Ad-tech roles lead fresher demand in Delhi, Mumbai: TeamLease EdTech report
Representative image: lewisandpecker / Pixabay
Programmatic Advertising Associate leads fresher demand in Delhi at 50%, Digital Marketing Executive in Mumbai at 48%, TeamLease EdTech said on October 22, 2026.
What Happened
Programmatic Advertising Associate is the most in-demand fresher role in Delhi, with 50% of employers there intending to hire for it, and Digital Marketing Executive leads in Mumbai at 48%, according to a TeamLease EdTech release published on Thursday, October 22, 2026. The figures come from the company's Career Outlook Report for the second half of 2026 (July to December), which surveyed 1,097 employers across India. TeamLease EdTech linked the demand to the festive quarter, when brands spend heavily on online advertising.
Key Facts
- Delhi: Programmatic Advertising Associate is the top fresher role, with a hiring intent of 50%, the release says.
- Mumbai: Digital Marketing Executive leads, with a hiring intent of 48%.
- Marketing and advertising as a whole: fresher hiring intent of 59% for July to December 2026, down from 62% in January to June 2026.
- All sectors: overall fresher hiring intent rose to 75% in the second half of 2026, from 73% in the first half.
- IT: fresher hiring intent fell to 76%, from 81%, according to the same report.
- Cities overall: Bengaluru leads fresher hiring intent at 89%, followed by Mumbai at 75% and Chennai at 71%.
- Survey base: 1,097 employers; "hiring intent" is the share of employers who plan to hire freshers in the next six months.
Why It Matters
Programmatic advertising is the use of software to buy and place online advertisements automatically. Instead of a person phoning a website to book a banner, an automated system bids for each ad slot in a fraction of a second, using data about the audience to decide where an ad should appear and how much to pay. A Programmatic Advertising Associate sets up and watches these campaigns, checks the numbers and adjusts targeting and budgets. Coverage of the report lists campaign optimisation, audience targeting and media planning among the skills employers want for such roles.
TeamLease EdTech tied the demand to the festive season around Navratri and Diwali, when shopping, travel and e-commerce companies step up their campaigns to reach buyers. The report suggests that this spending now needs people who can run digital and automated campaigns, not only traditional ad sales and creative teams. That is why a technical role tops the list in Delhi, and a broader digital marketing role tops it in Mumbai, the two cities where most of India's advertising and media firms are based.
The picture is not simply one of growth. The marketing and advertising sector's overall fresher hiring intent actually slipped by three points, from 62% to 59%. Read together, the figures suggest that within a sector that is a little more cautious overall, the openings that do exist are moving towards digital, data-driven work. The same pattern appears across the wider report: total fresher hiring intent rose to 75%, but IT, consulting, telecom and marketing and advertising all scaled back, while e-commerce, technology start-ups and retail reached 93% each and manufacturing 89%.
For a student or recent graduate, the practical point is that skills matter more than degree titles for these jobs. TeamLease EdTech's chief executive, Shantanu Rooj, has said that the focus has moved from how many freshers get hired to which freshers get hired, with employers looking for AI fluency and applied problem-solving. The report names AI Application Developer, Junior Semiconductor Design Engineer, Data Centre Operations Associate, Programmatic Advertising Associate and Inventory and Dispatch Executive as the most in-demand fresher roles nationally for the half-year. Candidates who want to enter advertising technology can start with free or low-cost courses on digital advertising platforms and analytics, and build a small portfolio of campaigns, even for a college society or a local shop, to show employers.
| Measure | First half of 2026 | Second half of 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Overall fresher hiring intent | 73% | 75% |
| Marketing and advertising | 62% | 59% |
| IT | 81% | 76% |
Impact
Short-term: Graduates in Delhi and Mumbai with digital marketing or ad-tech skills are likely to see more openings during the festive quarter, when campaign volumes peak. Training institutes may push short courses in programmatic buying and performance marketing.
Long-term: If automated ad buying keeps growing, entry-level marketing jobs will increasingly ask for comfort with data, dashboards and AI tools. Freshers with only general marketing knowledge may find it harder to compete, while those with hands-on platform experience could find more choice.
Who is affected: Final-year students and recent graduates in commerce, management, mass communication and engineering; advertising agencies, media companies and e-commerce brands that hire them; colleges and training providers designing placement-ready courses.
Key Takeaway
TeamLease EdTech's report, released on October 22, 2026, shows Programmatic Advertising Associate leading fresher demand in Delhi at 50% and Digital Marketing Executive leading in Mumbai at 48%, even as overall marketing and advertising hiring intent dipped to 59%.
Questions and Answers
Which fresher jobs are most in demand in Delhi and Mumbai, according to TeamLease EdTech?
In the report released on October 22, 2026, Programmatic Advertising Associate is the top fresher role in Delhi, with 50% of employers intending to hire, and Digital Marketing Executive is the top role in Mumbai, at 48%. The figures cover July to December 2026.
What does a Programmatic Advertising Associate do?
Programmatic advertising uses software to buy online ad space automatically, often through split-second bidding based on audience data. An associate sets up these campaigns, tracks results, and adjusts targeting and budgets. Employers look for skills such as campaign optimisation, audience targeting and media planning.
Is fresher hiring rising overall in India?
The TeamLease EdTech Career Outlook Report puts overall fresher hiring intent at 75% for July to December 2026, up from 73% in the first half, based on a survey of 1,097 employers. But some sectors fell, including IT, from 81% to 76%, and marketing and advertising, from 62% to 59%.
How can a student prepare for an ad-tech entry-level job?
Employers in this field value practical skills over degree titles. Learning how digital ad platforms and analytics tools work, and showing a few real campaigns in a portfolio, helps. The report also says employers increasingly expect freshers to be comfortable using AI tools.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
Sourced and fact-checked by the Peepals Global Editorial Team
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