Meta rolls out festive tools for India’s ad market

As India’s 2025 festive shopping season gathers pace, digital platforms are positioning themselves at the centre of brand strategies. Consumers are leaning more than ever on short-form video, AI-powered recommendations and trusted creator endorsements to decide what to buy.

In response, Meta has rolled out a suite of updates designed to help marketers guide customers towards festive deals—both online and in-store—while sharpening the efficiency of their campaigns.

This move comes at a time when brands are allocating record budgets to influencer marketing and Connected TV (CTV). Digital ad expenditure is projected to climb 20–25% year-on-year, nearly double the growth rate of traditional media.

The festive push is not only about Diwali discounts. It also intersects with major sporting events, intensifying competition for attention. For marketers, the challenge is to diversify creative output, reduce fatigue in messaging, and ensure every rupee spent drives measurable impact.

Creators as the campaign accelerators

Marketers are increasingly turning to creators to tell their brand stories, explain products and extend reach. Meta is now providing additional tools to help businesses identify and collaborate with the right voices.

The company has expanded filters in Instagram’s creator marketplace, allowing advertisers to narrow searches by language and region. This refinement is particularly relevant in India, where regional festive moments vary widely and campaigns often hinge on local resonance.

Beyond discovery, creators can now play a more integrated role in merchandising products. Partnership ads can be paired with Advantage+ catalog ads, enabling the inclusion of an ‘intro card’ from a creator within a carousel format.

In addition, advertisers using the ‘Show Products’ optimisation in Advantage+ creative can see their single media partnership ad automatically converted into a catalog ad when Meta’s systems predict better performance. Meta reported that advertisers testing this optimisation achieved a 4% higher click-through rate and 3% higher conversions compared to partnership ads without the feature.

Creator testimonials are also now available globally for partnership ads on Instagram. By allowing endorsements to appear as featured comments within ads, brands gain a way to showcase authentic product validation.

As Rohan Dighe, founder of Viralmint, explained, “Creators are essential to cutting through the noise of India’s festive and Diwali advertising. Our campaigns consistently show that the right creators can drive meaningful impact across the marketing funnel. Success lies in aligning creators with specific campaign goals rather than generic use. With India’s extended festive season and diverse regional moments, creators have abundant opportunities to bring authentic, culturally relevant content to life on Instagram and Facebook.”

Reels driving product discovery

Video is emerging as the backbone of festive campaigns, particularly through Reels. Meta has introduced several updates to help advertisers use Reels more effectively for product discovery.

On Facebook, users who swipe up on a Reel ad will now see additional information about the advertiser, such as page details, which Meta says could prompt reconsideration and increase engagement.

On Instagram, Advantage+ catalog ads in carousel format can now incorporate product videos within Reels, complementing the existing Facebook version. This feature, presented in a scrollable grid format, has shown early signs of boosting performance.

Advertisers testing the addition of video to Advantage+ catalog campaigns on Instagram Reels saw a 7% increase in conversion rates compared to campaigns using only images.

The emphasis on video reflects broader industry dynamics. As attention spans shorten and festive content clutters feeds, moving images paired with creator endorsements may offer brands the edge they need.

AI’s role in festive efficiency

Artificial intelligence continues to reshape marketing workflows, particularly during periods of high demand. For agencies and brands, speed, scale and rapid iteration are critical.

Ramasish Bhowmik, co-founder of Adbuffs, noted, “AI has revolutionised marketing agencies, especially during the festive season when speed and volume matter most. It enables rapid creative testing, high-volume production, and swift integration of insights. This festive season, AI—particularly GenAI—will become a staple in creative workflows, with Meta’s latest updates accelerating the adoption of AI-driven marketing tools.”

Meta’s creative diversification tools reflect this trend. Flexible media now allows ads to be delivered into new placements if predictive models suggest higher performance. Early tests showed a 23% lift in conversions, with the option now available globally.

To address creative fatigue, Meta is introducing insights within Ads Reporting and Ads Manager. Marketers will be able to track what is resonating and receive recommendations for improvement. These insights are expected to roll out worldwide later this year.

In addition, a new ‘Related media’ feature will recommend existing assets that can be included in new campaigns. By expanding creative volume, advertisers can diversify placements and target previously untapped audiences. Meta cited a test where the inclusion of related media lifted conversion rates by 13%.

From ad to aisle

For brands managing large inventories and omnichannel sales, Meta is extending tools that bridge online and offline purchases. Omnichannel ads are now available globally, allowing advertisers to optimise for conversions whether the sale happens in-store, on an app or via e-commerce.

These ads can highlight maps, localised discounts and apply Meta’s Advantage+ creative generative AI optimisations. In trials, omnichannel ads delivered a median 15% reduction in cost per purchase.

Meta is also broadening access to email sign-up offers on Facebook. Marketers can now highlight new customer promotions in exchange for email addresses, creating a direct pipeline for future engagement.

According to Meta, ads using email sign-up offers generated 4.6 times more submitted emails over a 14-day period. A related feature, “highlight your promotions,” allows businesses to feature seasonal discounts more prominently within ads, further aligning creative with time-sensitive festive messaging.

Why festive 2025 looks different

The context in which Meta is introducing these updates is critical. India’s consumer landscape remains uneven. Kotak Institutional Equities noted that in Q1FY26, sales of room air conditioners slumped by 30–40% year-on-year, reflecting weak demand, while wires and cables reported robust 25–35% growth. Brands such as Voltas, Blue Star and Whirlpool are expected to lean heavily on festive campaigns to clear channel inventory.

Marketers, therefore, face a dual challenge: persuading consumers in high-demand categories to upgrade or cross-sell, while nudging those in sluggish categories to loosen their wallets. The creative arsenal—short videos, creator partnerships, AI-optimised placements and omnichannel ads—offers multiple touchpoints to execute these strategies.

The festive season in India has long been a proving ground for advertising innovation, and 2025 may mark the most digital-first iteration yet. With consumers using Reels and creators as shopping guides, brands are being pushed to deliver both inspiration and information in real time.

Meta’s updates reflect a broader shift away from viewing advertising as mere spend. The new focus is on agility, insight and diversification—whether through creator-driven storytelling, AI-powered optimisation or omnichannel campaigns. For agencies and marketers, the task this year is less about finding eyeballs and more about finding the right context for conversion.

As shoppers weigh offers on their screens and in their neighbourhood stores, the winners will be those who balance cultural resonance with creative efficiency. In the end, festive advertising in India has always been about more than deals—it is about sparking the next purchase, and the one after that.