News and GEC dominate TV advertising in 2025 with 56% share

New Delhi: News and general entertainment channels (GEC) continued to be the biggest destinations for television advertising in 2025, even as overall TV ad volumes declined during the year, according to the latest TAM AdEx report.

Television ad volumes dropped 11% year-on-year in 2025 compared to 2024, based on ad secondages. On an indexed basis, with 2024 as 100, ad volumes in 2025 stood at 89. The data is based on commercial ads only and excludes promos and social ads. TAM AdEx monitors advertising across 600+ TV channels.

Despite the decline in overall volumes, the genre split remained concentrated, with GEC and News together accounting for more than half of TV advertising in 2025.

As per the report, GEC was the leading channel genre with a 30% share of ad volumes in 2025. Notably, this share remained unchanged from 2024, indicating that GEC continued to hold its position as the primary genre for television advertising despite shifts in overall market volumes.

News channels ranked second with a 26% share of ad volumes in 2025. This also matched the share reported for 2024, showing stability in News as an advertising genre even during a year of lower overall TV advertising.

Together, GEC and News accounted for 56% of total TV ad volumes in 2025, highlighting their continued importance for advertisers looking for scale and reach. TAM AdEx also noted that the top five channel genres contributed more than 92% of ad volumes in both 2024 and 2025, underlining the high concentration of advertising on a few key genres.

The remaining share of ad volumes in 2025 was split among Movies, Music, Kids and other genres. Movies accounted for 22%, Music for 10%, and Kids for 4% of TV ad volumes in 2025. The balance was attributed to other genres.

TAM AdEx also tracked quarterly movements in 2025, showing that ad activity fluctuated through the year. The report noted that Q2 2025 recorded 6% growth over Q1, while the year ended softer with Q4 ad volumes down 10% compared to Q3.

The data suggests that while TV advertising volumes overall were lower in 2025, GEC and News continued to attract the bulk of ad placements. With both genres holding steady at 30% and 26% shares, advertisers appear to have maintained their preference for high-reach entertainment and news programming as key platforms for mass-market communication.