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Festive paradox: IAS’s Saurabh Khattar on ads driving discovery amid rising AI ‘slop sites’
Saurabh Khattar, Country Manager, India at Integral Ad Science says, "The challenge and opportunity for Indian marketers is to turn festive pressure into festive confidence by focusing on quality, safety, and trust."
Globally, Integral Ad Science’s “holiday buying” reports usually focus on occasions like Christmas, Boxing Day, or Black Friday. But India is different—it has a long festive wave that begins with Independence Day and continues through Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Durga Puja, and Diwali. Recognizing this, IAS set out to understand when Indian consumers start shopping, where they discover products, the role ads play in discovery, and which platforms matter most.
In a conversation with Storyboard18, Saurabh Khattar, Country Manager, India at Integral Ad Science, spoke about the findings of IAS's festive season report, the evolving expectations of marketers, and the growing risks of AI-generated content.
Edited excerpts:
What are some key insights from the report?
A few stand out: 90% of consumers say online ads are helpful in discovering products and offers during the festive season.
Consumers especially rely on gift guides, décor guides, and recipe guides, alongside promotions and discounts, to decide what to buy.
Ads are not seen as clutter during this period; instead, they are viewed as a discovery tool.
Normally, ads may cause fatigue, but during festivals consumers are in “shopping mode.” They are actively seeking products and deals, so ads become useful rather than intrusive.
How are Indian marketers handling the performance pressures of this season?
Festive season is both the biggest opportunity and the biggest stress test of the year. Marketers face the constant question: did the money deliver performance? Earlier, brands chased the cheapest impressions. Now, they want quality impressions—ads that reach real people, are viewable, and appear in safe, relevant contexts. At IAS, we see a shift from cost-cutting to cutting waste. We help marketers measure and optimize so that every rupee works as hard as the season demands.
With so much AI-generated content, what risks do you see for brands?
Today, nearly 50% of text and image content online is AI-generated, and by 2026 this could reach 90%. That means brands are increasingly advertising next to non-human content. AI has benefits, like hyper-personalization, but also big risks: Unsafe or low-quality content and sophisticated ad fraud with “slop sites”—thousands of fake, disposable websites created in minutes to siphon ad dollars.
For brands, the danger is being placed next to fabricated or harmful stories, such as unsuitable content about terrorism or violence. Consumers may not know the content is fake, but they will remember the brand was there. That’s a real reputational risk.
How should the industry adapt?
Marketers need measurement partners that combine AI automation with human threat research. For example, IAS offers Total Visibility, which lets brands trace where ad dollars go, detect hidden fees, and flag suspicious inventory. For social media, our solutions verify content adjacency, sentiment, and engagement—crucial in a market like India, where consumer trust is fragile.
And what about social media’s role, especially during festivals?
Social media is massive: the average user spends 2.5 hours daily, YouTube sees 2.6 billion video uploads a day, and Meta logs 100 billion hours of watch time daily. For advertisers, the question isn’t should we be there but how to optimize presence safely. Traditionally, brand safety was measured by metadata and keywords, but this misses context. IAS now uses multimedia analysis—frame-by-frame video checks, speech-to-text, logo analysis—to decide if content is safe for ads. This ensures brands not only avoid unsafe content but also find the most suitable placements.
The report shows e-commerce retail sites are rising as top channels for product discovery. Can you explain?
Yes, after social media and YouTube, e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Myntra, and Flipkart are now major discovery hubs. Consumers like that algorithms suggest related products, and they value the immersive experience of video or interactive listings rather than just static product pages. During festivals, retail sites become crucial for discovery, not just transactions.
Are consumers planning to spend more this year?
Absolutely. Eight out of ten consumers plan to increase their festive shopping budgets compared to 2024. Many are starting shopping even before August to take advantage of discounts, particularly around Navratri and Diwali. This intentional, planned shopping shows how much the festive market is growing.
Does that mean marketers are also increasing budgets?
Yes, generally. The festive season, coupled with weddings, is the most important time for marketers to be visible. This is the “last mile” of performance, where sales and ROI directly impact next year’s budgets. While we’ll share exact numbers separately, historically we’ve seen marketers raise spending significantly during this period.
Any final takeaways from the report?
The big story is that festive buying is intensifying: consumers are spending more, starting earlier, and seeing ads as helpful rather than intrusive. But the ecosystem is also riskier, with AI-generated content and fraud rising. The challenge and opportunity for Indian marketers is to turn festive pressure into festive confidence by focusing on quality, safety, and trust.
SPOTLIGHT
Big-ticket buying decisions now demand more than just logic and product specs – they require trust, emotional connection, and brand stories that resonate.
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