MAM
IAMAI unveils document on best practices for affiliate marketing in India
Mumbai: The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) launched a comprehensive document on the “Best Practices for Affiliate Marketing in India” at the India Affiliate Summit (IAS), India’s premier annual conference for affiliate marketing professionals. Organised by IAMAI, IAS 2024 serves as a platform for thought leaders and industry captains to address key issues within the affiliate marketing ecosystem.
Affiliate marketing spending in India currently stands at around $331 million, with projections reaching over $420 million by 2025. This anticipated growth underscores the urgent need for standardised practices and ethical guidelines to sustain the industry’s expansion. The “Best Practices for Affiliate Marketing in India” document by IAMAI addresses this need, providing a comprehensive framework to guide the industry toward greater transparency, trust and efficiency.
Given India’s position as one of the world’s top 10 markets in affiliate marketing, there is immense potential for further growth. Key factors driving this growth include the rising penetration of mobile phones, the rapid expansion of the e-commerce sector, robust digital infrastructure, and government initiatives such as Digital India. Together, these elements are anticipated to enhance the role of affiliate marketing as a strategic tool for companies across the country.
The comprehensive framework outlined in the document aims to foster trust, transparency, and efficiency across the affiliate marketing ecosystem.
The key objectives of launching the Best Practices for Affiliate Marketing are to:
● Establish industry-wide standards for ethical, transparent and effective campaigns
● Foster trust between advertisers, affiliates, and consumers
● Provide compliance guidance in a complex regulatory landscape
● Offer guidelines on performance optimization and KPI measurement
● Address common challenges such as unclear contracts and undisclosed terms
The document includes:
● Overview of different types of affiliate marketing
● Guidelines for technical setup and KPI tracking
● Best practices for various campaign formats (CPV, CPL, CPS, CPI)
● Emphasis on transparency and compliance
In October 2023 IAMAI facilitated the creation of a taskforce, comprising nine renowned companies of the affiliate marketing sector with the intention of creating affiliate marketing best practices guidelines. Companies involved in drafting the document include leading brands such as Affle, Admitad, Grabon, mFilterIt, Optimise, Tyroo, Valueleaf, and vCommission.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
