While core ad rates remain unchanged—18% for digital and television, and 5% for print—the bigger gains come from tax cuts on consumer-facing sectors like FMCG, durables, automobiles, and lifestyle products. As essentials and premium goods become more affordable, brands are signalling plans to ramp up festive campaigns.
“With GST on premium TVs slashed to 18%, more households are expected to upgrade to larger screens. That automatically benefits OTT and broadcast advertising, as consumption of high-quality video content rises,” said Neelesh Pednekar, co-founder and head of digital media at Social Pill, a digital marketing agency.
According to industry experts, festive bookings on television are likely to strengthen, digital and influencer marketing will see more experimentation, and print will gain traction in price-sensitive regional markets. However, structural challenges such as global uncertainty, margin pressures, and media fragmentation still persist. Sectors like cinema are more reliant on content than tax tweaks for performance.
“The most immediate impact will be visible in categories where consumer demand gets a direct push, like automobiles, FMCG, durables, and electronics,” added Pednekar.
Brands are reopening talks on larger festive bursts, especially in durables and auto, with integrated campaigns across multiple platforms, said Suyash Lahoti, partner at Wit & Chai Group, a creative marketing agency. Influencer collaborations are also ramping up as marketers seek to amplify engagement while sentiment remains upbeat.
Arghya Chakravarty, COO of Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd, noted, “Television is set to gain the most. The move from 28% to 18% GST will drive higher sales and expand viewership, particularly in rural and regional markets, making TV the strongest option for mass reach this season.”
He added, “Partnerships and offers are likely to continue and accelerate, with advertisers rethinking their approach to festive advertising across TV, AVoD and YouTube, to match the growing appetite for consumer engagement.”
Headwinds remain
Nevertheless, several hurdles remain. Advertising services still attract 18% GST, and there’s ongoing lobbying for parity or further cuts. Liquidity issues persist, especially in print and cable where payment cycles are lengthy.
Compliance challenges and delayed refunds could limit how aggressively some sectors expand campaigns. Moreover, with real money gaming getting banned, advertising will take a hit as they were one of the biggest spenders, according to Nitin Burman, group chief revenue officer, Balaji Telefilms.
Kalyan Kumar, co-founder and CEO, KlugKlug, an influencer marketing platform pointed out that smaller D2C or quick-commerce brands could struggle with billing mismatches, compliance burdens, and competing against larger players who can sustain high-intensity campaigns. Plus, elevated GST on premium apparel and luxury items may dampen ad effectiveness in those categories.
Brands are not suddenly doubling budgets, but they are unlocking paused spends, closing open-ended negotiations faster, and reducing approval inertia, according to Arnab Mitra, founder and managing director of Liqvd Asia, a digital advertising agency. Collaborations are now more performance-tied. Brands are asking if their media cost is slightly lower, can they now test newer formats, more micro-influencers, or run a second leg of the campaign.
Content still king
“For television, cinema, and print, outcomes will hinge more on content slates, festive windows, and inventory dynamics than on tax tweaks. For digital and creators, the impact is neutral. There could be a modest, indirect positive: cleaner reconciliations and amnesty windows have nudged faster purchase order-to-payment cycles for some advertisers and agencies. That improves working capital for creators and enables quicker turnaround, but it’s a hygiene gain—not a demand driver,” said Sahiba Dhandhania, CEO and founder of Confluencr, an influencer marketing agency.
Cinema players are equally cautious. Yogesh Kapil, national sales head of Qube Cinema Network, a digital cinema technology provider observed, the timing of the reforms is apt amid global uncertainty and inflationary pressures. Advertisers will approach the festive period with renewed confidence, but enthusiasm will depend more on marquee content than GST relief.
“The actual relief is limited because the GST slab threshold has not been revised upward from ₹100 to ₹300, as the industry has long recommended. Today, only a very small fraction of cinema tickets are sold below ₹100, so the benefit to exhibitors remains marginal. From an advertising standpoint, this doesn’t create a structural shift. Cinema and media advertising will continue to be driven by the strength of big releases and seasonal demand, rather than this tax change,” said Bhuvanesh Mendiratta, managing director, Miraj Entertainment Ltd that operates multiplex theatres.
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