Firms like Hindustan Unilever Restricted (HUL), Procter & Gamble (P&G), Marico and Colgate-Palmolive reported decreased ad spends of 6%, 17%, 2% and eight%, respectively. (Consultant picture)
India’s largest FMCG advertisers pulled back their ad expenditure in the December-ending quarter, squeezing ad revenues of leisure platforms.
Firms like Hindustan Unilever Restricted (HUL), Procter & Gamble (P&G), Marico and Colgate-Palmolive reported decreased ad spends of 6 per cent, 17 per cent, 2 per cent and eight per cent respectively. Whereas Dabur was the one one to barely enhance spends by 1.9 per cent, the general ad spends had been muted.
The impression of this was felt by corporations like Zee Leisure that reported decrease ad revenues by 9 per cent yearly and 10 per cent decline in home promoting income yearly as a result of slowdown in FMCG spending. Equally, JioStar stated TV ad market stays difficult as a result of spend cuts by FMCG and client electronics.
“GST advantages rolled out final quarter gave a lift to durables and auto sector. Whereas FMCG was busy planning for premiumisation, the GST roll-out and Trump tariffs had them in a good spot. They needed to rethink premium merchandise and go back to mass merchandise and give attention to Tier 2 markets. Therefore, the pause on ad spends,” Ajimon Francis, Managing Director at Model Finance India, informed businessline.
Spend recovery
Regardless of the smooth efficiency by manufacturers in the final quarter, Francis anticipated progress in ad spends come Holi, as summer season merchandise additionally start their campaigns following an prolonged winter.
Commenting on the ad spends, Niranjan Gupta, Chief Monetary Officer, Govt Director, Finance, HUL, stated over the past earnings name, “Whenever you have a look at the 9-month of this fiscal, our A&P [advertising and promotion] to share income is 10 per cent, which is similar because the earlier yr. On an absolute foundation, our A&P has gone up by ₹200 crore roughly. If you happen to mix that we’re shopping for efficiencies, in efficient phrases, it’s gone up much more. As we transfer ahead, we’ll proceed to speculate behind model and there can be that step up.”
In keeping with Parveen Sheik, Head of Enterprise Intelligence, WPP Media, India, FMCG varieties the muse of promoting but is anticipated to develop at a low 6 per cent this yr.
“It’s clearly not driving promoting however they may nonetheless spend as a result of promoting could be very very important for FMCG manufacturers. Platforms that may affect enterprise outcomes are getting extra share of the promoting pile. What we noticed unravelling in 2025 is that from a model constructing effort the focus was extra in the direction of producing extra gross sales, so you probably did see digital platforms gaining on the back of what TV was shedding. We do really feel that TV could have a serious function to play even throughout the CPG context,” stated Sheik.
Printed on February 22, 2026
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