Ad spends of auto sector set to jump 12–15% this festive season

Buoyed by a mix of GST rate cuts, pent-up demand and strong consumer sentiment, along with a sharp rise in both domestic and export demand, the automobile sector is gearing up for one of its busiest festive seasons in recent memory. Indications point to a 10–12% rise in festive advertising spends over 2024, with optimistic publishers and analysts forecasting up to 12–15% growth in especially strong market conditions.

Research by Nuvama Institutional Equities has reportedly pointed out that the combination of GST rate cuts and festive tailwinds is expected to drive a rally in auto stocks this quarter, with companies like Maruti Suzuki, TVS Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Hero MotoCorp among the top picks. Supporting this outlook, a recent Citi Research report highlighted that passenger vehicle and two-wheeler demand picked up in September 2025, driven by pent-up buying from August and price reductions following the recent GST cuts.

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This is already showing results for many brands. In the first few days of Navratri, Maruti Suzuki sold 80,000 cars in four days, with September bookings crossing 3.5 lakh units. On the very first day of Navratri, Tata Motors reported sales of around 10,000 passenger vehicles, while Hyundai also saw substantial demand, with 11,000 units sold, according to media reports. Tata Motors’ domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 45% year-on-year, while Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, TVS, Bajaj Auto, and Eicher Motors all recorded notable growth across domestic and export markets.

Virat Khullar, AVP & Vertical Head, Hyundai Motor India, said, “The festive season gives us an opportunity to make the car-buying journey even more rewarding. This year, we have seen double-digit growth in our promotional investments over last year’s festive campaign, underscoring our commitment to creating stronger awareness and delivering greater value. We are seizing this opportunity with a 360-degree campaign led by our brand ambassador Pankaj Tripathi, designed to strike an emotional chord with Indian families.” 

He added, “We are confident that our campaign, coupled with a favourable policy environment, will create strong momentum and reinforce Hyundai as the preferred choice for families across India.”

Maruti Suzuki too is betting big on this festive season.

“At Maruti Suzuki, we recorded the highest-ever retail sales during the first eight days of Navratri, with 1.65 lakh vehicles delivered — the best festive performance in the last 10 years,” said Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki. In a statement on October 1, he mentioned, “By the end of this Navratri period, we are confident of touching the magical 2-lakh mark in deliveries. Overall, we have received close to 3.5 lakh bookings, with nearly 2.5 lakh pending bookings. The challenge before us is logistics to transport such large volumes, but we are making every effort to serve our customers at the earliest.” For Maruti Suzuki, September bookings represented an overall growth of 35% year-on-year.

This surge in sales is being matched by increased marketing activity, as auto brands ramp up their festive campaigns to capture consumer attention and drive bookings. The key question now is how festive season ad spends are shaping up in 2025 compared to 2024?

Digital takes the lead

As sales soar, marketing spend is following suit. Industry experts e4m spoke with suggest that this year’s festive advertising expenditure (adex) will see a 10–12% uplift over 2024, with some bullish publishers and analysts projecting 12–15% growth in particularly buoyant scenarios. According to Ujjwal Anand, Managing Partner – North, Dentsu Creative Webchutney, auto advertisers are expected to outperform this baseline, driven by GST tailwinds, strong bookings, and pent-up consumer demand. 

According to experts, industry reports and category commentary indicate a double-digit increase for auto ad spends, with estimates ranging from roughly 15–25% year-on-year for the festive period, the higher end driven by OEMs running aggressive campaigns and localised activations. 

The auto category is showing stronger uplift this festive season due to product price adjustments and improved consumer sentiment. It is pertinent to note that India’s automobile sales from dealers to customers grew by around 12% during the 2024 festive season compared to the previous year, per reports. Data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) showed that festive period sales from October 3 to November 13, 2024, stood at approximately 4.3 million units, up from 3.8 million units during the same period in 2023.

Speaking about which platforms are likely to lead festive auto ad spends, Anand said, “Digital video, including YouTube, short-form, and CTV/AVoD, continues to take the lion’s share of budgets because these platforms combine reach with highly measurable audience signals.”

He added digital (video + social + search + retail media) is expected to account for roughly 40–50% of campaign weight for many OEMs, especially considering measurement, link to commerce, and increased CTV/short-form use for storytelling and lead generation. Linear TV retains about 25–35% of spends, providing mass reach, particularly during prime time, sports, and movie specials, and remains crucial for brand salience. DOOH and transit advertising are projected at 5–10%, higher in metro markets and for experiential launches, while influencer and creator-led campaigns are expected to take 5–12%, increasingly used for social proof, launches, owner stories, and drive/safety narratives. Regional media and hyperlocal activations will vary by market, with mass-market OEMs targeting rural and Tier-2/3 areas allocating higher spends to regional TV, vernacular OTT, local radio, and hyperlocal BTL campaigns. 

Supporting this perspective, Sahil Chopra, Founder & CEO, iCubesWire, said, “Digital video is taking the lead, with CTV and short-form videos dominating. Retail media is another magnet as it ties festive discovery directly to sales. TV still has a role for mass reach, but the real growth is in digital-first, highly measurable formats.”

As per Anand, based on industry festive forecasts and category-specific indicators such as the demand boost from GST changes and new model launches, auto festive ad spends are projected to grow between 12–18% year-on-year, with a central estimate of around 15% uplift during the festive period. 

While national festive AdEx forecasts range from a conservative 10–12% to 12–15% or higher in optimistic scenarios, the auto sector is expected to outperform due to strong vehicle bookings and policy-driven demand tailwinds. Rising media costs and negotiation challenges, however, may limit overly aggressive increases, explaining the 12–18% plausible range. Variations are expected across regional OEM strategies, product segments (mass vs premium), and launch schedules, with some OEMs potentially exceeding 20% growth if they combine major new launches with aggressive dealer incentives.

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Data-driven campaigns take centre stage

Compared to last year, 2025’s festive auto campaigns are seeing not just higher spends but also a sharper focus on performance, personalisation, and hyperlocal targeting. Industry experts point out that while overall AdEx is projected to grow around 12–18% year-on-year, OEMs are increasingly allocating budgets toward digital-first formats, regional media, and data-driven activations to capture the surge in bookings fuelled by GST tailwinds and pent-up consumer demand.

Entrepreneur Rajat Jaiswal, Founder of Keydroid and WAB Cafe, noted that CTV, creator commerce, and programmatic DOOH are emerging as breakout formats this year, with AI-assisted personalisation and data clean rooms enabling hyper-relevant messaging. “Instead of broad-reach campaigns, auto brands are experimenting with precise targeting — using audience data, dealer insights, and festive behavior patterns to drive measurable conversions,” he said.

Adding to this, Chopra, mentioned, “Programmatic video, retail media, and short-form content tie festive engagement directly to showroom visits and bookings. While TV remains relevant for broad awareness, measurable formats are driving this year’s growth.”

With sales already off to a strong start and bookings surging, 2025’s festive season marks a turning point for auto advertising. OEMs are investing not only more but smarter, leveraging a combination of policy tailwinds, digital innovation, and localised strategies to convert demand into sales. The focus on measurable, data-driven campaigns alongside traditional brand-building efforts demonstrates that festive auto marketing is becoming faster, sharper, and more responsive to consumer behaviour than ever before.