Digital
From data to delight: How AI is powering the next wave of customer engagement
Mumbai: Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the marketing landscape, becoming a key tool for brands looking to deliver smarter, faster, and more personalised experiences. For digital marketing agencies and brands, AI is moving beyond hype and becoming an essential part of how they connect with their audience. Whether through automation, personalisation, or predictive insights, AI is driving significant changes in marketing strategies.
Personalisation at scale: A game-changer for marketers
Personalisation has been a core goal for marketers for years, but scaling it has always been challenging. AI allows brands to analyse massive amounts of customer data in real time, providing valuable insights into individual preferences and behaviours. This enables brands to deliver highly personalised content, offers, and recommendations to consumers at scale.
For example, many e-commerce platforms use AI algorithms to recommend products based on a customer’s browsing and purchase history. This type of hyper-personalization has been shown to boost engagement and conversions. According to a 2023 McKinsey report, companies using AI to power personalisation have seen a 10-20 per cent increase in conversion rates. This makes AI an invaluable tool for digital marketing agencies striving to deliver unique, targeted experiences to each customer without the need for excessive manual intervention.
One major advantage of AI is its ability to constantly learn and adapt. As customers interact with a brand, AI-driven systems can fine-tune recommendations, content, and offers to reflect evolving preferences. This dynamic capability allows brands to stay relevant and responsive, offering a level of personalisation that was previously unattainable.
Predictive analytics: Anticipating what customers want
Predictive analytics is another area where AI is making a profound impact. Instead of relying on historical data alone, AI-driven tools are now helping brands predict future customer behaviours and preferences. By analysing past interactions, purchase history, and external factors like trends or seasonality, AI can forecast what products or services a customer may be interested in next.
This proactive approach allows brands to tailor their marketing strategies, accordingly, delivering offers or recommendations before the customer even realises their need. For instance, streaming platforms like Netflix use AI to recommend content based on user viewing patterns, significantly improving customer retention and satisfaction. A 2024 study by Deloitte highlights that companies using AI for predictive analytics are 1.5 times more likely to retain customers compared to those using traditional approaches.
Efficiency through automation: Scaling marketing efforts
While personalisation and predictive analytics are driving enhanced customer experiences, AI’s power in automating routine marketing tasks is equally transformative. AI tools are increasingly being used to automate processes like email marketing, social media management, and even ad buying, allowing brands to operate more efficiently.
One of the biggest benefits of AI-driven automation is that it enables digital marketing agencies to focus on higher-value tasks such as strategy, content creation, and relationship building. For instance, AI can optimise email marketing campaigns by determining the best time to send emails, selecting relevant content, and analysing recipient responses. This kind of automation not only increases engagement but also saves marketers significant time and effort.
AI is also optimizing digital advertising. Through programmatic advertising, AI tools analyze real-time data to adjust bids for ad placements automatically, ensuring that budgets are spent efficiently while reaching the right audiences at the right time. This automated approach to digital marketing can dramatically improve ROI and reduce wasted ad spend.
Conclusion
AI is fundamentally transforming marketing, enabling brands to deliver more personalised, predictive, and efficient customer experiences. As AI continues to evolve, its role in marketing will only grow, making it essential for brands to adopt these technologies to stay competitive. The future of marketing lies in embracing AI-driven strategies that not only enhance customer experiences but also streamline operations, offering a significant advantage in an increasingly complex digital landscape. The future is clear: AI is not just enhancing marketing—it’s revolutionising it.
This article has been authored by VUI Live co-founder and business head Akash Manchanda
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
