Why do festive ad costs rise every year in India?

Every brand competing for attention increases its bidding at the same time, in the same auction, for the same shoppers. Storyboard18 reported a quick-commerce keyword rising from ₹60 to ₹240 a click during this year's festive run-up, and average CPMs across channels running 20–40% higher through the window.

When should festive ad spend actually start?

Well before the festival itself. Awareness spend in July and August, while costs are at baseline, tends to be remembered by the time a shopper starts seriously deciding — and InMobi's 2026 survey found 62% of shoppers now make that decision within the final month, when costs are highest.

Are shoppers really buying later than before?

InMobi's August 2026 survey of 1,110 Indian shoppers found the share starting in the final week grew five percentage points year on year, even as 77% of shoppers said they were raising their festive budget compared with 2025. Demand and lateness are rising together, which is what makes the final weeks the most expensive.

Is quick commerce worth the higher ad cost?

It depends on whether your product suits impulse, fast-delivery purchase. Storyboard18 reported brands shifting 15–20% more digital spend toward quick-commerce platforms this festive season, but the same report found costs there rising fastest of all — a keyword that was ₹60 in normal months hit ₹240 during the peak.

What can a smaller advertiser do that a big brand can't?

Move early and move into channels the big national bidders are least focused on — regional-language content, WhatsApp, local activations, tier-2 and tier-3 markets — where the festive auction is thinner and the same rupee reaches further.

Digital Marketing

The ad you delay until Diwali week costs four times as much

Every brand budgets for the festive season. Fewer brands notice that the cost of reaching anyone during it rises before the season even starts — and by the time it's obvious, the cheap weeks are already gone.

By Redfeets Creative Lab

29 September 20266 min read

The number that should change when you book media

A small-business marketer plans early festive advertising while auction bids and campaign costs rise toward Diwali. — AI-generated editorial illustration. Plan early → Protect budget → Focus on conversion.

A keyword on a quick-commerce platform that cost a brand ₹60 a click a few months ago was going for as much as ₹240 by this year's festive run-up — a fourfold rise, reported by Storyboard18 from conversations with category buyers in mid-September. Across channels more broadly, cost per thousand impressions is running 20–40% higher through the festive window than the rest of the year.

What festive demand does to ad costs in India

4x
rise on a quick-commerce keyword cited by the report, ₹60 to ₹240 a click: 20–40%
average CPM increase across channels during the festive window: 50–60%
of a brand's annual ad budget typically spent in this one 2–3 month window: 15–20%
more digital spend brands are shifting toward quick-commerce platforms this year

Source: Storyboard18, quick-commerce festive ad costs, 15 September 2026

None of this is a platform malfunction. It is every brand in every category bidding for the same festive-intent shopper at the same time, in the same auction. The auction does exactly what an auction does: the price rises until enough advertisers drop out.

Shoppers are starting later, not earlier

The counter-intuitive part is that this squeeze is happening while shoppers are compressing their own timeline. InMobi Advertising's "Marketer's Guide to India's Festive Seasons 2026" — a survey of 1,110 respondents run in August — found that 62% of festive shoppers now begin within the final month before the festival, and the share who wait until the very last week grew five percentage points year on year.

When Indian shoppers start festive buying — % of shoppers

Within the final month62%
Two to four weeks prior33%
About a week before21%
Less than a week before8%

Source: InMobi Advertising, via Storyboard18, 24 September 2026

(Categories overlap in the source data, so these don't sum to 100 — a shopper who starts a month out is also, by definition, still shopping in the final week.) The same survey found 77% of shoppers had raised their festive budget compared with last year, so the demand squeezing the auction is real, not assumed.

Put the two findings together and the trap is obvious: shoppers are increasingly waiting for the last few weeks to actually decide, which is exactly when the cost of reaching them is at its highest. A brand that also waits is bidding for the most expensive attention of the year, for a shopper who has the least time left to consider anything.

What actually helps

Start the awareness spend before the rush, while it's still cheap. The keyword or placement that costs four times as much in the peak week costs a fraction of that in August and early September. Awareness built early is still in a shopper's memory when they start seriously deciding in the final month — which is a job frequency, not reach, does.

Don't fight the whole festive window on the same channel everyone else is bidding on. OOH inventory tightens for the same reason — auctions, whether for a keyword or a hoarding, all inflate together. A mix that includes a channel with less competitive pressure — WhatsApp, in-shop signage, a local activation — often costs less per genuine enquiry than an all-in bid on the same platform as every competitor.

Reach outside the metros stays comparatively cheap for longer, because the same festive-intent bidding war is thinner where fewer national brands are actively competing for attention. That gap narrows as the festival approaches, but it exists, and it favours moving early in those markets specifically.

Decide your ceiling before the auction decides it for you. Set the maximum you're willing to pay per enquiry before the festive weeks arrive, based on what a customer is actually worth to you — not on what the platform's suggested bid says once demand has already pushed it up.

A rough calendar

Timing festive digital spend against the cost curve

July–August
Awareness spend, while CPMs are at baseline. Build the memory before the crowd arrives.
Early September
Lock creative and landing pages. The bidding war has not started yet; the production scramble shouldn't happen during it either.
Mid-September onward
Costs begin climbing. Shift budget toward retargeting people who already know you, which converts at a lower cost than reaching someone cold in an expensive auction.
Final month
Highest costs, highest shopper intent. Spend where the conversion is most likely, not where the reach number looks biggest.

None of this argues against festive advertising — the demand is real and the ad market is genuinely growing into it. It argues against discovering the auction has already priced you out in the one week everybody remembered to budget for, and it's the first thing worth mapping out in any digital marketing plan built around the festive calendar.

Questions people ask

Why do festive ad costs rise every year in India?: Every brand competing for attention increases its bidding at the same time, in the same auction, for the same shoppers. Storyboard18 reported a quick-commerce keyword rising from ₹60 to ₹240 a click during this year's festive run-up, and average CPMs across channels running 20–40% higher through the window.
When should festive ad spend actually start?: Well before the festival itself. Awareness spend in July and August, while costs are at baseline, tends to be remembered by the time a shopper starts seriously deciding — and InMobi's 2026 survey found 62% of shoppers now make that decision within the final month, when costs are highest.
Are shoppers really buying later than before?: InMobi's August 2026 survey of 1,110 Indian shoppers found the share starting in the final week grew five percentage points year on year, even as 77% of shoppers said they were raising their festive budget compared with 2025. Demand and lateness are rising together, which is what makes the final weeks the most expensive.
Is quick commerce worth the higher ad cost?: It depends on whether your product suits impulse, fast-delivery purchase. Storyboard18 reported brands shifting 15–20% more digital spend toward quick-commerce platforms this festive season, but the same report found costs there rising fastest of all — a keyword that was ₹60 in normal months hit ₹240 during the peak.
What can a smaller advertiser do that a big brand can't?: Move early and move into channels the big national bidders are least focused on — regional-language content, WhatsApp, local activations, tier-2 and tier-3 markets — where the festive auction is thinner and the same rupee reaches further.