54% of Indians enjoy seeing branded material on the accounts of their favourite influencers: iCubesWire

ICubesWire has rolled out a survey to showcase how potential Indian consumers are establishing their purchase decisions on influencer recommendations across segments, geographies and income classes. 

Today, India has nearly 80 million content creators, including video streamers, influencers, bloggers, and essentially anyone building a community around their niche on a digital platform. 

As of 2022, the influencer marketing industry in India was valued at over INR 12 billion. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 25% over the next five years.

With this growth, brands have had the opportunity to leverage this space to connect with cohorts and niche consumer touch points.

According to the survey by the digital marketing agency, 34% of respondents buy products or services after watching influencers' posts, reels and videos on popular social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, among others. 

Instagram is titled the most popular social media platform for influencer marketing as it is followed by 40% of the respondents followed by YouTube influencers at 34%.  

The survey also indicated that 54% of respondents, a sizable majority, concurred that they enjoy seeing branded material on the accounts of their favourite influencers, while 19% disagreed and 21% stated they did not always.

The focus group for the survey had 1,455 respondents from all over India. The survey was conducted in December 2022. 

Highlights of the report: 

• 32% of respondents spend 2-4 hours each day on social media, compared to 11% who spend 4-6 hours and 11% who spend more than 6 hours.
• 40% of respondents said they use Instagram, while 3%, 13%, 4%, 31%, 7%, and 1% of respondents said they use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, respectively.
• 40 % of respondents follow their favourite social media influencer on Instagram, compared to 18 %, 7 %, 34 %, and 2 % who follow them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, respectively.
• 58% of respondents thought influencer marketing had a bigger impact than traditional marketing, while 19% disagreed it
• 73% of respondents said they wanted to be influencers, compared to 26% who said they didn't
• 30% of respondents visit the brand's website or social media pages in response to the question about the influencer marketing effect. Conversely, 42% occasionally, 18% infrequently, and 10% never give it any thought
• 49% of respondents are in favour of influencers taking over celebs for OTT platforms, while 29% disagreed and 22% said it depends upon the content
• 29% of respondents said they frequently follow influencers' advice to buy something, while 43% at least look at the suggestion, 15% only think about it when there is a sale, and 12% don't give it any thought
• 54%—agreed that they are eager to watch influencer content on social media, followed by 32% who are only somewhat interested, 24% who are interested purely for entertainment, and 8% who said that they are not interested

Sahil Chopra, CEO, iCubesWire, said, “The rise of social media has changed the way people and businesses interact. People's means of communication, which used to be limited to people they knew personally, have now expanded to include people all over the world. Traditional marketing techniques are being rapidly replaced by modern offerings such as reels, blogs, vlogs, and live streaming via digital media platforms. Influencer marketing has changed the way people think about modern marketing and is now a mainstay for all brands across industries, especially consumer-centric products and services."