India’s advertising industry is worth Rs.1.2 lac crore. Ahead of IPL season 2025, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has raided several media agencies to investigate collusion between the top broadcasters and tech companies with member agencies of AAAI contravening the anti-trust rules under the Competition Act, 2022.

The collusion manipulates advertising rates and discounts and may even tinker with advertising inventory. Accordingly, some players dominate the digital advertising platforms (digital advertising constitutes 60 percent of total advertising spending in India).

The trigger to investigation was a routine GST enquiry at one of the top five ad Agencies in India which provided evidence of cartelization.

There were searches at the top media agencies, as well as the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF). Group M was targeted, which is owned by the WPP, UK. Even otherwise ad market is in turmoil following the merger of Walt Disney and Reliance India which controls 40 per cent of the TV and streaming ad market.

Price control and fixing ad rates are illegal. These inflate costs artificially. Small advertisers are adversely affected — they are out of the playing field. Consumers are prevented from taking informed decisions. There are kickbacks to the agencies in the form of commission.

If proven, it means large advertisers are overcharged due to manipulation. The media agencies will face financial penalties — a part of their annual turnover.

The IPL viewership in 2024 is 620 million. There were more than 100 advertisers in IPL 2024. The IPL 2025 ad spends are estimated to be between Rs.6000 crore — Rs.7000 crore. Many fence sitter advertisers could back out.