Influencer marketing booms, but brands still flying blind

As Indian consumers increasingly scroll, swipe, and shop through social platforms, the country’s top consumer brands are doubling down on influencer marketing. Yet, while marketing budgets shift into double digits for influencer-led content, challenges around ROI measurement, attribution, and standardization continue to hamper the ecosystem’s growth and credibility.

From FMCG leaders like Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Dabur, Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) and Ferrero India to diversified players like DS Group, influencer marketing is no longer an experimental channel— it's core to their digital playbooks. And budgets reflect that.

“From single-digit share, influencer marketing has now moved to double digits in our ad spends,” said Jasleen Kaur Kohli, Digital Head – HPC, Dabur India. “I don’t see a drop going forward. If anything, we’ll continue increasing it—but more intelligently, with sharper targeting, strategic use of platforms, and better creator selection.”

Dabur’s strategy now integrates influencers across tiers and regions, from metro-based celebrity creators to hyperlocal nano-influencers on platforms like Moj, Josh, and Sharechat. Kohli emphasized the format’s strength in filling a key “middle funnel” storytelling gap that traditional media often misses.

“This format gives us the authenticity and relatability that mass media lacks. That kind of immersive storytelling just isn’t possible in a 30-second TVC.”

Similarly, HUL has made influencers a foundational pillar of its media strategy.

“Influencers are a key component of our marketing campaigns,” said Tejas Apte, Head of Media and Digital Marketing at HUL. “With the increasing consumption of social media, the creation and consumption of influencer content will only increase.”

Apte added that HUL has seen digital reach and time-spend increase significantly compared to traditional mediums and hence its marketing spends have pivoted accordingly.

The FMCG major has an in-house team that focuses on building the right tools, developing the right strategy and creating the right measurement frameworks. Additionally, its agency teams focus on maintaining relationships with its influencer community and focus on the execution of the campaigns.

While Instagram and YouTube remain top platforms, regional and vernacular platforms are seeing rising adoption, particularly for tier II and III audiences. For DS Group, this evolution has been driven by both strategy and data.

“We’ve moved from a platform-first to audience-first approach,” said Rajeev Jain, Senior VP – Corporate Marketing. “Instagram gives us scale and speed, YouTube depth and storytelling, and vernacular platforms help us localize narratives and build cultural proximity.”

For Ferrero India, the investment in influencer marketing has gone up five times over the last few years and the strategy is helping create long-term brand affinity and lifestyle integration. While it partners with select agencies for macro influencers and celebrities, for micro influencers it uses digital agencies and follows a co-creation process.

Missing Measurement Metric

Despite its rising stature in media plans, influencer marketing continues to lack the one thing brands crave most: reliable, standardized measurement. Industry insiders say that even as spending crosses the double-digit threshold of total ad budgets, assessing effectiveness remains a patchwork effort.

India’s influencer marketing ecosystem, estimated to be worth over Rs 2,000 crore and projected to grow at over 25% CAGR, has matured in terms of creator diversity, platform segmentation, and content innovation. But measurement hasn’t caught up.

“There’s still no common denominator,” said Dabur’s Kohli. “Each platform operates in silos, making attribution, standard pricing, and ROI tracking incredibly difficult.”

Zoher Kapuswala, Marketing Head, Ferrero India echoed the sentiment, noting that while engagement metrics like likes, shares, and views are accessible, isolating campaign outcomes from the larger marketing mix is far more nuanced.

“Different platforms offer varying levels of analytics. While engagement metrics are easy to gather, isolating the impact of influencer content from other ongoing marketing is tricky.”

As a result, many brands are building hybrid infrastructures, partnering with influencer agencies while integrating third-party SaaS tools to monitor sentiment, influencer quality, and indirect indicators like search spikes and DTC traffic.

“We’ve adopted tools that help us track indirect indicators like search volume spikes, DTC traffic, and sentiment analysis,” added Kohli. “That gives us at least directional insight into what’s working—even if we don’t yet have a gold-standard ROI formula.”

A Holistic Approach

A fragmented media landscape demands integration—not just in spend, but in strategy. Brands are increasingly recognizing that influencer-led content must complement, not compete with, other forms of advertising.

Godrej Consumer Products is championing a dual-channel approach that fuses traditional media like TVCs with influencer-led storytelling.

“The synergy between influencer content and brand communication is crucial,” said Harshdeep Chhabra, Head of Global Media. “Rather than an ‘or’, it’s an ‘and’. TVCs should anchor campaigns, and influencers should amplify that message. But we need unified media metrics to measure both cohesively.”

As the creator economy matures, influencer marketing is becoming more than just a visibility tool—it's a vehicle for cultural relevance, regional customization, and emotional storytelling. That makes its integration into a brand’s full-funnel strategy even more critical. But without measurement clarity, these efforts risk becoming disconnected efforts rather than unified campaigns.

“We need a central body to define measurement parameters and rate benchmarks,” suggested Kohli. “If that happens, it’ll solve two of the industry’s biggest problems—lack of consistent ROI and pricing chaos.”

Kohli also pointed out the need for regulating influencer pricing structures, which are currently opaque and inconsistent. With rates varying wildly across similar creators, and limited visibility into engagement authenticity, brand marketers are demanding more structure.

Chhabra suggested that it is essential to evaluate both the TVC and influencer content through unified media metrics, ensuring alignment in performance, reach, and audience engagement.

As platforms grow, creators diversify, and consumer touchpoints multiply, the influencer economy is fast becoming a mainstay in Indian advertising. But without industry-wide standardization, marketers warn, it may hit a ceiling. While ASCI has introduced guidelines around disclosures and endorsements, the industry now needs common ground on measurement and pricing to unlock its next phase of growth.

“The influencer ecosystem is exploding, but it’s still unorganised. We need a common industry body to bring order—not just in measurement, but also pricing, quality control, and ethical standards,” pointed out a senior executive.