Influencer marketing has become a powerful tool to reach new audiences: Prasanth Kumar

With technology playing a key role in digital acceleration, influencer marketing has become an important marketing channel for brands in the last few years, GroupM South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar has said. Speaking at the unveiling of the INCA-e4m Influencer Marketing Report 2022, Kumar also noted that the influencer marketing category is poised to grow at a CAGR of 25% in the next five years.

According to the report, the influencer marketing category has grown 42% YoY to an estimated Rs 1275 crore in 2022 from Rs 900 crore in 2021. These, Kumar said, do not include the media activation numbers.

The importance of influencer marketing has got accelerated in the last two-three years, said Kumar while highlighting the key findings of the report.

"With technology playing a key role in digital acceleration in the modern marketing era, channels like influencer marketing are becoming more significant. Influencer marketing is not just playing a vital role in the productivity of brands but also in shaping brands appropriately for consumers. It is becoming a powerful tool for any marketer who wants to reach out to new audiences and engage with them," Kumar said in his address.

The report also states that over 75% of the brands consider micro, macro, and nano influencers as key to building their brands. "Influencers are divided into macro, nano, and micro-influencers depending on the number of followers they have and over 75% of brands consider nano, macro, and micro-influencers as key to building and sustaining brands compared to celebrities," Kumar added.

He also highlighted that users are comfortable accessing short-form video content across platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Moj, Josh, TakaTak, and others. "80% of the respondents feel that short-form content will continue to remain the main format of content preference irrespective of the platforms," Kumar shared.

According to him, consumers have become increasingly conscious of the authenticity of influencers. "90% of the respondents who are part of the survey have pledged to be part of ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) compliant," he said.

While stating that over 55% of brands consider live streaming and social commerce as emerging areas for engaging consumers, Kumar said that the influencer marketing segment is evolving rapidly and there are lots of learnings for all the players. "There is a curiosity among marketers on how this channel can be used intelligently to make advertising more productive," he said.

In his address prior to the unveiling of the report, exchange4media Co-Founder and Director Nawal Ahuja said that the growth of digital advertising has opened up a whole new avenue of opportunities with influencer marketing being one of them. He added that brands are using influencers tactically and strategically to achieve their marketing objectives.

Ahuja also said that the media, marketing, and advertising domains will change forever as technology becomes all-encompassing. Advertising will become AdTech, marketing will become MarTech and media companies will be MediaTech, he added.

According to Ahuja, the 4Ps of marketing remain as relevant today for marketers as they were prior to the pandemic. "Purpose-driven marketing has become even more relevant today while we deal with so much clutter. Social inclusion, diversity, and sustainability are the themes that remain relevant while we start doing new things," he stated.