MAM
Expert-speak on advertising in times of mobile-first consumers
MUMBAI: With Indian government’s demonetisation of high-value currency notes in its second fortnight, there couldn’t have been a better time to discuss how mobile is moving businesses and whether the reality of a cashless economy is still a far-fetched theory.
In an effort to cash in on the latest buzz words — ‘financial inclusion, ‘digital business’, ‘internet penetration’, ‘digital advertising’, etc. — Facebook recently hosted Mobile Moves Business, an industry event in Mumbai that was designed to bring together businesses, industry experts and marketers to help engage with today’s mobile-first consumers in India.
Making a bold and future-facing statement, Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia Chairman Ashish Bhasin made it clear that the foundations of present day media planning, which depends primarily on frequencies of views, will be shaken as the lines between mediums start to blur.
“We make a plan based on an assumption of an X number of times it (a campaign) is viewed on television, but we need to start considering that the same communication may be seen in an another format on an another platform several more number of times,” pointed out Bhasin, adding most market studies predicting digital ad ex to reach 40 per cent of the total pie will be proven wrong. “Digital will command 80 to 100 per cent of the total pie, I feel. Of course, the way we classify digital advertising will also change…TV, radio and even print will all become digital,” he said.
Along with him on the panel discussing matters digital were Facebook India MD Umang Bedi, Vodafone India marketing SVP Sidharth Banerjee and Snapdeal marketing VP Kanika Kalra.
Banerjee, who seconded Bhasin’s statement, was of the opinion that India, just like China, will soon reach an inflexion point in smart-phone penetration when that number reached one-third of the total phones in the market.
“I can see that happening in the next 18 months or so. Getting the communication in mobile right will be the main issue then. What advertisers keep getting wrong is treating mobile (devices) like a separate medium to advertise on,” he said.
Pointing out that advertisers shouldn’t forget the many India’s within India, Banerjee said, “While we ready ourselves for the digital and cashless India armed with smart-phones, we mustn’t forget about a part of India where features phones will still play an important role and marketers shouldn’t exclude them from their plans.”
But smart tech and devices also bring along newer problems and challenges. Ad blocking, for example. The high rate of ad blocking in India was also addressed by the panel.
“As the digital advertising market becomes more mature, the issue of privacy will only become more acute. I believe the way ahead is opt-ins. Let’s face it, users don’t pay for advertisements, so ads will always remain (like) an intrusion, “Bhasin highlighted a valid point, adding, “Going forward, consumers will have a choice to allow certain advertisers to communicate with them. So we marketers need to collectively respect the consumer’s choice. Sooner or later we will have laws concerning it and it is better to prepare for it with best practices in place.”
Clarifying FB’s position on ad blocking, Bedi said that FB respected its users’ privacy and ensures only relevant sponsored ads reach users. “It isn’t bad but actually good for business as brands can seek out only those consumers who are interested in their communications, leading to higher fulfilment of purchase cycle instead of spraying and praying,” Bedi replied, when asked if the social media giant loses businesses due to ad blocking.
MAM
Kantar report shows what Indians are searching for in 2026
Google search data reveals a nation juggling aspiration and anxiety, from AI-powered religion to micro-retirements
MUMBAI: India is changing fast, and its search bar is giving the game away. Kantar, the marketing data and analytics company, has released the 2026 edition of its India in Search report, mining Google search data to map how 1.4 billion people are thinking, spending, ageing and believing right now.
The report, built on hundreds of validated search topics and anchored to Kantar’s own trend framework, identifies seven cultural trajectories and 11 sectoral trends. The picture it paints is of a country pulling in several directions at once, seeking convenience yet craving slowness, chasing digital tools yet retreating into the physical world.
The headline numbers are striking. AI searches have exploded to 235 million average monthly searches, up 154 per cent year on year. Beauty searches, at 131 million monthly and growing at 3 per cent, reflect a move toward science-backed efficacy over aspiration alone. Food culture searches hit 94 million, up 7 per cent, blending convenience with experimentation. Quick delivery queries reached 29 million, up 61 per cent. Climate adaptation searches climbed 22 per cent to 14 million. Digital safety queries rose 9 per cent to 17 million.
Faith, one of India’s most enduring forces, is getting a technological makeover. Searches for Mahabharat AI surged 400 per cent, while Gita GPT rose 83 per cent. More telling still, searches for female pandits for weddings jumped 100 per cent and Navratri gift searches shot up 267 per cent. Religion is no longer purely institutional. It is being personalised, digitised and consumed on demand.
Indian parents, meanwhile, are building digital fortresses around their children. Searches for safe search filters rose 241 per cent, Android parental controls jumped 124 per cent, and Google’s Family Link gained 22 per cent. Gen Alpha is growing up in a world where curiosity is mediated through guardrails.
Ageing is being reinvented too. Searches for strength training for the elderly surged 324 per cent, perimenopause queries climbed 22 per cent, and searches for senior-friendly smartphones, specifically the iPhone senior, rocketed 1,043 per cent. Indians in their 40s and beyond are not managing decline. They are training for independence.
In a culture saturated by algorithmic speed, a counter-movement is building. Lego searches reached 165,000 a month, up 22 per cent. Searches for homemade dog treats jumped an extraordinary 122,000 per cent. The report labels this “slow joy,” a deliberate turn toward effort-based pleasure and tactile creativity.
The physical world is also making a comeback after years of digital saturation. Searches for escape rooms near the user rose 49 per cent, live music queries climbed 124 per cent, and coffee rave party searches surged 540 per cent. Indians, it appears, want to show up rather than scroll.
On identity, the report tracks a generation stepping outside traditional frameworks. Searches for Karl Marx rose 123 per cent and the term neurodivergent gained 50 per cent. Searches for borderline personality disorder jumped 421 per cent, reflecting a deeper public engagement with psychological self-understanding.
The workplace, too, is being renegotiated on workers’ terms. Job hugging, the practice of clinging to a stable role out of anxiety, surged 2,300 per cent in searches. Micro-retirements gained 800 per cent. Occupational burnout queries rose 86 per cent. Searches for AI and machine learning courses climbed 49 per cent, suggesting that even as workers seek respite, they are not standing still.
Soumya Mohanty, managing director and chief client and solutions officer for South Asia at Kantar, said search behaviour remains one of the most honest signals of national mood. “This year’s findings reflect a nation negotiating multiple tensions; speed and slowness, protection and experimentation, aspiration and anxiety,” she said. “For brands, the opportunity lies in understanding these cultural undercurrents and responding with empathy, intelligence, and cultural precision. The 2026 edition of India in Search is a strategic compass for anyone seeking to decode consumer truth.”
The report covers January to December 2025. The data, drawn from Google search topics and queries and mapped against Kantar’s proprietary trend framework, offers brands across every category a live feed of what India actually wants, not what it says it wants in a survey. In a country this complex and this fast-moving, that may be the only market research that matters.
