Festive advertising can account for roughly 30 to 40% of annual ad spending for many Indian advertisers, and several large consumer companies are raising festive marketing budgets by as much as 20% from a year earlier. But as spending surges, a deeper problem is emerging: nobody can agree on what worked. This feature explores how media fragmentation across linear television, connected TV, mobile and digital platforms is making it increasingly difficult for brands to measure the true impact of their campaigns, with each platform reporting its own numbers, its own attribution window and its own definition of success. Featuring Mihir Mehta, Managing Partner at 0101.Today, who notes that with digital now accounting for around 60% of India’s advertising market, advertisers are increasingly comparing channels that offer very different levels of measurement precision, the piece also examines the growing risk of ad fraud during peak seasons, when buying velocity outruns scrutiny and connected TV emerges as a particularly soft target. The core challenge, as multiple experts frame it, is not a shortage of data but a shortage of one common truth. For brands relying entirely on paid media for festive visibility, the lesson is pointed: if all your visibility is rented, you are exposed to peak-season pricing every single year.
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