Advertising

Govt removes 12-minute per hour advertisement cap for television channels

The government said the advertising cap, introduced in 2006, had outlived its utility amid increased competition among TV channels and the rapid growth of digital media

Brand Canvas: The ad guru's masterclass on making brands live on for life

Prahlad Kakkar's masterclass opened Brand Canvas 2026 with lessons on trust, emotion and storytelling, followed by workshops and four national qualifiers

Lights, camera, brand! Power Rangers win Brand Canvas 2026 top honours

"When wit meets excellence, magic happens." The national ad film event by BSmart ended on a high note

Animal influencers may be one up on humans, with lessons for advertisers

A report on the virality of animal pictures and videos points to an emerging trend in advertising

Microstimuli: How tiny cues can reshape decisions and public behaviour

How micro stimuli, not 30-second commercials, can change human behaviour

Best of BS Opinion: Does corporate power now rival state power globally?

From Big Tech's growing influence and Sharad Pawar's political calculus to the Congress' future and the rise of storyselling, here are today's top Opinion pieces.

Why 'storyselling' is replacing traditional advertising narratives

Why Ads That Don't Look Like Ads Are Winning

Life insurers' ad expenses fell 19.16% to ₹3,211.6 crore in FY26

Private life insurers pared advertising and publicity spending amid GST changes, EoM pressures and restructuring after the loss of input tax credit benefits

25 years of A R Rahman's Airtel jingle: A timeless lesson in branding

You don't need lyrics to know it. You don't need a screen to see it

AI-made ads promise cheaper reach, but can brands avoid slop trap?

Disney's AI ad tool could lower video costs for SMEs and regional brands, but Indian marketers warn that scale without human judgement may weaken trust, recall and regulation

Advertising curbs risk weakening broadcasters in a changed market

As of December 2025, the number of homes with cable & satellite TV was down to 100 million, according to estimates

West Asia war: Margin pressure moves ad budgets out of prime-time spotlight

Media buying agencies and the FMCG sector contribute around 30 per cent of the overall advertising industry

Buyers and brands keep an AI eye on each other in fast-changing dynamics

Consumers adopt tools to monitor the very brands that track them. It's a double-edged opportunity for brands as consumers expect greater transparency

Indian digital ad market likely to double to $22 bn by 2030, says report

The digital advertisement market in India is likely to double in the next five years, reaching up to USD 22 billion by 2030, market research firm Redseer Consulting said on Friday. According to the latest report released by Redseer, digital advertising spend growth is outpacing the broader economy with the segment accounting for 70-75 per cent of total global ad spend in 2025 and is growing at 3-5 times the pace of global real GDP in 2025. "Indian digital ad market is currently at USD 11 billion in 2025. It is projected to grow at 10-15 per cent compound annual growth rate in the range of USD 19 billion to USD 22 billion by 2030," Redseer Consulting senior consultant Madhav Gulati told PTI. Geographically, the United States holds the largest share at around 46 per cent of global digital ad spend in 2025, followed by China at around 24 per cent share. The share of India is around 1 per cent at present, according to the report. Global digital advertising market to cross USD 1.2 tril

Google suspends 1.7 million accounts, blocks 483 million bad ads in India

Tech giant Google blocked or removed 483.7 million policy-violating advertisements and suspended 1.7 million advertiser accounts in India in 2025 with the help of its AI platform Gemini. Globally, Google blocked or removed over 8.3 billion bad ads and suspended 24.9 million advertiser accounts last year, according to Google's '2025 Ads Safety Report' released on Thursday. The company stated that the integration of its Gemini artificial intelligence models has dramatically improved its ability to detect and stop bad actors in real-time, especially as scammers increasingly use generative AI to create deceptive ads at scale. Of the 8.3 billion ads removed globally, Google said it stopped over 99 per cent before they were ever seen by users. "Our safety teams work around the clock to stop bad actors that use increasingly sophisticated, malicious ads," Keerat Sharma, VP & General Manager, Ads Privacy and Safety at Google, said in a blog post. "Our models analyse hundreds of billions of

Meta poised to surpass Google in digital ad revenue for first time: Report

The Instagram-owner's global net ad revenues are expected to reach $243.46 billion in 2026, ahead of Google's projected $239.54 billion, the market research firm said

FIFA Lego lessons for IPL advertisers: Rethink product and creativity

The Lego campaign for the FIFA World Cup should serve as a masterclass for all brands and marketers - both for its focus on the product and how the event will be used to drive brand sales

As India's weight management market expands, misleading ads risk rises

A week before semaglutide's patent expiry, the CDSCO issued an advisory warning pharma companies against promoting prescription weight-loss drugs, banned by law

Is the use of old Hindi songs lazy advertising or a masterstroke?

Brands are reviving old Hindi songs to spark nostalgia and trust, but can retro appeal truly build lasting brand equity in the age of AI-driven advertising?

Ad-vantage AI: Humans remain the creative filter in evolving advertising

AI is transforming advertising in India-cutting costs and speeding execution-yet human creativity remains central to emotional storytelling and brand impact