India’s advertising boom accelerates as human stories and AI converge to reshape marketing

India’s advertising landscape is experiencing rapid growth driven by digital dominance, innovative formats, and a strategic blend of human storytelling and AI, redefining engagement and trust in the sector’s future.

India’s advertising landscape is poised for robust growth and significant transformation as it moves toward digital dominance and refined marketing approaches. According to the latest industry insights, the country’s overall advertising market is projected to grow annually between 10 and 15 percent, aiming to reach approximately 0.5 percent of GDP by 2029. This ambitious growth trajectory outpaces global averages, positioning India among the fastest-growing advertising markets worldwide.

Digital advertising already commands a substantial share of the market, accounting for 50 to 60 percent of total advertising spends, with expectations to nearly double to between $17 billion and $19 billion by 2029. This progression is driven by rising private consumption, increasing digital engagement, and the rapid expansion of over-the-top (OTT) platforms. Mobile devices play a pivotal role, contributing to nearly 70 percent of digital ad spend in India, an even higher figure than the global average. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands are key contributors, with their digital ad budget share forecasted to reach up to 42 percent by 2029. Connected TV (CTV) adoption is also accelerating rapidly, with households owning CTV sets more than doubling from 20 million in 2022 to 45 million in 2024.

Amid this expansion, we observe a marked shift in how marketers engage with their audiences, particularly in the B2B sector. India’s B2B advertising market is growing at over 20 percent year-on-year. Yet, despite the increasing budgets and technological tools like AI easing content creation, marketers face mounting challenges in capturing and sustaining audience attention. A striking 90 percent of B2B marketers in India identify capturing attention as their greatest difficulty, prompting a reassessment of trust-building in an environment saturated with content.

Sachin Sharma, Head of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions in India, elaborates on this evolution, noting that modern B2B buyers, primarily digital natives, are adept at discerning authenticity from superficial stories. LinkedIn research supports this, revealing that 87 percent of B2B marketers acknowledge audiences no longer accept information at face value but seek validation from trusted sources within their networks. Moreover, 84 percent agree that in the age of abundant AI-driven content, human voices have become crucial for trust, while 86 percent are increasingly investing in community-driven content to engage buyer groups dominated by Millennials and Gen Z.

This human-centric approach to storytelling is reshaping marketing strategies. Formats featuring authentic founder stories, behind-the-scenes insights from employees, and relatable explanations by creators are gaining traction over conventional polished corporate campaigns. LinkedIn’s data demonstrates that human-first storytelling formats, including Thought Leader Ads and Live Events, significantly enhance engagement, with Live Events reportedly driving 131 percent higher click-through rates and 19 percent higher post-event engagement.

Video has emerged as a primary medium within this paradigm shift. According to LinkedIn findings, 66 percent of B2B buyers in India state that video content aids their decision-making, and 83 percent identify short-form videos as among the most trusted formats. Video consumption on LinkedIn is increasing by 36 percent annually in India, although video content creation is expanding at twice that rate, intensifying competition for viewer attention. This dynamic has led marketers to experiment with impactful, time-sensitive formats like First Impression Ads, short, vertical video ads that deliver high-impact results in a single day, alongside Reserved Ads that maintain brand visibility and Connected TV Ads, which are particularly effective for Indian marketers targeting overseas audiences in the US and Canada.

As decision-making cycles lengthen with expanding buyer groups, the pressure to demonstrate the direct business impact of marketing efforts has heightened. Seventy-five percent of Indian B2B marketers report longer sales cycles, while 84 percent of Indian CMOs emphasise the increased importance of proving campaign ROI over the past two years. LinkedIn has responded by introducing AI-enhanced measurement tools that link campaign data directly to CRM systems, track conversion actions across multiple channels, and provide detailed engagement metrics at the company level. These innovations facilitate a more nuanced understanding of marketing output, moving beyond surface-level performance metrics towards identifying drivers of success.

Additionally, the ongoing debate about balancing brand-building and performance marketing is evolving. Sharma highlights that rather than choosing between the two, savvy marketers are integrating them, leveraging brand-building at the top of the funnel to foster trust that drives improved performance downstream. Data suggests that maintaining a continuous brand presence within targeted audiences leads to a 10 percent lift in conversions, while brand-focused content can increase lead generation efficiency by 1.4 times.

Looking forward, Sharma envisions AI and human storytelling as complementary forces rather than competitors. The majority of B2B marketers surveyed, 85 percent, believe AI empowers smaller brands to compete effectively, while 90 percent consider future success contingent on combining AI’s precision with authentic, human-led narratives. He forecasts that AI will assume responsibilities like automating targeting and optimisation, freeing marketers to concentrate on uniquely human attributes such as context, emotion, and credibility. This synergy of technology and human insight is expected to define the next phase of digital advertising in India.

India’s rapid advertising growth is complemented by broader industry trends reported in various studies, including the ET Brand Equity-Ipsos report, which confirms that digital advertising now leads the market with a 44 percent share, surpassing traditional television for the first time. The sector registered 20 percent year-on-year growth in FY2025, while OTT platforms have been recognised as a distinct and growing category in the advertising ecosystem.

Overall, India’s advertising market is poised to evolve through a combination of creativity, data integration, and technological innovation. The convergence of mobile-led consumption, AI-driven personalisation, the rising prominence of video, and innovative ad formats are reshaping how brands connect meaningfully with increasingly discerning consumers and decision-makers. As marketers focus on consistency, human storytelling, and building trust as a durable asset, the sector is set for sustained success in the coming years.

📌 Reference Map:

• ^[1] Social Samosa – Paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
• ^[2] LiveMint – Paragraphs 1, 9
• ^[3] Economic Times – Paragraphs 1, 9
• ^[4] Ipsos Report – Paragraph 9
• ^[5] Times of India – Paragraphs 1, 9
• ^[6] IBEF – Paragraphs 1, 9

Source: Fuse Wire Services