Tanushree Basuroy
Research expert covering India
AI usage in marketing in India - statistics & facts
Having set its sights on becoming the world’s leading digital technology and innovation hub, India has been actively engaged in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across industries. The country is among the leading nations in terms of digital talent with a significant concentration of AI-related talent. Like several industries in India that have a positive outlook on AI usage, the advertising and marketing sector is among the early adopters of the technology.
India is home to a substantial advertising industry sustained by the ample expenditure of major verticals such as FMCG and automotive. Furthermore, a rapidly expanding digital media market bolsters the digital advertising and marketing segments.
However, as with all great technology there comes an equally great responsibility to use AI ethically. The rising instances of misinformation or insufficient transparency within ads and influencer content in India, resulted in consumers demanding the disclosure of AI usage in advertising.
Gen AI tools drive AI adoption among Indian marketers
Most Indian organizations remain in the exploration phase of factoring AI into their marketing strategies. However, a fair share of marketers is already scaling AI technology to produce content and creative assets, customer insights and analytics, as well as creative optimization. The tools and areas of marketing where AI usage was most prevalent were chatbots and content creation. The introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT kickstarted the exploration and use of generative AI (Gen AI) tools in India.AI-based advertising in India
Apart from touching up pictures, editing videos, and writing text, gen AI tools have been employed to create social media ads as well as influencer content. The use of AI in advertising ranged from virtual brand ambassadors to product image and description editing to ad media strategizing. One of the most successful attempts at integrating AI in advertising was the Cadbury ad campaign created by WPP and Mondelez, featuring an AI-generated version of Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan. In fact, Indians accounted for a share of global consumers that were relatively comfortable with AI-generated ads.However, as with all great technology there comes an equally great responsibility to use AI ethically. The rising instances of misinformation or insufficient transparency within ads and influencer content in India, resulted in consumers demanding the disclosure of AI usage in advertising.
Overcoming challenges
The risks of AI adoption are many with data privacy being a chief concern among marketers. Consumers too tread on the side of caution as concerns about the nefarious use of AI increase. Currently, the main hurdle to harnessing the full potential of AI faced by Indian marketers are the skills and training of the workforce. The limited understanding of AI presents yet another hindrance. Professionals also face challenges in finding the right tools and defining prompts to derive desired results from these tools. However, the sustained investment in researching and developing AI technology, combined with regulation policies and initiatives to upskill the workforce, would help India attain its goal of leading AI innovation both within and outside the scope of advertising and marketing.
