Toilet soaps dominate TV advertising in 2025: TAM AdEx

Toilet soaps were the most advertised category on television in the first nine months of 2025, with a 6% share of ad volumes, according to the latest 2025 television advertising report by AdEx India and TAM.

Toilet/Floor Cleaners saw the highest increase in ad volumes, with 18% growth from January to September 2025 compared to the same period last year. This was followed by ecommerce-online shopping with 25% growth.

Earlier this year, prior to GST reduction, FMCG demand was muted, growing at 3.9%, down from 5.7% last year. The muted demand led to major FMCG firms pulling back on budgets.

Despite this, FMCG and household product categories continued to dominate television advertising, with categories such as toilet/floor cleaners, washing powders/ liquids, toothpastes and shampoos adding 6%, 4%, 3% and 2% respectively.

The top 10 categories, which also included for the first time chocolates, e-commerce-online shopping and aerated soft drinks, collectively added 33% share of ad volumes during January to September 2025.  

Hindustan Unilever, Reckitt (India) and Godrej Consumer Products remained the largest three advertisers on television while ITC slipped down the list from fourth to tenth. Star India was the only non-FMCG company in the list.

Source: TAM AdEx quarterly report (Jan–Sep’24-25)

While TV ad volumes fell by 10% during January to September 2025, compared to the corresponding period last year, the top five sectors – food and beverages, personal care, services, household products and personal healthcare – retained their respective rankings. Food and beverages sector topped the ranking with a 21% share of ad volume, while hair care saw a dip, dropping from sixth to seventh.

Compared to January to September 2024, advertising on movies and music channels dropped slightly, while general entertainment channels and news networks drew 57% of all TV ad seconds.   

The top five channel genres contributed more than 92% of all advertising in the first nine months of this year.