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 The revelation has already set off a lively debate across marketing circles, exposing how outdated measurement systems have been left miles behind by a rapidly expanding creator economy.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
JioStar revenue hits Rs 9,784 crore as cricket fuels 22 per cent growth
A surge in digital viewership and sports dominance fuels a blockbuster quarter for the media giant
MUMBAI: JioStar is batting on a flat pitch. The media titan’s fourth-quarter results for the financial year 2026 reveal a business scaling new heights, propelled by an unprecedented appetite for premium sports and digital-first storytelling.
Gross revenue for the quarter soared by 22.15 per cent to Rs 9,784 crore, up from Rs 8,010 crore in the third quarter. Operationally, the momentum was equally strong; revenue from operations climbed 21 per cent to Rs 8,372 crore. These figures underscore the firm’s successful integration following the Reliance and Disney merger, creating a dominant force in the Indian market.
The annual performance has been nothing short of a spectacle. Full-year gross revenue reached a massive Rs 36,248 crore, while annual profit after tax hit Rs 3,210 crore. This rapid expansion reflects JioStar’s ability to capture and monetise the massive growth in India’s media consumption.
Cricket proved to be the ultimate growth engine. The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and TATA IPL 2026 delivered “record-breaking viewership” across both television and digital screens. The World Cup final alone drew a global peak concurrency of 72.5 million on JioHotstar, cementing its status as the nation’s premier streaming destination. On television, JioStar maintained a commanding 34.2 per cent viewership share, reaching a staggering 810 million viewers nationwide.
The digital numbers were just as impressive. JioHotstar averaged 500 million monthly active users, driven by consistent subscriber growth and innovative AI-led content discovery tools. These advancements are ensuring that JioStar remains at the cutting edge of the global “Race for Attention.”
With a firm grip on the country’s most valuable sporting rights and a rapidly growing digital footprint, JioStar is perfectly positioned for the future. It has built the ultimate content powerhouse—one that is ready to dominate the Indian living room for years to come.
