iWorld
Kofluence report decodes India’s booming influence economy
MUMBAI: India’s influencer economy is hitting its stride—and going hyperlocal. Ad-tech platform Kofluence has dropped the 2025 edition of its flagship report Decoding Influence, unravelling how data, AI, and regional creators are reshaping digital advertising in the world’s fastest-growing content market.
Based on insights from over 1,000 creators, marketers and industry leaders, the report paints a picture of a maturing ecosystem where brands are treating influencer partnerships not as vanity plays but as performance levers.
“India’s influence economy has not only seen growth but also a decentralisation of influence. There is a dynamic shift with creators in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, often creating content in regional and vernacular languages, who are building strongly engaged communities through hyperlocal narratives,” observes Kofluence CEO & co-founder Sreeram Reddy Vanga. “Amidst a trillion-dollar influencer advertising opportunity in India, we’re seeing brands approach influencer partnerships with far more intention and as a strategic marketing lever, driven by data, sustained by technology, and measured against business outcomes.”
Key takeaways from Decoding Influence 2025:
* Instagram leads the pack: With an estimated 1.8–2.3 million Indian creators, Instagram remains the top monetisation playground. Reels dominate revenue—charging anywhere from Rs 500–5,000 for creators under 10,000 followers, and crossing Rs 2 lakh for celebrity posts.
* Big money flows: India’s influencer market is pegged at Rs 3,000–3,500 crore and climbing. E-commerce leads with 23 per cent of total influencer spends, followed by FMCG at 19 per cent. Over 25 per cent of brands ramp up influencer budgets during launches.
* Small is powerful: Micro-influencers (10k–100k followers) are gaining traction. Some 52 per cent of marketers say they’re best suited for regional outreach. Diwali remains the hottest season, with brands kicking off campaign plans 2–4 weeks ahead.
* AI and automation take hold: A full 61 per cent of brands are deploying tech platforms to manage influencer ops, with 18 per cent fully integrated. Generative AI is already used by 29 per cent of marketers—mostly to generate content ideas and assets.
“With India crossing 900 million internet users, the creator economy is poised for continued expansion, fueled by government initiatives as well as significant technological advancements. Looking ahead, I believe we are moving towards the phase of integrated influence in which advertising mediums will increasingly converge together,” saYS co-founder Kofluence Ritesh Ujjwal. “Decoding Influence 2025 is built on strong platform intelligence and first-party data, and will give marketers strategic insights on a rapidly evolving industry that is being transformed by AI, cookie deprecation and shifting creator-brand relationships. We hope you will find this report useful as you plan your next steps.”
The Decoding Influence 2025 report leans heavily on first-party data and platform intelligence, offering an in-depth look at an industry evolving rapidly under the pressure of AI disruption, cookie phase-outs, and changing brand-creator dynamics.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
