MAM
Guest column: A favourable ROI is a must for a successful influencer engagement
It has become quite evident that influencer marketing is gaining popularity and prominence rapidly over a span of 3-4 years. There are reports after reports that depict how this form of social media marketing is growing in leaps and bounds. These reports also showcase how companies are increasingly devoting a considerable amount from their marketing budget to influencer marketing. While it has been established that influencer marketing has flourished quite a bit, it is also crucial to develop a framework to evaluate its effectiveness.
In order for a brand to evaluate the effectiveness of an influencer engagement, it needs to focus on gaining maximum ROI in terms of reach, conversions, awareness, etc. For assessing the ROI of an influencer engagement activity, a brand needs to keep a few factors in mind.
Firstly, the goal and objective of the marketing campaign need to be clearly established. The brand might want to reach new target audiences, improve brand advocacy, increase product sales, generate more leads, manage the reputation of the company or just simply increase brand awareness.
Second of all, the brand should clearly establish the key performance index (KPI). This takes into account how much success the company is getting with respect to the investments it is making in an influencer engagement activity. If a brand is investing 3 lakhs in an influencer campaign and getting 6 lakh-worth of impressions, reach and other parameters, the brand has attained a KPI of 1:2 that signifies a favourable ROI.
Thirdly, the influencer should ensure that the content created is visually and aesthetically pleasing. So all the background elements, characters, plot, props, etc. need to be in line with the campaign objectives. Along with that, they should be visually attractive to grab attention.
After that, one needs to ensure that there is some synergy between the brand and the influencer. Apart from fulfilling the campaign objectives, the influencer should be a right for the brand’s overall tonality and ethos. For instance, an influencer who is big on spirituality and natural living may be a suitable fit for promoting a herbal soap/supplement brand. The influencer’s content and tonality will be in line with the herbal brand. Not just that, his/her followers would expect brand content similar to that.
Lastly, a brand should be able to identify the key messaging used in the influencer engagement. Ths key messaging can act as the unique selling proposition of the influencer campaign. Whether its the dialogue delivery, the funny music or the emotions the video espouses, as long as there is a touchpoint, the campaign ROI would be in the brand’s favour.
So every brand should invest in an influencer engagement strategy that promises a favourable ROI as only then will the brand achieve success.
(The author is founder & CEO, Whoppl. Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to her views.)
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.
