Mumbai: Digital advertising in India witnessed unprecedented growth in 2025, with ad impressions rising more than five times compared to 2021, according to the latest report, “A Pixelated View into Digital Advertising Trends for Y 2025” by TAM AdEx, a division of TAM Media Research.
Indexing 2021 as the base year (100), digital ad impressions climbed to 545 in 2025, underscoring a sharp acceleration in momentum. On a year-on-year basis, impressions in 2025 expanded by over 2.5 times compared to 2024. Quarterly trends further reflected this upward trajectory, with Q4 2025 recording a 15% growth over Q1 2025.
Services Sector Leads with 45% Share
The Services sector retained its top position in 2025, accounting for 45% of total digital ad impressions. Education (7%) and Personal Accessories (6%) followed, with the top 10 sectors collectively contributing 86% of overall impressions. Notably, Personal Care/Personal Hygiene and Textiles/Clothing emerged as new entrants among the top sectors during the year.
E-commerce Categories Drive Growth
Among categories, Ecom-Online Shopping led with a 12% share of digital ad impressions in 2025. Other prominent categories included Ecom-Other Services, Ecom-Clothing/Textile/Fashion, Ecom-Education and Software. Five of the top 10 categories originated from the Services sector, and together, the top 10 categories accounted for 42% of total impressions.
In terms of growth, more than 400 categories registered positive growth during the year. AV Auxiliaries recorded the highest percentage growth—over 10 times compared to 2024—while Ecom-Clothing/Textile/Fashion grew five times and Retail Outlets-Clothing/Textiles/Fashion expanded seven times year-on-year.
Flipkart Tops Advertisers and Brands List
Among advertisers, Flipkart ranked first with a 3% share of ad impressions, followed by Amazon India at 3% and Adobe India at 2%. More than 187,000 advertisers were active on digital platforms in 2025, with the top 10 advertisers contributing 15% of total impressions. Six of the top 10 advertisers were new entrants compared to 2024.
In the brands ranking, Flipkart.com led the list, followed by Amazon.in, Fabindia, Myntra.com and Razorpay. Three of the top 10 brands belonged to the Ecom-Online Shopping category, while seven of the top 10 brands were from the Services sector. The top 10 brands together accounted for 12% of digital ad impressions.
Additionally, over 120,000 advertisers were exclusive to 2025, having not advertised in 2024. Perplexity.ai emerged as the top exclusive advertiser during the year.
Instagram Commands 65% Share
Among web publishers, Instagram dominated the digital landscape with a 65% share of ad impressions in 2025. Facebook followed with 14%, while YouTube accounted for 8% and X captured 5%. The top five publishers collectively contributed 29% of ad impressions.
Platform-wise, Instagram Display led with 64% of total digital impressions, followed by Facebook Display at 14%. Mobile Video and In-App Video each accounted for 4%.
Programmatic Dominates Transaction Methods
Programmatic advertising emerged as the dominant transaction method, contributing 95.8% of total digital ad impressions in 2025. Ad Networks followed distantly at 1.5%, with direct transactions and hybrid models making up the remainder.
Single Image Ads Most Preferred Format
In terms of creative formats, Single Image Ads commanded 83% of total digital impressions, followed by Video Ads at 10%. HTML5 and Banner formats each held a 3% share, while Carousels accounted for 0.5%.
The findings underscore the rapid evolution of India’s digital advertising ecosystem in 2025, marked by exponential impression growth, e-commerce-led category expansion, Instagram’s platform dominance and the overwhelming preference for programmatic buying and single-image creatives.
