AI could control 75% of digital ad spend by FY27

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TL;DR:

AI could influence up to 75% of digital ad spend by FY27 as brands move existing budgets toward automated targeting, bidding and optimisation. The bigger change is not higher marketing spend, but who, or what, increasingly decides where that money goes.

Article:

Digital advertising is moving toward a model in which artificial intelligence does more than assist campaigns. A multimedia platform’s dedicated report says AI could control up to 75% of digital ad spend by FY27 as brands redirect existing budgets into automated targeting, bidding, creative optimisation and measurement.

The significance lies in the source of that growth. Marketers are not necessarily creating vast new AI budgets; they are moving money already assigned to digital channels toward systems that can make more campaign decisions automatically. That could shift influence from manual media planning toward platforms and technology providers capable of proving measurable outcomes.

India already provides substantial room for that transition. The country’s digital advertising market reached ₹71,621 crore in 2025 and is projected to reach ₹98,034 crore by 2027, while programmatic buying accounted for 42% of digital media spend in 2025, according to industry estimates.

The direction is also visible in broader industry forecasts. A 2026 FICCI–EY report said digital advertising represented 63% of Indian advertising spend in 2025 and projected that more than 75% of eligible digital inventory could be traded programmatically by 2028.

According to the current Meta India vice-president as stated in an EY industry report, “AI and Generative AI are disrupting digital advertising in India.” Advertising veteran Martin Sorrell similarly argued that marketers must be “where the growth is” as digital takes a larger share of the market.

For CMOs, the next test is governance. Greater automation can improve speed and efficiency, but brands will still need visibility into data quality, attribution, brand safety and why algorithms move money from one channel or audience to another.