Digital ad impressions double YoY in H1 2025: TAM AdEx report

Digital advertising in India witnessed a remarkable surge in the first half of 2025, with ad impressions doubling compared to the same period in 2024, according to the latest half-yearly report released by TAM AdEx, a division of TAM Media Research.

The report, based on digital ad impressions from January to June 2025, highlighted that the momentum of online advertising continues to accelerate, with services remaining the dominant sector.

Services sector maintains lead

The services sector retained its top spot, accounting for 45% of total digital ad impressions, holding more than half of the market share in the top 10. Education and personal accessories followed, each contributing 7%, while retail and computers both had a 6% share.

Banking, finance and investment comprised 5%, while auto (4%), personal care and hygiene (4%), durables (2%) and food and beverages (2%) rounded off the top 10 sectors.

Interestingly, three new sectors—personal care and personal hygiene, durables, and food and beverages—made their debuts in the top 10 list, reflecting a broadening advertiser base.

E-commerce categories on top

Within categories, e-commerce continued its dominance, with e-commerce online shopping emerging as the single largest category, contributing 12% of total digital ad impressions.

Other strong categories included e-commerce other services, e-commerce clothing/textiles/fashion, e-commerce media/entertainment/social media, and e-commerce education. Together, the top 10 categories accounted for 41% of overall digital ad impressions.

Retail outlets in clothing, textiles and fashion, along with readymade garments, entered the top 10 list for the first time this year.

Explosive growth in select categories

The fastest-growing category was AV auxiliaries, which registered a staggering 13-fold growth in ad impressions compared to the previous year. Retail outlets in clothing, textiles and fashion, as well as e-commerce wallets, each grew tenfold. E-commerce clothing/textiles/fashion grew sixfold, while e-commerce education saw a 3.6-fold increase.

Cars (2.45 times), software (2.6 times), ready-made garments (4 times), and footwear (4.7 times) also featured among the top 10 growth categories. Overall, more than 380 categories recorded positive growth during the period.

Exclusive advertisers and platforms

The report recorded over 1.1 lakh exclusive advertisers on digital platforms in the first half of 2025. Among them, Adobe Software India led as the top exclusive advertiser across both digital and television, followed by Blink Commerce, Grammarly Inc, Chess Personality and the Dubai Communications/Tourism Promotion Board. 

Others in the top 10 included Interviewbit Software Services, Hostinger International, Goenka Kachave LLP, Lenovo and Mad About Sports.

Instagram leads as web publisher

In terms of web publishers, Instagram maintained its dominance, accounting for a massive 63% of digital ad impressions, followed by Facebook (14%) and YouTube (9%). X.com held a 5% share, while leading Indian news publishers such as Amar Ujala, Indian Express, News18, Aaj Tak, Moneycontrol, Cricbuzz and TV9 Hindi each contributed 0.2%. Collectively, the top five publishers commanded 92% of ad impressions in 2025.

Display ads dominate, programmatic rules transactions

Display advertising was by far the most preferred format, making up 90% of total digital ad impressions, compared to 10% for video.

When it came to transaction methods, programmatic advertising dominated with a 95% share, followed by ad networks at 2%. Programmatic/ad network combinations, direct placements and other methods collectively accounted for the remaining 3%.