Indian Ad Industry in 2025: Mergers, Mandates, and a Major Reset

• The Omnicom–IPG merger, a $13-billion deal, fundamentally restructured Indian advertising, creating the second-largest agency group after WPP and leading to significant job cuts and legacy brand retirements.
• CCI intensified scrutiny with raids on major agencies (GroupM, Dentsu, Publicis, IPG) over alleged cartelization and price-fixing, alongside close monitoring of the Omnicom–IPG merger for market concentration.
• Ad spend grew 8-10%, with digital accounting for over half of incremental growth, while AI moved from a tool to a governance issue with ASCI and IndiaAI Mission introducing regulatory roadmaps.
• TRAI's enforcement of ad time caps reshaped TV monetization, pushing broadcasters towards premium pricing and advertisers towards integrated TV-digital planning.
• Layoffs, totaling an estimated 10,000 jobs (8% of workforce) due to consolidation and automation, highlighted a structural shift in advertising's labor model, while client mandates shifted towards integrated, outcome-driven partnerships.

Why It Matters: Indian advertising in 2025 underwent a profound structural reset driven by consolidation, regulatory oversight, and technological shifts.