Ad Spending Is Set To Increase By Double Digits As Festive Spirit Returns

The festive season is just around the corner, and brands are ready to make the most through advertising. With dimmed celebrations amidst the pandemic, we are expecting a grand comeback. As a result, advertising spending this festive season will witness new highs, going up to 30,000 crore.  

Industries such as ecommerce, online gaming, banking, automobile, retail, and food-tech services will leverage the festive period by allocating budgets across digital, print and OTT channels. Compared to last year, the ad growth this festive season is estimated to be around 15 per cent. As a result, television and digital advertising will be the most expensive over this festive season. According to estimates, 41 per cent and 36 per cent of advertising budgets will be spent on television and internet media, respectively. However, just 3.5 per cent of the money will go to OOH, and 17 per cent of the money spent on advertising will go to print. 

The upcoming T20 World Cup will also significantly contribute to boosting overall advertising spending. The festive season, beginning with Onam and ending with New Year, will bring about 30-40 per cent of the ad spends. The festive season typically prompts businesses to throw open their wallets and spend lavishly on advertising, with the FMCG industry taking the lead. And we will be subject to the same scenario this year. However, several companies may take a backseat, given the rising retail inflation, touching an eight-year high of 7.79 per cent. 

As per the industry trends, FMCG brands are looking forward to a 15 to 20 per cent business growth in the next three months. Brands will leave no stone unturned to attract customers to give consumer spending a push. FMCG companies will spend more money on advertising than any other industry to make up for declining sales during the last years amidst subdued festivities. Several brands have already closed their ad spends across platforms.  

With consumers more familiar with online ordering than ever, advertisers are ready to go all out in expectation of driving more returns during the festive period. The top spending categories will be lifestyle, home décor, ecommerce and FMCG. In addition to boosting their ad spending, these categories will strive for deeper market penetration. Brands will target Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets to generate better brand recall and audience engagement.  

With new brands entering, the competition is rising in the market. And every brand competes against each other to stand out in consumers’ minds. Therefore, brands will allocate more budget to advertising this season. Advertising today is an integral part of brands and will run the show during the festive period.  

As we approach the busiest festive period, brands and agencies are already working on a marketing strategy to grab customers' attention with various promotional tactics. Customers will always link the festivals with deals when they think about festivals. Industries including cars, FMCG, CPG, BFSI, retail, and jewellery will increase sales despite the two years of covid disruptions that diminished the holiday enthusiasm. Brands from all categories plan to increase their advertising costs by 10 to 20 per cent. 

Sahil Chopra

Guest Author Sahil Chopra is the CEO and Founder of iCubesWire, a leading Digital Marketing Solution and concept provider in India, providing a 360-degree environment to leading brands for their digital marketing needs. He is a highly motivated and adaptive digital marketing professional and internet evangelist with expertise in Internet Strategy development and execution. Sahil has over 9 years of experience in digital marketing across multiple traditional and emerging channels. Sahil completed his engineering from PTU and pursued an MBA from Symbiosis Thereafter he started his career with NIIT – Global E-learning Services where he was exposed to the concept of digital marketing.