Ayush Wadhwa

Audio content is revolutionising the way people consume content. The total addressable market of India's audio series landscape is expected to grow to 540M users by 2027 according to a report by Brand Equity. TV and print media are becoming obsolete. Audio shows and podcasts are taking over. ASS has been working with Kuku FM for the last 6 months. While working with them, I can witness the power of audio content. Here's why audio content stands out 👇 1/ 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 Whether going for a walk, stuck in traffic, or doing household chores, audio content fits your busy schedule. 2/ 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 Audio platforms produce different content in different languages to reach a wider audience. 3/ 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 Around 70% of listeners under 35 enjoy audio shows, showing a shift towards flexible, on-the-go content. 4/ 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 Who doesn't like to listen to stories? Audio content is the richest content of storytelling. --------------- India has always been a land of stories and storytellers. From Mahabharata to today various audio shows by platforms like KuKu FM have proved it. In the era of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and various other visual content platforms, audio content has taken its place and it's here to stay. It's the most powerful storytelling form in today's digital world. Do you consume audio content? What are your thoughts on this?

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₹22,400 Crore ($2.7 Billion) Lost to Piracy in India’s Entertainment Industry 1. Rising Piracy: A Growing Concern for Content Creators 51% of Indian consumers access content through pirated sources, posing a significant challenge to the entertainment industry’s revenue streams. 2. Streaming Dominates Piracy Landscape 63% of pirated content comes from streaming platforms, with mobile apps following closely behind as a major channel for illicit content distribution. 3. Massive GST Revenue Losses Up to INR 43 billion in GST revenues may have been lost due to piracy in India, underscoring the financial impact of unauthorised content consumption on the economy. 4. Post-Pandemic Surge in Subscription Revenue Subscription revenue has surged by 150% since the pandemic, signalling a strong rebound for OTT services, but piracy continues to hinder further growth. 5. Filmed Entertainment Industry Poised for Growth. India’s filmed entertainment sector is projected to reach INR 146 billion by 2026, signalling significant opportunity—but piracy remains a critical hurdle. 6. Pirates Don’t Want Paid Subscriptions 70% of pirated content consumers report no interest in purchasing OTT subscriptions, highlighting a major gap in monetisation strategies for streaming services. 7. Young Demographics Driving Piracy A significant 6% of pirated content users are aged between 19-34 years, suggesting that younger audiences are more likely to engage with unauthorized content. 8. Language Preferences in Pirated Content 40% of pirated content is consumed in Hindi, with 31% opting for English content, reflecting language preferences and potential areas for localisation. 9. Consumer Willingness to Switch to Legal Platforms 64% of pirated content users would prefer accessing content via authorized channels, even with ads, if offered for free—indicating potential for ad-supported business models. 10. Resistance to Paying for Movie Tickets A strong 84% of pirated content consumers report that they have no intention of purchasing movie tickets, pointing to the need for more affordable or flexible viewing options.

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Did you know that 7 out of 10 e-retail orders come from Tier 2/3 cities and smaller towns, though the numbers may be lower for younger D2C brands? By 2025, millennial consumers will drive one-third of the global social media shopping expenditure, followed by Gen Z at 29% and Gen X at 28%. Recently, Tejas discussed what’s driving marketing in Tier 2+ cities across industries. While Tier 1 cities have to drive a higher AOV across segments, The next 500 million new internet users will come from Tier 2+ cities or smaller towns. Hence, most brands are working to create better distribution and visibility across not just only Tier 1 but Tier 2+ cities as well At Mobavenue, we enable growth in Tier 2+ cities by solving distribution and reach challenges. Are you looking to reach the ideal audience with the right strategies? Just message us, and we'll work on tailored growth plans. Fact: According to McKinsey & Company, the number of households with annual income INR 10-25 lakhs is expected to grow from 80 million in 2018 to a remarkable 140 million by 2025. Thank you Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the feature.

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Today every other brand wants to be social first in their marketing approach, engaging with the top influencers to build out content - however most of them follow the same old influencer marketing playbook. This year, when we launched Gemini, we questioned ourselves - how do we build something on modern marketing principles and at the same time make it clutter breaking that can stand out on its own? And that’s when the idea of “House of Gemini” was born. The show premiered last Thursday on YouTube and the love we have been getting from viewers and the industry is very overwhelming. 🙏🏻 Sit back and enjoy the show this weekend and be entertained. (And alongside get to know some cool Gemini use cases) The show trailer and the show link in the first comment. Tag: Neha Barjatya Sakshi chopra Rahul B. Brahmi Shah Chatterjee Meet Mukesh P. Gaurav Singh Chauhan Jessica Sharma Ankita Chemburkar Sampada Srivastava Thanks to the partners Communique India 🇮🇳, Endemol Shine India (Endemol Shine Group) and Tanmay Bhat who made this show a reality. #socialmedia #marketing #influencers #modernmarketing #gemini #google

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People are gone crazy since when PUBG battlegrounds has been relaunched in India and I am sure you must be busy playing the game but there are many marketing lessons you can learn and implement from pUBG📱💸 📍Your Campaigns should be like dropping a bomb Just like in PUBG, where a well-timed explosion can change the course of the game, your marketing efforts should aim to make a significant impact. So make sure you are making attention grabbing content for your campaigns which acts like a bomb for your business. 📍Use Different Platforms for Maximum Impact Much like in PUBG, where using various weapons and tools can give you the upper hand, using different platforms in digital marketing amplifies your reach and impact. Explore social media platforms like facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to connect with your audience where they're most active. 📍Timing is Key, Just Like Strategic Movement in PUBG In both PUBG and digital marketing, timing is everything. just as strategic movement can decide your survival in the game, the timing of your marketing campaigns can determine their success. Pay attention to trends, seasonality, and your audience's online behavior to strategically deploy your campaigns. 📍Understanding Terrain and Target Audience Much like navigating the various terrains of PUBG maps, successful digital marketers must understand the landscape in which they operate and the audience they aim to reach. Conduct thorough market research, analyze competitor strategies, and delve deep into audience insights to make effective campaigns that drive results.

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💡 Case Study: How Zomato Employed Experiential Marketing to Boost Engagement Zomato, India's leading food delivery platform, leveraged experiential marketing to create a deeper connection with its audience. During the launch of their “Zomaland” food festival, Zomato combined culinary experiences with entertainment, offering visitors immersive food zones, live music, games, and influencer meetups. By integrating food with entertainment and on-ground engagement, Zomato successfully built a memorable brand experience. The event allowed attendees to associate the Zomato brand with more than just food delivery—creating lasting emotional connections. This case highlights how Zomato used experiential marketing to engage its audience in a more personal and interactive way, driving both brand awareness and customer loyalty. #WhiteOrangeExperiences #ExperientialMarketing #CustomerEngagement #Zomato #MarketingSuccess #BrandStrategy

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Alarming Trend: Nearly 2 out of 3 influencers have 60% fake Instagram followers 😯 A recent report by influencer marketing platform Klug Klug has revealed a concerning trend in India's influencer marketing industry. Nearly two out of three Instagram profiles in India have spurious or fake followers in excess of 60 percent. This issue is particularly prevalent in the beauty and fashion industry, where influencers resort to deceptive practices, potentially leading to significant financial losses for brands investing in influencer marketing campaigns. The report highlights that only 2.48 million profiles out of the eight million audited exhibited credible and high-quality followers. India is both the largest supplier and buyer of fake followers, with the cost of buying fake followers as low as Rs 8 to Rs 10 for 1,000 followers and going up to Rs 50 per 1,000 followers on Instagram. This alarming trend not only affects brands but also legitimate influencers who are in a race to amplify reach and get the attention of brands. Brands lose 30-50 percent of their money on every campaign due to fake followers, which results in poor engagement rates and complicates efforts to measure true impact and ROI. While fake followers are being bought by all types and sizes of influencers, a smaller fraction, who are larger influencers, also buy comments and likes, in what is known as engagement buying. This practice is more common among larger influencers who monetize their content and need to show higher engagement to brands. However, it's not just brands that face the side-effects of fake followers; some influencers, too, are losing opportunities. Brands are working with the top 500 creators, making it challenging for new creators to make space for themselves. Despite the menace of fake followers affecting the influencer industry, there are some red flags that brands and influencer marketing agencies have started to look out for, such as engagement rates and the number of views compared to the number of followers. As brands and agencies, it's crucial to work together to ensure a transparent and trustworthy influencer marketing landscape. By identifying and partnering with truly influential content creators, we can reduce the prevalence of fake followers in the industry and create meaningful partnerships that yield genuine engagement and ROI. Do share your thoughts on how sports and athlete partnerships can defy the trend of fake followers, bringing authenticity and increasing trust for brands in influencer marketing. #influencermarketing #socialmedia #fakefollowers #brands #influencers

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💡Necessity Meets Innovation: The Journey to BlinkofAI Almost two years ago, I worked with Zomato on a project to create low-cost media for their 'vibe check' feature. Despite piloting it with 30 restaurants, we couldn’t achieve the target cost. For lack of scalable, low-cost solution, the feature was archived. We then spoke with over 100 restaurants and marketers, got firsthand insights into the need of impactful, low-cost media. At the same time, we saw the rise of generative media, but it wasn’t aligned with what most businesses needed—showcasing their actual products and services. Shoot, upload, and get the guidance you need to make a video ad, all without any expertise in marketing or video creation—that's BlinkofAI for you. .. stay tuned for more insights on how BlinkofAI is making media creation accessible.

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With over 35 lakh+ content creators, influencer marketing in India is projected at ₹34 billion by 2026! As someone closely associated with marketing, I have witnessed how rapidly influencer marketing has evolved. Talent being supported by access to a mobile and an internet connection have been behind the evolution of modern day mass media. As this field is ever evolving, here are some trends that have shaped the influencer marketing: • The rise of virtual influencers : Artificial intelligence is tailoring audience targeting and engagement strategies to be more relatable. A new trend called “virtual influencers” has gotten popular. Kyra is India’s very own first virtual influencer, and with just 97 posts, she has built a community of over 2.7 lakh followers. • Affiliate programmes :  There are various affiliate programmes like the Nykaa Affiliate Program (NAP), which is a program that that allows creators to make a commission on sales or referrals of branded products, providing a stable way to monetize their content. • Short videos, big impact : With YouTube shorts and Instagram reels dominating the internet now, these videos with a time span of less than 60 seconds have become an effective way to captivate the audience and influence their purchase-making decisions. All brands including Nike, SKIMS, and American Eagle Outfitters Inc. have leveraged the feature of Youtube shorts to boost their sales! • Unfiltered content: Influencers have made authenticity a part of their presence on social media which includes sharing raw glimpses from their lives, especially from scratch, and the audience connect that comes from it is helping them make it bigger. For instance, Nancy Tyagi started her journey from a small village, and today, millions of people have been inspired by her after seeing a middle-class girl like her reach the stage in Cannes! Even though trends come and go, what stays are the communities that are built by these torch bearers. These communities truly have the power of changing the way brands shall penetrate their presence amongst it’s audiences. What’s another trend that you would like to add to the list? #InfluencerMarketing #ContentCreation #SocialMediaStrategy

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A question for all Marketeers. What percentage value does a "Brand Ambassador" who costs millions in Marketing spends, bring to the overall product sold? Example: Denver deodorants has a market share of 4.4% ( 166 crores) in India and Shahrukh Khan as brand Ambassador. Given that the brand spends 10% ( 16.6 crores) on annual Marketing, how does an expensive BA drive the sales? How many people buy Denver because Shahrukh Khan endorses the brand? Also, given the soaring media costs, does a Brand Ambassador make any sense in the Brands economics?

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Nike receives 137.1 million monthly traffic  Swiggy receives 12.85 million monthly traffic  Zapier increased its organic traffic growth from 1.19Mn visits per month to over 4.8Mn Here's the secret behind their organic growth... While many brands believe that SEO and content marketing are dead, these brands are leveraging them to get more traction. Here are 3 SEO myths holding your brand back and what’s the reality instead: ❌ Short-form content > Long-form content ✅As per an article by Semrush, long-form content (over 3000 words) outperforms short pieces by: 3X in terms of traffic 4X in terms of shares 3.5X in terms of backlinks In fact, Ahrefs’ 3,000-4,000 word-long blog posts have helped them rank for over 200,000 keywords and attract more than 500,000 organic visits every month, according to SimilarWeb data. ❌ Focus solely on SEO metrics ✅ It’s tempting to obsess over keyword rankings, but metrics like engagement rate, bounce rate, and time on site tell the true story of success. Airbnb has aligned its SEO strategy with its business model. They create location-based content. This has helped them rank for over 13 million keywords globally (Ahrefs data). ❌ Content alone drives success ✅High-quality content is important, but things like site speed, mobile optimization, and technical SEO matter just as much. 53% of users leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, as per a report by Google. In fact, when The New York Times introduced AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for their articles, they saw a 10% boost in mobile search traffic and a 23% increase in users returning within a week. Here’s what you should do if you want to improve your SEO’s ROI: → Focus on creating pillar content that truly addresses queries. → Set clear goals from day one and track metrics that matter for long-term impact. → Optimize your website's technical aspects and user experience for better engagement. Don’t believe in common misconceptions and start focusing on the right things. You’ll definitely see the results! P.S. Do you think SEO is dead?   #SEO #ContentMarketing #OrganicGrowth #LongFormContent #DigitalMarketing

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Listen, I consult every single day. I am on calls with agencies, creators and brands everyday - non-stop, and the one thing I always tell both #brands & #creators is if you want to invest in one another (more so when creators want a sponsorship) that you need to dive into ~ ✨proof of concept ✨ ~. *SOME* creators have unrealistic expectations - they want $25K for 1 TikTok (their engagement is not $25K worthy), they have never posted organically about the brand, and they do not have enough respect on deadlines, refuse to do edits, and think the world revolves around them. My favorite is "I am the perfect fit for this beauty brand because I am a beauty creator". BUT *SOME* brands also are also guilty - not learning that you do not always need to activate with the BIGGEST name, you can experiement with different niches (ie: beauty campaign CAN use a food creator), and activating with the wrong talent that just makes 0 sense. On both sides, lots of work is to be done - however, *brands* learn and educate yourself / agencies on new platforms. *Creators* or even better *rude managers* educate yourself on how to be respectful to others, learn proof of concept, and see how to elevate your talent, correctly. This will make the world a better place, and grow those relationships 🌟 That's my TED Talk for the day.

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Disney+ Hotstar is introducing pause ads on CTV. Here's why it's a game changer: ✔ 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Pause ads leverage natural breaks in viewing, capturing attention without interrupting the user experience. This means viewers are more receptive and engaged with the content. ✔ 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: By integrating ads seamlessly during pauses, brands can create memorable interactions that enhance user retention and satisfaction. ✔ 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: Pause ads are less likely to cause viewer frustration, leading to higher engagement rates compared to traditional ad formats. This approach is a great example of how to utilize technology to create a better advertising experience. (link to article in the comments) I see it as a win-win for both viewers and advertisers. Agree? Any different perspectives? I'd love to hear what you think 👇 ------------------------ If you found this helpful, consider reposting ♻️ and follow me for more content like this: Mike Ryan

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In the world of entertainment, the stakes are high. Public perception can quickly make or derail a career. But how does marketing come into play? Well, celebrity branding is a crucial aspect of managing and enhancing a star's public image. Let's take a look at the journey of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Miley Cyrus, and Matthew McConaughey to understand the power of strategic marketing in the entertainment industry! #CelebrityBranding #PublicImage #EntertainmentIndustry #StrategicMarketing #TheRock #DwayneJohnson #MileyCyrus #MatthewMcConaughey #Rebranding #AudienceEngagement #SocialMediaMarketing #BrandStrategy #DigitalMarketing #MarketingAgency #WebDesignAgency

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India is known for its thriving D2C startup ecosystem which has grown exponentially over the last few years. D2C startups largely rely on social media for both advertising and sales purposes. How would they survive if their ad and social media accounts are withheld for months? Some startups who featured on Sony's popular reality show "Shark Tank India” posed with this situation after they faced prolonged lockouts from their ad and social media accounts due to alleged copyright violations linked to sharing content from the show. This has severely impacted their ability to collaborate with influencers and promote their products, say Pathik Patel & Roshaan V Mishra who told their story along with few others who requested anonymity. #D2C #Startups #SocialMediaMarketing #SharkTankIndia #CopyrightViolation #SonyPicturesNetworksIndia

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Rajiv Bajaj’s unique approach to branding highlights how everyday essentials like vada pav and cutting chai can become icons, just as McDonald’s and Starbucks did. But when it comes to motorcycles, his philosophy is different: rather than focusing on low-cost options, he aims to build premium, differentiated brands that offer more than just affordability. Can this mindset drive sustainable growth in India’s diverse market? #branding #rajivbajaj #businessstrategy #innovation #marketing #advertising

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