yet to own its space in the global advertising map where US alone commands 35%. However, on speed and structure, we are punching above our weight currently.
Global AdEx grew about 9% in 2025; India grew 7% on the legacy definition and 12% on the expanded definition. Global Digital grew 13%; India’s Digital grew 18% on the legacy view and 22% on the expanded view. Our Traditional decline is also milder: –1% vs –4% globally.
The interesting part is timing. Under the expanded definition, India hit 60% Digital share in 2025—a majority that many developed markets took an extra decade to reach. So, we are simultaneously a ‘Traditional strong’ market and a hyper fast Digital majority market.
In simpler words: India is no longer a follower in media structure; we are a test case. How we handle the collision of high Traditional and high Digital will teach the world as much as the world teaches us.
