Advertising
From Pink Slips to Silent Sidelining: Inside adland’s layoff and anxiety crisis
Rs 30,000 cr retail media forecast | Arvind Fashions acquires Flipkart stake | SC pushes ads law reform
Storyboard18 brings you top five news updates from the world of advertising, marketing, and business of brands.
While retail media reshapes where money flows, AI is redefining how decisions are made.
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We bring you top five news updates from the world of advertising, marketing, and business of brands.
2026: The year when retail media becomes the organising principle of digital plans, crossing Rs 30,000 cr
India’s ad tech ecosystem is undergoing its most consequential structural shift in a decade. What began in 2024 as experimentation has now hardened into default strategy in 2025, with three forces reshaping digital planning: AI at scale, the explosive rise of retail media, and the mainstreaming of connected TV (CTV).
By 2026, industry leaders say these forces will no longer function as isolated channels or tools. They will form the organising architecture of how media is planned, bought, measured and optimised.
Arvind Fashions takes full control of youthwear unit, buys Flipkart’s 31.25% stake for Rs 135 crore
Arvind Youth Brands is engaged in the wholesale and retail of apparel and accessories under the Flying Machine label, one of India’s oldest denim and youthwear brands.
729 startups shut in 2025 as regulation, governance reshape India’s tech landscape
As 2025 draws to a close, India's startup ecosystem presents a tale of stark contrasts. While the year delivered a handful of blockbuster IPOs, it also witnessed a steady churn of shutdowns as funding tightened, costs rose, and business models came under strain.
According to data from the market intelligence platform Tracxn, 729 startups shut down their operations in 2025, down from 978 the previous year. The decline in closures, however, masks a deeper slowdown. The formation of new businesses has fallen sharply as founders and investors alike pull back from aggressive expansion. Nearly 19,000 startups were founded in 2020 at the height of pandemic-era exuberance; by 2025, that figure had shrunk to just 978.
ED raids on WinZO, Gameskraft and Dream11 rattle gaming sector, industry fears wider crackdown in 2026
While enforcement agencies maintain that the actions reflect a sharpened focus on illegal online gaming amid rising complaints of cheating, KYC fraud and fund diversion, industry stakeholders argue that the timing has created confusion—particularly around the treatment of unwithdrawn user funds.
SC plea urges Centre to update drugs and magic remedies act amid misleading ads
The petition also seeks inclusion of AYUSH doctors under Section 2(cc) of the Act as 'registered medical practitioners', arguing that the existing law fails to recognise qualified non-allopathic practitioners.
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Read More“Confusion creates opportunity for agile players,” Sir Martin Sorrell on industry consolidation
Looking ahead to the close of 2025 and into 2026, Sorrell sees technology platforms as the clear winners. He described them as “nation states in their own right”, with market capitalisations that exceed the GDPs of many countries.