Meta & Google lead race for India's ad monies: Can legacy media keep pace?

With a combined ad revenue exceeding ₹50,000 crore in 2024, Google India and Meta India command nearly 65% of the country's total digital marketing spend. These figures are staggering, especially when compared to the net worth of many traditional media giants. As the tech duopoly tightens its grip on India’s advertising landscape, legacy media houses find themselves increasingly outpaced. 

Google’s robust ecosystem, encompassing search, YouTube, and programmatic ad solutions, has made it an indispensable partner for advertisers. “Advertisers lean heavily on search as their starting point," says Preetham Venkky, Chief Digital Officer at DDB Mudra Group. "But it’s the combination of SEO, YouTube, and Google's tools that solidify its dominance.” 

Meta, on the other hand, wields a formidable trifecta: Facebook’s unparalleled reach, Instagram’s dominance in lifestyle marketing and WhatsApp’s growing potential for business and political discourse. Meta’s platforms are indispensable for marketers targeting lifestyle categories like fashion and food, observes Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and independent director. “While WhatsApp’s monetization is still evolving, its role in shaping opinions—particularly in political spheres—makes it a unique player in the Indian ecosystem.” 

The rise of Google and Meta has come at a cost. “Their combined growth in India rivals the entire net worth of some traditional media houses,” notes Venkky. This dominance has shifted advertisers’ focus away from print and television toward digital platforms, creating a landscape where legacy media is struggling to keep pace. 

Traditional print media, once a staple of Indian households, now serves as a fleeting morning ritual for many. “Newspapers have become a 15-minute habit in the morning, while platforms like Instagram or Facebook offer all-day engagement,” Venkky points out. This shift in consumer behavior has pushed traditional media further to the periphery, leaving legacy players scrambling to adapt. 

OTT platforms, heralded as the saviours of traditional media, have yet to achieve the scale and revenue of Google or Meta. “OTT offers hope, but its reach pales compared to digital behemoths,” says Mathias. 

The digital ad ecosystem is now largely a two-player game. “The scale, precision targeting and ROI offered by Google and Meta make them indispensable," says Gopa Menon, Chief Growth Officer for APAC at Successive Digital. "However, their dominance also raises concerns about market balance.” 

Menon highlights the growing dependency on these platforms as a challenge. “When a few platforms control such a significant share of ad spend, it squeezes smaller players and traditional media houses,” he explains. He predicts further consolidation in the market, with smaller players either being acquired or exiting the industry entirely. 

Legacy media faces a dual challenge: competing with the scale of Google and Meta while maintaining relevance in a rapidly digitalizing market. “The days of standalone viability are behind us,” warns Mathias. He suggests that traditional media houses explore partnerships and collaborative models to remain competitive. 

For instance, news publishers could benefit from revenue-sharing agreements with platforms like Google and Meta, as seen in Europe and Australia. “Such models could sustain high-quality journalism while enabling digital platforms to offer relevant content,” Menon argues. 

While Google and Meta’s dominance seems unshakeable, alternative platforms like JioAds and Flipkart Ads are beginning to emerge. “These players have massive user data and could grow their ad businesses,” says Pulkit Narayan, Founder and CEO of Dangle Ads. However, building the trust and scale required to compete with Google and Meta will take time. 

Local publishers are also attempting to build data-driven ecosystems, but the gap remains significant. “Platforms like Google and Meta offer CPM rates that are often half or even one-third of what publishers can,” Mihir Mehta, Managing Partner at 0101.Today notes, underlining the economic pressure on traditional media.

“I feel until there’s an alternative platform that matches their scale and ability to deliver beyond CPM and CPC models, the two giants set to maintain this lead. Platforms like JioAds or Indian publishers attempting to build data-driven ecosystems could pose competition, but it’ll take time for them to provide the same level of efficiency and audience engagement,” says Mehta.

He points out that on one side, news publishers benefit significantly from Google AdSense revenue and traffic driven by platforms like Meta, helping them expand reach and engagement. “These platforms play a crucial role in monetizing digital content for Indian publishers, especially as digital consumption grows across regional languages and tier-2 cities. However, competition arises in the form of ad pricing pressures.” 

The rise of Google and Meta has forced traditional print-led legacy national and regional media players to rethink its strategies. “Legacy players must craft strategies tailored to their strengths while exploring collaborative approaches,” advises Mathias. This could include investments in digital platforms, creating innovative content formats, or partnering with tech companies to enhance engagement. 

“Looking ahead, competition may come from platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and others that have massive user data and are growing their ad businesses. Local social platforms could also gain ground, but they face the challenge of building trust with advertisers at the scale of Google and Meta,” says Narayan.

For brands, traditional media, and even policy makers, Narayan says the future hinges on how well they can innovate within and adapt to a landscape increasingly defined by these digital giants. “The future of advertising in India will revolve around how well both traditional and emerging players can adapt to the dominance of digital giants while embracing new models of audience engagement and technological innovation.”

Ultimately, the relationship between digital platforms and traditional media is a blend of competition and collaboration. “Platforms provide publishers with tools for audience engagement and monetization, empowering them to optimize content distribution,” Menon says. However, the disparity in ad revenue sharing remains a sticking point, threatening the financial sustainability of traditional media. 

Google and Meta have redefined the advertising landscape in India, creating opportunities for advertisers but challenges for legacy players. Their dominance is a call for reinvention, urging traditional media to innovate and adapt. Whether through collaboration, regulation, or competition, the future of Indian advertising will depend on how well all players navigate this new digital-first era.