MAM
Guest column: Why the new influencer marketing guidelines will be for the better
NEW DELHI: India’s advertising self-regulatory council, the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI), will soon announce new guidelines for the influencer industry. Today, influencer marketing is not merely restricted to reaching out to bloggers/influencers but it has acquired a prominent share in brands’ marketing strategies. There’s no second thought in saying that the market has evolved and influencers have become a mainstream medium in the advertising world.
India’s influencer market is estimated at $75-$150 million a year as compared to the global market of $1.75 billion. This is an industry that has become mainstream in the recent past and is only expected to grow as more Indians go online. Be it a small or bigger brand or even a start-up, everyone intends to get fame in the shortest time, and as a result, they opt for the influencer marketing route to connect with the audience. But then there’s the other side of the story also where digital platforms have been misleading people and frauds have been occurring incessantly.
With the new guidelines hitting the influencer industry soon, there will be a gradual change in the whole ecosystem – from brands to consumers and influencers – which will comprehensively impact the digital industry.
Transparency in campaigns
ASCI describes an influencer as having access to an audience and the power to affect their audience's purchasing decisions or opinions about a product, service, brand or experience. As per the latest guidelines, influencers post have to include a permitted form of disclosure, be it an ad, collaboration, promotion, sponsored or partnership.
This will ease the consumer understanding regarding the post and people will be mindful of the content they are consuming. Numerous times we don’t know whether it is a paid content or organically generated. In fact, the line between advertising content and paid ones is blurring on social media platforms. The new rules will create more and more transparency, and brands, as well as influencers, will be more careful of the kind of content that they are bringing to their target audience.
Fake accounts will be minimised
Given the menace of fake news on social media where a fact check of claims is absent, new guidelines will also protect consumers’ interest. In the digital industry, there has been a rampant issue of fake news, ASCI have many times vocally expressed displeasure but till now it's of no use.
Influencers many times buy fake followers to increase their reach and gain popularity. There have been instances where XYZ influencers have a massive number of followers, but the engagement on posts is poor. Brands generally look at the number of followers for the association, but if the results are not up to the mark then it’s not a great strategy.
Defiance of guidelines
ASCI is not a statutory government body therefore some organisation may prefer not to abide by the new policies. But, most organisations follow ASCI guidelines and we can expect the same in the case of influencer marketing. ASCI can issue a notice to both brand owner and influencer for violation of any guideline in the case of a consumer complaint.
The new guidelines will promote transparency, as well as uplift the level of confidence among consumers, influencers and brands. Influencers should take this as an opportunity to maintain the trust among the followers.
Better opportunities for brands to create responsible advertising
Over the years, Indian advertising fraternity has evolved. Brands are becoming more conscious of their messaging so they don’t get pulled up by ASCI, but the problem still exists. With brands reaching out to influencers rapidly, this will lead both influencers and brands to include all the contracts as mentioned by ASCI. Hence, the results will be positive and it will minimise misleading consumers, and focus on the right content with right messaging which will increase transparency to make the ecosystem better.
(The author is COO and strategy head, Grapes Digital. The views expressed here are her own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
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.
