iWorld
Authenticity drives brand affinity for Gen Z: BBC Studios study
Mumbai : BBC Studios has released a new study titled “Brands, News and Gen Z,” focused on revealing the preferences and motives of a new generation with purchase power, making it easier for advertisers to target an emerging, commercially receptive segment. The study offers advertisers deeper insight into what motivates Gen Z, how this generation engages with the news and what influences their decision-making process for purchases.
The study shows that despite growing up in a digital, filtered and increasingly volatile world, Gen Z are grounded, self-assured, ambitious and steadfast in their values, which align most closely with those of the boomer generation while incorporating the sensibilities of younger generations.
Authenticity, as defined by Gen Z, is about honesty, originality, trust, and quality. For Gen Z, brands aren’t just an expression of what they like; they’re an expression of what they value. They are more inclined to consume brands that are authentic, as they come closer to representing their values, beliefs, and sense of community. The research found that 80 per cent of India’s Gen Z respondents said that authenticity plays an influential role in their choice of brands. If a brand is genuine, Indian Gen Z are more likely to be loyal to it (81 per cent), recommend it to others (78 per cent), and purchase their products and services again (73 percent).
The research found that globally, Gen Z is more likely to trust the content of media platforms that they find authentic. This preference for authenticity also extends to where Gen Z obtains their information, with only 18 per cent of them being inspired by someone they follow on social media. Despite growing up in a digital world, Gen Z believes social media has created pressure to ‘present’, ‘perform’ and ‘perfect’, making it much harder to be authentic. In order to be authentic, Indian Gen Z respondents agree that it is crucial for news publishers to provide readers with a 360-degree perspective (64 per cent), give a platform to people whose voices are trusted (63 per cent), and publish fact-checked stories (61 per cent).
When a news media brand is trusted and perceived as authentic, Indian Gen Z prefers to engage with advertising and branded content presented by that news media brand. 60 per cent of the Gen Z respondents in India said they try out the brand they see on the authentic news media brand, and even more, 73 per cent engage further with other content that the news media brand produces or reports on.
BBC News APAC SVP commercial development Alistair McEwan said, “This research is particularly prominent in India, where the results show increased importance placed on authenticity by Gen Z compared to the rest of the world. We are always striving to learn more about the composition of our audience and the Gen Z cohort is an important emerging segment, and this research highlights that there are many similarities with older cohorts. These insights will help brands better understand the nuances of marketing to Gen Z and assist in creating effective policy settings and appropriate messaging.”
Aspirations in life for Gen Z are being successful, being authentic (true to yourself) and being content. The study found the Indian Gen Z to be the most ‘driven’ cohort among all in terms of their ambition to ‘be successful’ in life. The most popular definitions of authenticity among global Gen Z are embracing who you truly are (44 per cent), and remaining honest in all circumstances (40 per cent).
‘Being a good friend’ is rated highly as being one’s authentic self by Indian Gen Z, and 58 per cent consider their career to be an important aspect of their life. Being successful is very important for Indian Gen Z, which is much more important than the global average, 49 per cent vs. 29 per cent.
eNews
India uses ChatGPT for technical tasks nearly 4 times the world average: OpenAI
From classrooms to code, India’s AI use is increasingly skill-driven and youth-led.
MUMBAI: If code is the new currency, India is already minting it by the million prompts. In the world’s largest democracy, artificial intelligence is no longer a distant abstraction or a boardroom buzzword. It is a daily companion, drafting emails in Hyderabad, debugging code in Bengaluru, polishing essays in Delhi, and fielding life advice in towns far beyond the metros. Fresh data from OpenAI’s “Signals” initiative offers a rare, granular glimpse into how India is using ChatGPT, and the numbers suggest the country is not just adopting AI; it is actively shaping its use.
India is one of the largest markets globally for ChatGPT’s weekly active users and ranks among the top five countries for API usage. With OpenAI’s global consumer base exceeding 800 million users, most of them on free tiers, the dataset captures adoption patterns that go far beyond enterprise subscriptions.
Indian users, notably, are punching above their weight when it comes to advanced capabilities. Among ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, usage of the data analysis tool is roughly four times above the global median. Use of Codex, OpenAI’s coding platform, is about three times above the median. Indians are nearly three times more likely than the global median to ask coding-related questions and almost twice as likely to seek help on education and learning.
This matters because it signals something economists call a shrinking “capability overhang”, which is the gap between what AI tools can do and how fully users exploit them. In India, that gap appears to be narrowing rapidly.
The geography of this coding intensity tracks the country’s technology hubs. Telangana, which is home to Hyderabad, ranks first in usage of OpenAI’s coding capabilities. Karnataka, home to Bengaluru, follows in second place, while Tamil Nadu comes third. In other words, the prompt traffic mirrors the tech corridors.
Nearly two-thirds of consumer ChatGPT messages in India are now non-work related, while slightly over one-third are tied to work. That marks a significant shift. In earlier phases of adoption, work was the dominant use case. It was only in early 2025 that non-work messages overtook professional use, and the divergence widened throughout the year.
Even so, India remains slightly above the global average in work-related usage. Around 35 per cent of consumer messages in India relate to work, compared with roughly 30 per cent globally.
At work, the emphasis is squarely task-oriented. Around 45 per cent of work-related conversations fall into “doing” behaviours such as drafting documents, transforming text, and completing tasks, compared with a much smaller share in non-work contexts. Technical help and writing dominate. In offices across the country, ChatGPT functions as a digital co-pilot that debugs code, polishes presentations, and unblocks stalled workflows.
Outside work, the tone shifts. Over 35 per cent of non-work messages revolve around practical guidance, which includes everyday advice and how-to queries. Roughly 20 per cent relate to seeking information. Nearly one-fifth involve writing tasks such as drafting or editing. Self-expression and learning loom large. In personal life, Indians appear to use AI less as an executor and more as an explainer, sounding board, and study partner.
India’s demographic dividend is clearly reflected in its AI habits.
Users aged 18 to 24 now account for just under half of all ChatGPT messages sent in the country. They surpassed the 25 to 34 age group in mid-2024 and have held the lead ever since. Globally, the 18 to 24 cohort accounts for about one-third of messages; in India, the share is markedly higher.
Combined, users aged 18 to 34 generate roughly 80 per cent of total consumer ChatGPT messages in India. Given that around 40 per cent of India’s population is under 25, the youth skew is unsurprising, but its implications are profound. Education-related queries, early-career problem-solving, and skills development are likely to dominate near-term AI impacts.
Usage patterns also differ by age. The 18 to 24 cohort accounts for a near majority of messages seeking practical guidance, technical help, and self-expression. Meanwhile, the 24 to 34 group sends a slightly higher share of multimedia and technical help queries relative to its overall share of usage.
If AI norms are being written in real time, it is young Indians who are holding the pen.
OpenAI does not collect gender data, but inferred patterns based on typically masculine and feminine first names reveal a measurable gap in India. A little under 60 per cent of users have typically masculine names, and just over 40 per cent have typically feminine names. This skew is more pronounced than the global average.
Worldwide, users with typically feminine names now account for slightly more than half of all messages. This shift occurred only in the summer of 2025, when feminine-name usage overtook masculine-name usage globally. In India, the gap persists, although it has been narrowing over the past year.
There are also topical differences. Users with typically feminine names are more likely to send messages related to self-expression, practical guidance, and writing. Those with typically masculine names lean more towards seeking information and technical help.
The data does not capture motivations, but it does highlight where inclusion efforts and digital literacy initiatives could focus if AI is to broaden opportunity rather than deepen divides.
The consumer story aligns with India’s broader AI momentum. The country ranks second globally in AI skills penetration and has one of the fastest-growing AI talent pools. It accounts for 9.2 per cent of global AI publications in computer science as of 2023, which represents a substantial contribution to research output.
At the same time, investment in AI data centres and digital public infrastructure is expanding, promising to knit together datasets and resources at scale. Enterprise adoption is also robust, which suggests that consumer experimentation is unfolding alongside institutional integration.
OpenAI’s “Signals” project is built with aggregated, privacy-preserving data and released with a time lag. It aims to provide a durable measurement layer for the AI era. The idea is not to track individuals, but to surface patterns such as where adoption is accelerating, who is using the tools, and what they are actually doing.
In a country as vast and varied as India, such evidence is more than academic. It shapes decisions about workforce training, small business support, education policy, and safeguards.
For now, the numbers paint a picture of a nation that is not merely consuming AI, but conversing with it in an energetic, experimental, and increasingly skilful manner. In India, the future of work and learning is not being downloaded. It is being drafted, debugged, and rewritten in real time.
