Category: Advertising

Sports AdEx up 7% in 2024 to reach Rs 7,989 cr: GroupM

The growth signals a steady rise in investments across various sports properties, driven by increasing viewership, brand engagement, and the expanding digital ecosystem. (Image source: GroupM)

GroupM’s latest Sporting Nation report reveals that sports adex in India is on track to surpass $1 billion. While TV media spends on sports remained flat in 2024 due to fewer matches played by India compared to 2023, digital ad spends surged by 25%.

CCI Raids: AAAI’s WhatsApp exit advisory could backfire, say experts

Interestingly, in the wake of the advisory, multiple senior agency CEOs were notably absent from a major industry event last week.

Empowered under section 36 of the Competition Act, 2002, which grants the Commission extensive regulatory powers. These include summoning individuals, enforcing document production, examining witnesses, and requisitioning records from various offices.

ChatGPT hits one million users in an hour as Ghibli maker free image generation goes live

Powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o model, the image generation tool enables users to create visually striking images directly within the ChatGPT interface.

Following overwhelming success among premium users, OpenAI’s new image generation tool, powered by GPT-4o, is now available to all free-tier ChatGPT users, sparking a wave of creative outputs online.

CCI crackdown on major media agencies may spur advertisers’ shift to ‘hybrid in-housing’

Rather than a move away, experts foresee a recalibration of expectations, with clients seeking more transparency and agencies responding with stronger governance and accountability from media buying agencies, after the CCI probe into ad firms.

Competition Commission of India’s probe into GroupM, Publicis, Madison, dentsu, and IPG, along with regulatory scrutiny, has led some advertisers to rethink their media buying and planning strategies. But will this accelerate the shift toward in-house capabilities, reducing reliance on external ad and media agencies? Experts argue.

WPP’s Mark Read stresses on ‘more efficient operations and strict capital allocation’ amid market pressures

The world’s largest holding company’s CEO is betting big on tech and creativity amid market pressures. In his annual statement, Mark Read said the company plans to increase annual investment in WPP Open from £250 million in 2024 to £300 million in 2025.

Misfits and machines: Ipsos’ Shaun Dix on why human insight still drives advertising success

“AI can generate content, but without human insight, it often misses the mark. It lacks the ability to truly understand human emotions, storytelling, and cultural context,” said Dix.

Ipsos’ Shaun Dix delivered a compelling message at the Global Pioneers Summit 2025 on ‘Misfits and the Machine: The role of AI in creative advertising’.

TV ad market down 6%, fewer ads, 12% brand drop cited: Report

FMCG accounted for 63% of TV ad volumes, though 8% lower than 2023 volumes in absolute terms, compared to the overall decline of 6%.

YouTube’s reach in India has grown to 63% of TV’s reach in 2024 (it was 61% in 2023), driven by increased internet adoption in HSM states like Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and the Northeast where 95% of its users consume content in local languages.