Legacy media is fighting for survival. Will a government lease of life help?

Picture this: According to industry estimates, the size of the Indian advertising industry is around ₹1.55 trillion, including the direct spends of unorganized sector and small and medium enterprises on search engines and social platforms. In 2024, digital media cornered more than half of this, while the rest was distributed among TV, print, outdoors, radio and other sundry platforms. To be precise, ad spends on digital platforms stood at ₹75,000-85,000 crore, while television accounted for ₹36,000-40,000 crore and print got ₹16,000-20,000 crore. Digital’s share in this pie is expected to have grown even bigger this year, while the rest are likely to have shrunk further.