iWorld
India’s influencer market explodes in 2025, three times bigger than expected
NEW DELHI: India’s influencer marketing engine is far bigger and faster than anyone imagined, according to a fresh industry analysis by KlugKlug. The company claims the real market has already crossed Rs 10,000 crores in annual deployment, a number that dwarfs the familiar Rs 3,000–4,000 crore estimates that brands and agencies have repeated for years. The revelation has already set off a lively debate across marketing circles, exposing how outdated measurement systems have been left miles behind by a rapidly expanding creator economy.
The report struck a nerve because it highlights a truth that many insiders privately knew. Only one quarter of India’s influencer spend flows through visible and organised channels. The remaining 75 per cent moves quietly through direct deals between brands and creators, internal teams, founder-driven pushes, and the enormous world of unpaid seeding that still delivers high earned media value. None of this activity shows up in traditional models, but all of it moves the needle.
D2C brands, meanwhile, have rewritten the rulebook. KlugKlug’s analysis notes that more than 100 emerging and established players now invest upwards of Rs 20 crores each year through in-house creator teams instead of agency-led structures. This silent shift has created an underground economy of micro and nano influencers who fuel product discovery, drive commerce, and keep the spend wheels turning without ever appearing in conventional market reports.
Explaining the significance of the findings, KlugKlug co-founder and chief executive officer Kalyan Kumar, said influencer marketing has transformed in the age of automation and precision tools. He said agile new-age brands are rapidly capturing market share across categories, powered by data-scienced creator strategies. With platforms such as KlugKlug stepping in, he noted that brands finally have visibility into what actually works across the creator landscape and that the industry has already grown far larger than previously recognised.
Klug Tech Private Limited co-founder and chief product officer Vaibhav Gupta, added that the long-standing gap in India’s influencer numbers exists because the industry relied on narrow, agency-facing data that never captured the real activity. He said the new analysis aims to correct the narrative while pushing the ecosystem toward more transparency and better measurement.
The report’s most striking takeaway is how thousands of smaller creators have quietly become the backbone of digital commerce. Their collective impact, combined with the rise of internal creator engines and founder-led content pushes, has accelerated the industry beyond the reach of older tracking methods.
The noise around the report suggests something bigger than a simple spending update. It hints at a sector that has outgrown its measuring tape and now demands a framework built for its true scale, speed, and economic influence. The creator economy is no longer a side story in India’s digital advertising landscape. It is the story, and the industry may finally be ready to measure it with the seriousness it deserves.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
