With the Indian influencer market exploding over the last couple of years, an independent survey has revealed that 34 per cent of respondents buy products or services after watching influencers posts, reels and videos on popular social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and so on.
In addition, 43 per cent of respondents are at least checking out the recommended product/service by the influencers, according to the survey by iCubesWire, one of India's leading digital marketing agencies.
This trend is on the upswing and is expected to further grow as 5G will lead the next wave of growth for social media in India, especially content that would be consumed on mobile phones.
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The survey was conducted pan India among 1,455 respondents in the month of December, according to a press statement issued here on Tuesday.
“The rise of social media has changed the way people and businesses interact. People's means of communication, which used to be limited to people they knew personally, have now expanded to include people all over the world. Traditional marketing techniques are being rapidly replaced by modern offerings such as reels, blogs, vlogs, and live streaming via digital media platforms. Influencer marketing has definitely changed the way people think about modern marketing and is now a mainstay for all brands across industries, especially consumer centric products and services,” said Sahil Chopra, CEO, iCubesWire.
Influencer marketing is most popular on Instagram as it is followed by 40 per cent of the respondents followed by YouTube influencers at 34 per cent.
Today, India has nearly 80 million content creators, including video streamers, influencers, bloggers, and essentially anyone building a community around their niche.
As of 2022, the influencer marketing industry in India was valued at over Rs 12 billion. It was projected to grow at a CAGR of 25 per cent over the next 5 years.
According to the survey, 32 per cent of respondents spend 2-4 hours each day on social media, compared to 11 per cent who spend 4-6 hours and 11 per cent who spend more than 6 hours.
Nearly 40 per cent of respondents said they use Instagram, while 3 per cent, 13 per cent, 4 per cent, 31 per cent, 7 per cent, and 1 per cent of respondents said they use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, respectively.
Around 40 per cent of respondents follow their favourite social media influencer on Instagram, compared to 18 per cent, 7 per cent, 34 per cent, and 2 per cent who follow them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, respectively.