# Diwali 2026 Ad Report: what 2,542 Diwali ads tell agencies, 16 days out > We read every Diwali ad Marxx tracks this season (2,542 from 75 brands) against Diwali 2025. Brands are starting at last year's pace, bundles have doubled, bank offers and free gifts have nearly vanished, and the rush is still ahead. - **Author**: Marxx - **Published**: 2026-10-23 - **Category**: Agency operations - **URL**: https://marxx.ai/posts/diwali-ad-report-2026 --- Diwali is on **Sunday, 8 November 2026**, 16 days from today. If you run ads for several brands, the next two weeks decide most of your clients' festive results. So we read every Diwali ad Marxx tracks this season and set it against last year. **What we looked at:** 2,542 Diwali ads from 75 brands launched between 24 September and 23 October 2026, of which 1,557 are still live, and 1,164 Diwali ads from 59 brands in Diwali 2025. A "Diwali ad" is one whose copy mentions Diwali, Deepavali or Dhanteras. Full method at the end. ## The short version 1. **Brands are starting at the same pace as last year.** By 16 days out, 8.5% of the brands we track had launched a Diwali ad, against 8.3% last year. 2. **The rush is still ahead.** Last year the single busiest day for new Diwali ads was 3 days before Diwali. This year that's **Thursday, 5 November**. 3. **Bundles have more than doubled.** In the same pre-Diwali window, bundle, combo and gift-box offers went from 7% to 19% of the average brand's Diwali ads. "% off" barely moved (18% to 16%). 4. **Bank offers and free gifts have nearly gone.** Bank, cashback and EMI offers fell from 7% to under 1% of the average brand's Diwali ads, and free gifts from 12% to 4%. 5. **Bundle ads last longer.** In 71 brands that ran both, the typical bundle ad ran about 17 days and the typical discount ad about 12. 6. **A few brands carry the volume.** Ten brands run three-quarters of this year's live Diwali ads, and one runs a third of them. 7. **Diwali ads end fast.** Last year, 94% of pre-Diwali Diwali ads were switched off within 3 days of the festival. ## The market this season Outside numbers, from other sources, for context: - **Online festive sales are forecast to grow 25% this year, against 16% in 2025**: "the strongest online festive season in five years". Quick commerce could be nearly one-fifth of festive sales, growing 110-120%. By category: grocery +48-50%, beauty and personal care +35-40%, home and furniture +32-35%, fashion +20-22%, mobiles +5-7%. ([Redseer, via IANS, 17 Sep 2026](https://www.newkerala.com/news/a/indias-online-retail-market-cross-90-bn-cy26-494.htm)) - **But urban households say they'll spend less:** urban festive spending is expected to fall 6% to INR 1.97 lakh crore, from INR 2.10 lakh crore in 2025, with an average budget of about INR 20,000. 57% of urban households plan discretionary purchases; 31% intend to avoid them. ([LocalCircles survey, via Business Today, 16 Oct 2026](https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/economy/story/festive-spending-in-urban-india-to-drop-6-to-rs1-97-lakh-crore-amid-inflation-survey-562195-2026-10-16)) - **Shoppers check before they buy:** 7 in 10 shoppers who spot a product on social feeds turn to Google Search to evaluate it, 73% of festive shoppers look to creators for inspiration, and 81% choose their retailer on delivery speed. ([Google-commissioned Ipsos study, Google India blog, 8 Oct 2026](https://blog.google/intl/en-in/products/google-companies/decoding-indias-two-speed-festive-shopper-how-ai-search-and-youtube-drive-the-cart/)) - **Ads get pricier near Diwali:** on Criteo's network in 2024, Indian retailers' CPMs peaked 30% above their early-September baseline on 20 October, and CPCs ran 29% higher in October and 33% higher in the last week. That's 2024 data from one ad network, not Meta or Google. ([Criteo, 2025](https://www.criteo.com/blog/your-2025-diwali-playbook-data-backed-tips-for-campaign-success/)) The two big outside reads pull in different directions, with online sales growing fast while urban households tighten budgets. That's one reason to test offers that make a basket feel worth it, not only offers that cut the price. ## 1. Brands are starting at last year's pace We track far more brands this year than last, so raw ad counts aren't comparable. Instead we looked at the share of tracked brands that had launched at least one Diwali ad by the same point before Diwali.
Paired bars: at 20 days out, 5.8% of tracked brands had started Diwali ads in 2025 and 7.8% in 2026; at 16 days out, 8.3% in 2025 and 8.5% in 2026
Share of tracked brands with a Diwali ad live, by days before Diwali.
| Days before Diwali | 2025 | 2026 | |---|---|---| | 20 days | 5.8% (16 of 278 brands) | 7.8% (53 of 679 brands) | | 16 days | 8.3% (23 of 278) | 8.5% (58 of 679) | 2026 started a little earlier and has now settled at last year's pace. **More than 9 in 10 tracked brands haven't launched a Diwali ad yet.** For an agency, that's the opening: a client who goes live this week is still ahead of most of the market. ## 2. The rush is still ahead
Columns of new Diwali ads per day in 2025, rising through the final two weeks and peaking at 156 new ads 3 days before Diwali
New Diwali ads per day in 2025. The peak was 3 days before Diwali.
Last year, new Diwali ads climbed through the final fortnight. **The busiest day was 3 days before Diwali, with 156 new ads from 20 brands.** The typical brand started 11 days out, which falls on **Wednesday, 28 October** this year. The final week is also when ad costs ran highest last year on Criteo's network (CPCs +33%). Have each client's fresh creative briefed and approved before 1 November, not written during it. ## 3. Offers: more bundles, far fewer bank offers and free gifts To compare like with like, this section uses the same window in both years: Diwali ads launched 45 to 16 days before Diwali. We also **brand-average** the shares, so each brand counts once. This year one brand alone runs a third of live Diwali ads, and an ad-weighted average would mostly describe that one brand.
Paired horizontal bars comparing 2025 and 2026: bundles rose from 7.4% to 18.7%, % off fell slightly from 17.9% to 16.2%, free gifts fell from 11.8% to 4.4%, bank offers fell from 6.9% to 0.7%
Brand-averaged share of Diwali ads with each offer in the copy, 45 to 16 days before Diwali.
| Offer in the ad copy | 2025 | 2026 | |---|---|---| | Bundle, combo or gift box | 7.4% | **18.7%** | | % off | 17.9% | 16.2% | | A price in the copy | 19.9% | 14.0% | | Free gift | 11.8% | **4.4%** | | Coupon code | 7.5% | 3.2% | | Bank offer, cashback or EMI | 6.9% | **0.7%** | | Free delivery | 5.3% | 2.5% | | No offer words at all | 40.5% | 36.3% | *2026: 2,542 ads, 75 brands (24 Sep-23 Oct 2026). 2025: 203 ads, 24 brands (5 Sep-4 Oct 2025). An ad can carry several offers.* What stands out: - **Bundles are the growing offer.** Right now, **18 of the 68 brands with live Diwali ads have a bundle up**, about 1 in 4. - **Plain % off is holding, not growing.** - **Bank offers, cashback and EMI have almost disappeared from Diwali ad copy.** So have free gifts and coupon codes. - **More than a third of a typical brand's Diwali ads name no offer at all.** They sell the occasion, not a deal. The 2025 comparison window is small (24 brands), so treat the size of each change as indicative. More bundles and fewer bank offers, free gifts and coupons show up in every comparison we ran. "% off" is flat in this matched window, but it's lower than in last year's full season (25% of the average brand's Diwali ads), which includes the final-week sales. ## 4. Bundle ads stay up longer Does the offer change how long an ad stays live? We looked at the **71 brands that ran at least 5 bundle ads and 5 discount ads** this year, so each brand is compared with itself.
Two bars: the typical discount ad ran 12.4 days and the typical bundle ad 17.0 days, in the same 71 brands
Median days an ad ran, same brands, both offers.
- The typical **discount** ad ran about **12 days**, and the typical **bundle** ad about **17**. - About 3 in 10 bundle ads reached a month (30.7%), against 1 in 4 discount ads (25.9%). - Five more days is one less replacement brief per client in the busiest fortnight of the year. **Read this carefully.** "Ran longer" isn't "sold more": we see how long a brand kept paying for an ad, not its sales. The gap is real but modest. Of the 71 brands, 34 leaned bundle and 29 leaned discount, and in brands with only a handful of each, there's no gap at all. ## 5. Formats and buttons
Bars of brands using each format in live Diwali ads: video 51 of 68 brands, image 34, DCO 13, carousel 10, DPA 10
Brands using each format in their live Diwali ads (of 68).
- **Video is in three of four brands' Diwali ads** (51 of 68). Image is in half (34). - Few brands use dynamic formats: DCO 13, carousel 10, catalogue (DPA) 10. - The typical brand's Diwali video runs about 28 seconds (median of brand medians, 51 brands). - **"Shop now" is the button in 43 of 68 brands**; "Learn more" in 7. - Placements: 99% of live Diwali ads run on Instagram and 98% on Facebook; half also run on Threads. ## 6. A few brands carry the volume
Horizontal bars of the ten brands with the most live Diwali ads; Home Centre India has 32% of the 1,557 ads
Share of 1,557 live Diwali ads, top 10 brands.
- **Home Centre India runs 498 of the 1,557 live Diwali ads (32%).** - The top 5 brands run 58% and the top 10 run 76%. - The heavy advertisers don't make 498 different ads. **They run the same offer in many variations**: - Home Centre: 498 ads from 49 identified creatives. - Scrubsy: 129 ads with one headline, "Your Diwali Cleaning Combo Is Here!", across 49 creatives. If your client is up against one of these, you won't outspend them on volume. Win on a clearer offer and fresher openings. ## 7. Diwali ads end fast
Bars of 2025 Diwali ads launched on or before Diwali that had stopped: 85.5% by Diwali day, 93.9% within 3 days, 96.0% within 7 days
Share of 2025's pre-Diwali Diwali ads that had stopped running.
Of 1,055 Diwali ads launched on or before Diwali 2025, **86% had stopped by Diwali day, 94% within 3 days and 96% within a week.** Only 2% were still running two weeks later. Every client needs end dates set and the post-Diwali ad ready before 8 November. ## What to brief this week | Date | What to do | |---|---| | **Sun 25 Oct** | First Diwali ads live: fewer than 1 in 10 tracked brands had started by 16 days out | | **Wed 28 Oct** | Latest sensible start: when the typical brand started last year | | **Thu 29 Oct** | Check every live Diwali ad for fatigue and replace the tired ones | | **Fri 30 Oct** | Turn the discount into a bundle; brief new openings for the same offer | | **Tue 3 Nov** | Fresh creative shipped, before the busiest week of launches | | **Thu 5 Nov** | Last year's busiest day for new Diwali ads | | **Sun 8 Nov** | Diwali: end dates set, day-after ads ready | ## How we counted - **Diwali ads:** ads whose body or title mentions Diwali, Deepavali or Dhanteras, from brands tracked by Marxx. Ads that are only in Devanagari script, or image-only, aren't counted (we found 7 Devanagari-only Diwali ads this year). - **2026:** ads launched 24 September-23 October 2026 (45 to 16 days before Diwali). That's 2,542 ads from 75 brands, of which 1,557 from 68 brands were still live. The data runs to 22 October, 12:30 IST. - **2025:** 1,164 Diwali ads from 59 brands (brands with 10+ ads by mid-September 2025) for timing and run length. For offers, the matched window is 5 September-4 October 2025: 203 ads, 24 brands. The daily launch chart uses all 1,196 Diwali ads launched 60 days before to 7 days after Diwali 2025. - **Pace:** the share of brands with 10+ ads in the month to mid-September that had launched a Diwali ad by each point (278 brands in 2025, 679 in 2026). - **Offers:** copy keyword matches, brand-averaged. "Bundle" means combo, bundle, pack, gift box, hamper, "pick N" or "buy N". - **Run length:** 71 brands with 5+ bundle-tagged and 5+ discount-tagged ads launched 21 April-18 September 2026, measured to 23 October. "Typical" means the median of each brand's median. An ad's end is when we saw it stop. - **Marxx clients** are included in the totals but never named. - **What we don't measure:** sales, ROAS or spend. Everything here is about what brands ran, when, and for how long. - **Too thin to report:** creative hook and emotion tags (analysed for only a third of live Diwali ads), and Hindi or Hinglish copy (under 3% of ads by keyword). ## Want this for one of your clients? We'll run a free **Creative Gap Audit** on one client's ad account. In 30 minutes you leave with the gap list, the fatigue list and one ready brief, whether or not you buy. [Book a free Creative Gap Audit](https://marxx.ai/book-a-demo?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=s3e08-diwali-report) --- - [More Agency operations articles](https://marxx.ai/posts/category/agency-operations) - [All articles](https://marxx.ai/posts)