Colgate India shifts 60% of advertising budget to digital channels

By World Insight staff — Aug. 25, 2026

Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd., the country’s largest oral-care company, has moved about 60% of its advertising budget to digital channels, the company said, as it increases overall marketing spending and adjusts to changing consumer media habits.

The company said digital platforms — including online video, social media and content from creators — now account for the majority of its advertising expenditure in India. It said it continues to use television for mass-market reach, while relying on digital channels to target specific consumer groups and tailor messaging to individual products.

The shift was reported by the trade publication Exchange4media, which covers India’s advertising and marketing industry, and had not been independently confirmed by other outlets as of publication. Colgate did not immediately respond to a request for further detail on the timeline of the shift or the channels involved.

The move comes as Colgate increases overall advertising spending in India. The company’s advertising and promotional expenditure rose 33.7% year-on-year to 251.9 crore rupees (about $30 million) in the April-to-June quarter, up from 188.4 crore rupees a year earlier, according to its most recent quarterly results. Net sales rose 12% to 1,590.5 crore rupees in the same period, and net profit rose 7% to 343.1 crore rupees.

Broader push into brand building

Colgate said the increased spending is intended to support brand building, encourage adoption of premium products such as electric toothbrushes and mouthwashes, and expand the Indian oral-care market beyond basic toothpaste and toothbrush use. Prabha Narasimhan, the company’s managing director and chief executive, said in the earnings release that the company expects to grow sustainably, supported by continued investment in advertising.

For the full 2026 fiscal year, Colgate’s brand investment in India rose 10% to 819 crore rupees, equivalent to 13.7% of net sales, according to the company’s annual report. Narasimhan said premium products have grown at six times the rate of the broader toothpaste category over the period.

Colgate’s gross margin expanded to 69.7% in the most recent quarter, which the company said gave it room to increase spending on brand building and premiumisation under a cost-management programme it calls “Funding the Growth.”

Part of an industry-wide shift

Colgate’s move mirrors a broader change in India’s advertising market, where digital channels have steadily gained share from television and print. Digital advertising accounted for 59% of total Indian ad spending in 2025 and is projected to approach 70% by 2027, according to the Digital Advertising Report 2026 published by the agency network Dentsu, which put India’s overall advertising market at 121,339 crore rupees in 2025.

A separate report from the agency Madison, using a broader definition of digital spending that includes quick-commerce platforms and small-business digital advertising, put digital’s share of India’s advertising economy at 60% in 2025, up from 55% in 2024.

Both reports found that fast-moving consumer goods companies, alongside telecommunications and e-commerce firms, are among the sectors moving the largest share of their budgets to digital platforms, driven by rising smartphone use and demand for advertising that can be measured against sales and other business outcomes.

What follows

Colgate has not disclosed a target for its digital ad share going forward or specified how the shift will affect its relationships with television networks and print publishers in India. The 60% figure was reported by a single industry trade outlet and has not yet been corroborated by Colgate’s own public filings, which typically report advertising expenditure only as a single consolidated figure without a channel breakdown.

Sources

Figures on Colgate’s advertising shift and stated rationale are attributed to Exchange4media’s Aug. 24, 2026 report, which cites the company directly; quarterly and annual financial figures are drawn from Colgate-Palmolive (India)’s own earnings disclosures as reported by BestMediaInfo, Pitchonnet and Storyboard18. Industry-wide digital ad-spend figures are attributed to Dentsu and Madison’s 2026 advertising reports.

Trade and industry press

• Exchange4media, “Colgate shifts 60% of advertising spend to digital as brand investments rise.” https://www.exchange4media.com/marketing-news/colgate-shifts-60-of-advertising-spend-to-digital-as-brand-investments-rise-157566.html
• BestMediaInfo, “Colgate-Palmolive India’s ad spend jumps 34% to Rs 252 crore in Q1.” https://bestmediainfo.com/mediainfo/mediainfo-marketing/colgate-palmolive-indias-ad-spend-jumps-34-to-rs-252-crore-in-q1-12208412
• Pitchonnet, “Colgate boosts Q1 FY27 ad spend by 34%.” https://www.pitchonnet.com/pitch-feature/colgate-boosts-q1-fy27-ad-spend-by-34-40574.html
• Storyboard18, “Prabha Narasimhan says Colgate India is increasing ad spend alongside premium portfolio investments.” https://www.storyboard18.com/amp/brand-marketing/prabha-narasimhan-says-colgate-india-is-increasing-ad-spend-alongside-premium-portfolio-investments-ws-l-99176.htm
• Storyboard18, “Colgate steps up advertising behind science-led brands as premiumisation gathers pace.” https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-marketing/colgate-steps-up-advertising-behind-science-led-brands-as-premiumisation-gathers-pace-103194.htm

Industry background (advertising market data)

• BestMediaInfo, “India AdEx to reach Rs 1.30 lakh crore in 2026; digital share seen at 70% by 2027: dentsu” (Feb. 2, 2026). https://bestmediainfo.com/insights/india-adex-to-reach-rs-130-lakh-crore-in-2026-digital-share-seen-at-70-by-2027-dentsu-11067721
• MediaNews4U, “India’s Ad Market to Reach ₹1.74 Lakh Crore in 2026 with 64% Digital: Madison” (Feb. 24, 2026). https://www.medianews4u.com/indias-ad-market-to-reach-%E2%82%B91-74-lakh-crore-in-2026-with-64-digital-madison/

Editor’s note on sourcing The central figure in this story — that Colgate India has moved roughly 60% of its ad spend to digital — comes from a single trade-press report attributed to the company, without an on-the-record spokesperson quote or an accompanying company statement, filing or press release that we could locate independently. It has not been repeated by other outlets as of publication, and Colgate’s public financial disclosures do not break out advertising spend by channel. We have reported the figure as a company claim relayed by that outlet, not as an independently verified fact, and have not speculated on the channel breakdown, timeline or which agencies are involved, none of which were disclosed. We omitted mention of Colgate-Palmolive’s global chief marketing officer, appointed earlier in 2026, because available reporting does not tie that appointment to this specific India media-mix decision.