Digital now AdEx’s shock absorber as macro pressures force brands to revisit media plans

Posted on 2nd Jun 2026

TAM AdEx’s Feb-April 2026 data shows one clear winner: digital. While TV, radio & print remained restrained or volatile, digital advertising stayed sharply above the average-month benchmark

When uncertainty hits business, advertising budgets rarely vanish overnight. They move.

That movement is now becoming visible in the latest TAM AdEx indexed growth data for February, March and April 2026, obtained by e4m. At a time when the Middle East crisis disrupted business confidence, raised concerns around crude, logistics, currency volatility and consumption sentiment, digital advertising emerged as the most resilient media channel.

Digital advertising recorded indexed growth of 151 per cent in February, 142 per cent in March and 144 per cent in April, against an average-month benchmark of 100. In other words, even as marketers grew cautious, digital stayed substantially above the base line across all three months.

The contrast with traditional media was stark. Television remained below the benchmark through the period, with indexed growth of 94 in February, 95 in March and 100 in April. Radio saw a sharp swing, moving from 109 in February to 93 in March, before recovering to 100 in April. Print was steadier, but its movement was modest, with indexed growth of 102 in February, 100 in March and 103 in April.

The numbers point to a deeper shift in advertiser behaviour. If consumer sentiment weakens, it is not only discretionary categories that may turn cautious; ad dollars also begin to move towards more flexible channels.

“In uncertain periods, marketers tend to prefer media where campaigns can be paused, optimised, scaled down or restarted quickly, giving digital a clear tactical advantage over more commitment-heavy traditional formats,” marketers told e4m.

The shift is also structural. India’s Rs 1.55 lakh crore ad market has already been moving towards digital-first planning, driven by commerce, quick commerce, video, social, search, influencer marketing and performance-led media. Digital commands more than half of AdEx.

According to Bain & Company’s report “Advertising in the Digital Age, in India and Around the World”, digital advertising spends are consistently outpacing traditional media in both mature markets such as the US and emerging markets such as India, as consumer behaviour rapidly moves online. It also points out that the advertising ecosystem is becoming more fragmented, with consumers spending time across multiple platforms, devices and formats.

No hard commitments

In volatile periods, brands tend to preserve visibility but avoid hard commitments. That makes digital a natural refuge. This supports the broader argument that when advertisers are forced to be cautious, they are more likely to favour channels that allow speed, testing, targeting and optimisation over fixed, long-cycle media commitments.

Unlike television, print or radio, where inventory is often planned, negotiated and booked in advance, digital allows marketers to control daily budgets, pause campaigns, reallocate spends, change creatives, optimise by geography or audience, and track performance in near real time, industry leaders say.

Anil Solanki, media lead, dentsuX explains, “During times of uncertainty, brands tend to become more measured with spends, focusing on ROI-led and high-impact campaigns rather than blanket visibility. They demand flexibility in media planning. There is a stronger shift toward performance, retail media, and measurable digital formats to navigate softer market conditions.”

This flexibility matters more when business conditions are fluid. The Middle East conflict had already put Indian businesses and advertisers on alert, with industry executives warning that shipment disruptions, crude volatility and inflationary pressure could force brands to reassess marketing budgets.

exchange4media reported earlier that industry leaders expected ad spends to be cut by 10-15% in Q1, with the impact becoming visible by April-end. It also reported that brands in categories such as FMCG, fashion, beauty, jewellery and hospitality were reassessing budgets amid supply-chain and energy-cost pressures.

“That is exactly the kind of environment in which digital tends to gain tactical importance,” a marketer noted.

Performance-led spends rising

Media planners indicated that while overall pipelines were stable, performance-led digital spends were expected to remain resilient during geopolitical uncertainty.

The TAM AdEx data appears to validate that thesis. Digital did not merely hold its ground; it outperformed other media on the indexed-growth scale.

“For advertisers, the logic is simple. In a crisis, boardrooms want accountability. CFOs want spends linked to outcomes. CMOs want the ability to defend every rupee. Digital offers that comfort through performance dashboards, conversion tracking, audience targeting and shorter campaign cycles. A marketer can cut a weak campaign in hours, not weeks. A brand can move money from awareness to performance, from national to regional, or from broad reach to high-intent consumers almost instantly,” an FMCG marketer told e4m.

Shradha Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Grapes, shares,“Several ecommerce and digital-first brands have already started pulling back on large-scale brand campaigns and are instead prioritising performance marketing focused on immediate sales and conversion.”

Investing in digital becomes a priority in uncertain times because brands can pause campaigns whenever they want. Brand-building budgets, once allocated, cannot be stopped, noted Agarwal.

Traditional media: No collapse

“Traditional media, by contrast, continues to play a critical role in mass reach, credibility and brand building, but it is less elastic in a downturn. TV buys are often linked to large properties, sponsorship packages and pre-committed GRPs. Print campaigns can be tied to launch calendars, festive planning or market-specific insertions. Radio, while tactical, still depends on fixed slots and local-market commitments. These formats are powerful when sentiment is strong, but during uncertainty, their rigidity can become a disadvantage,” Agarwal explains.

This does not mean traditional media is losing relevance. Print’s indexed growth above 100 across the three months shows that it continued to command advertiser interest, especially in categories where trust, locality and high-attention formats matter. Radio’s February spike also suggests that tactical audio campaigns can still benefit when advertisers need local reach. Television’s near-return to the 100 mark in April shows that large-reach media did not collapse, ad executives point out.

Opportunities

For agencies, this creates both opportunity and pressure. Clients will demand more agile planning, sharper attribution and faster optimisation. Long annual media plans may give way to rolling allocations. Brand campaigns may need performance layers. Traditional media may increasingly have to prove its role not just in reach, but in measurable business impact.

“For publishers and broadcasters, the signal is equally important. The battle is no longer only about inventory. It is about flexibility. Media owners that can offer shorter booking windows, bundled digital extensions, sharper audience data, performance-linked packages and easier campaign recalibration may be better placed to protect revenue during uncertain cycles,” a TV executive said.