Meet The New Influencers

Across
the
board,
brands
use
influencers
like
a
Bhuvan
Bam
or
Kusha
Kapila
as
the
second
or
third
rung
of
their
strategy.

The
first
rung
is
always
a
celebrity
that
has
been
created
outside
the
Internet,
through
mainstream
media.

Trinayani
(Zee
Telugu)
protects
her
family
with
her
powers
to
see
the
future.

Phulki
(Zee
Bangla)
dreams
of
being
a
boxer.

Bhabiji
(from

Bhabiji
Ghar
Par
Hain
on
And
TV)
is
a
funny,
small-town
woman.

They
are
among
popular
characters
on
shows
that
air
on
the
40
channels
and
streaming
services
that
Zee
Entertainment
operates.

Earlier
this
year,
Zee
launched

Dilfluencer.
The
initiative
tells
advertisers
that
characters
like
Trinayani
or
Phulki
are
better
influencers
than
some
Internet
celebrity.

Its
pitch
—
these
characters
have
a
unique
connect
with
audiences
in
small-towns
thanks
to
their
presence
in
homes
every
night.

Marico,
Birla
Opus,
Finolex,
and
L’Oreal,
among
others,
agree.
Their
products
now
feature
in
reels
with
Bhabiji
and
others
on
Instagram.

Think
of
Zee
as
part
of
a
circle
that
houses
the
mainstream
media
with
its
professionally
created
programmes
and
films.

In
another
circle
sit
Instagram,
YouTube,
Facebook
and
the
sea
of
user-generated
videos
featuring
everything
from
cats
and
dogs
to
rotis.

Dilfluencers
sit
at
the
intersection
of
these
two
circles.
This
column
is
not
about
Dilfluencers.

That
is
just
one,
random,
example.
It
is
about
the
creation
of
that
Venn
space
where
mainstream
and
user-generated
content
intersect
—
and
about
the
speed
at
which
Zee,
JioStar,
Sony
or
others
are
able
to
expand
it.

That
will
determine
the
course
of
the
battle
between
mainstream
media
and
tech-media
giants.
Here’s
the
context.

For
almost
four
years
now,
a
parallel
media
ecosystem
has
been
rising.
It
comprises
3.5
million
to
5
million
influencers,
two
large
media-tech
platforms
(Google
and
Meta)
and
a
bevy
of
digital
agencies.

In
2023,
advertisers
spent
Rs
5,700
crore
(Rs
57
billion),
or
about
10
per
cent
of
their
digital
advertising
budget,
on
influencers.
That
figure
has
been
growing
by
double
digits
every
year.

‘An
influencer
is
someone
who
has
access
to
an
audience
and
the
power
to
affect
their
purchasing
decisions
or
opinions
about
a
product,
service,
brand
or
experience,
because
of
the
influencer’s
authority,
knowledge,
position,
or
relationship
with
their
audience,’
defines
the
Advertising
Standards
Council
of
India.

Think
of
Viraj
Ghelani
having
funny
chats
with
his
naani
in
Gujarati
and
slipping
in
a
brand
into
the
conversation.
The
influencer
is
the
media
now.

This
‘user-generated
content’
world
is
one
that
is
dominated
by
two
of
the
largest
media
players
in
the
world
—
the
$306
billion
Google
and
the
$135
billion
Meta.
This
is
true
for
India
too.

Meta
with
Instagram,
WhatsApp
and
Facebook,
and
YouTube
from
Google
reach
almost
all
the
523
million
Indians
browsing
online.
India
has
one
of
the
highest
social
media
penetration
in
the
world
(92.6
per
cent),
according
to
a
Comscore
report.

Indians
spend
about
22
hours
a
month
browsing
through
Instagram,
YouTube,
Facebook
and
other
apps.
Of
all
the
things
they
watch,
media
and
entertainment
content
drives
highest
engagement
at
39
per
cent;
influencer
content
comes
second
at
27
per
cent.

Engagement
—
defined
by
likes,
reposts,
comments
and
shares,
not
reach
—
is
the
metric
that
drives
revenues
in
this
world.

Google
and
Meta,
which
get
over
three-fourths
of
digital
advertising
spends,
increasingly
depend
on
audiences
from
social
media
for
a
large
chunk
of
their
growth.

Then,
there
is
the
world
of
mainstream
media.
Television
reaches
900
million
of
us
in
an
array
of
languages.

Films
populate
every
aspect
of
entertainment
from
music
and
TV
to
streaming
and
theatres.
A
Zee
or
a
Star
specialise
in
professionally
created
and
curated
films,
shows
and
series
that
take
months
and
years
to
write
and
make.

Their
strength
lies
in
their
ability
to
keep
audiences
coming
back
every
day
with
an
algorithm
(like
Netflix
or
SonyLIV
does)
or
without
one
(like
Zee’s
linear
channels
do).

To
reach
this
steady
TV
audience,
advertisers
pay
two-three
times
the
ad
rates
they
would
for
streaming
video.
Many
big
streaming
apps
come
from
media
firms
—
Disney+Hotstar,
SonyLIV
and
ZEE5,
for
example.

However,
nowhere
in
the
world
has
a
media
company
been
able
to
combine
the
reach
of
TV
with
online
video
to
reframe
the
conversation.

This
is
where
the
Venn
diagram
comes
in.
It
is
about
using
a
format
that
the
tech
giants
have
used
to
disrupt
consumption
—
shorts
and
influencers
—
with
the
creative
chutzpah
of
mainstream.

On
Instagram,
WhatsApp,
Facebook,
and
X,
the
shorts,
video
or
text,
generated
by
professionals
or
regular
media
firms,
do
better.

Short
clips
from
Sony’s

Kapil
Sharma
Show,
BBC’s

Graham
Norton
Show,
Shah
Rukh
Khan’s

Jawaan,
CBS’s

The
Big
Bang
Theory
keep
a
large
chunk
of
the
audience
scrolling.

Comscore
ranks
Salman
Khan,
Sara
Ali
Khan
and
Ram
Charan
as
the
top
three
‘influencers’
on
Instagram,
X
and
Facebook
in
September
2024
in
India.

Across
the
board,
brands
use
influencers
like
a
Bhuvan
Bam
or
Kusha
Kapila
as
the
second
or
third
rung
of
their
strategy.

The
first
rung
is
always
a
celebrity
that
has
been
created
outside
the
Internet,
through
mainstream
media.
Shakti
Mohan,
a
dancer
and
TV
personality,
is
also
an
influencer
who
pirouettes
to
display
how
flexible
Pepe
jeans
are.

But
it
is
film
star
Kriti
Sanon
(Mimi,
Bareilly
Ki
Barfi)
who
serves
as
the
brand’s
global
ambassador.

Dilfluencers
and
similar
initiatives
in
the
making
bring
the
strength
of
mainstream
media
–its
nose
for
characters
and
stories,
its
hold
over
audiences
across
big
and
small-town
India
—
into
the
Google/Meta
territory.

The
social
media
and
influencer
boom
has
so
far
benefitted
only
two
firms.
Time
to
spread
the
spoils
a
bit.