AdEx surge: Blue Star, Voltas, and others boost ad budgets
Industry experts are bullish on India's air conditioning market, citing rising disposable incomes and climate-driven demand.
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As weather forecasting agencies predict intense weather patterns from heatwaves and soaring temperatures to heavy rains, in the coming months, leading home appliances companies are scaling up their advertisement expenditures to capitalize on expected surge in sales. Industry experts are bullish on India's air conditioning market, citing rising disposable incomes and climate-driven demand.
Notably, the companies have splurged more capital on digital media to promote coolers and ACs compared to TV or print advertisements.
According to the data by the TAM AdEx--a division of TAM Medium Research, the room cooling appliances category witnessed a 15% rise in ads on a year-on-year basis in fiscal 2025. V-Guard air cooler, Lloyd AC led in digital advertising in FY2025.
Blue Star, Mumbai-headquartered AC and refrigeration company, has planned to invest over Rs 50 crore in advertising this summer. The company aims to capture a 14.3% market share in the Room ACs segment by fiscal 2026. With legendary Indian cricketer Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador since 2019, Blue Star has reported a 20.6% rise in the fourth quarter to Rs 193.6 crore.
Another leading player in the air conditioning segment, Voltas, has claimed to have sold 25 lakh AC units in 2024-25. According to KV Sridhar, Chief Financial Officer, Voltas has achieved an 8.5% market share in the air cooler category, ranking among the top 3 brands as of March 31, 2025. "Our planned consistent investments in advertising continue to deliver anticipated results," Sridhar added.
Crompton, another electrical consumer durables company, has increased its consolidated advertisement and sales promotion expenses to Rs 306 crore in FY25, but with a significant proportion allocated to lighting segments. The company registered flat fan sales due to delayed summer amidst subdued consumer sentiment.
As per the TAM AdEx data, the ad duration of AC and air coolers observed a 19% de-growth in FY25, with Symphony, Havells India, Voltas, and Panasonic India registering double-digit shares in TV ads.
Additionally, print ad space dropped by 33% in FY25 YoY. Symphony Air Coolers advertisers reported 34% ad space in FY25--highest among top-10 players.
Havells believes its Lloyd brand presence is sufficient to drive sales. During the Q4 earnings call, Managing Director Anil Rail Gupta stated, "The whole advertising budget as a percentage to revenue, can vary between product to product over a period of time depending upon what is needed at that particular time," Gupta added that Havells does not plan to specifically scale up ad and marketing spends for room ACs.
Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Amazon India exclusively told Storyboard18 that the cooling appliances category has seen a double-digit growth over the past two years, driven by notable shift toward energy-efficient solutions on the platform.
Zeba Khan, Director, Consumer Electronics, Amazon India, said, "We observed a 2-fold year-on-year growth in sales of premium air conditioners and refrigerators, including 2-ton ACs and refrigerators larger than 300 litres".
Additionally, Amazon India has increased the adoption of value-added services, including installation and after-sales support, to over 300 Indian cities.
