Tag: Kofluence

  • Kofluence report decodes India’s booming influence economy

    Kofluence report decodes India’s booming influence economy

    MUMBAI: India’s influencer economy is hitting its stride—and going hyperlocal. Ad-tech platform Kofluence has dropped the 2025 edition of its flagship report Decoding Influence, unravelling how data, AI, and regional creators are reshaping digital advertising in the world’s fastest-growing content market.

    Based on insights from over 1,000 creators, marketers and industry leaders, the report paints a picture of a maturing ecosystem where brands are treating influencer partnerships not as vanity plays but as performance levers.

    “India’s influence economy has not only seen growth but also a decentralisation of influence. There is a dynamic shift with creators in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, often creating content in regional and vernacular languages, who are building strongly engaged communities through hyperlocal narratives,” observes Kofluence CEO & co-founder  Sreeram Reddy Vanga. “Amidst a trillion-dollar influencer advertising opportunity in India, we’re seeing brands approach influencer partnerships with far more intention and as a strategic marketing lever, driven by data, sustained by technology, and measured against business outcomes.”

    Key takeaways from Decoding Influence 2025:

    * Instagram leads the pack: With an estimated 1.8–2.3 million Indian creators, Instagram remains the top monetisation playground. Reels dominate revenue—charging anywhere from Rs 500–5,000 for creators under 10,000 followers, and crossing Rs 2 lakh for celebrity posts.

    * Big money flows: India’s influencer market is pegged at Rs 3,000–3,500 crore and climbing. E-commerce leads with 23 per cent of total influencer spends, followed by FMCG at 19 per cent. Over 25 per cent of brands ramp up influencer budgets during launches.

    * Small is powerful: Micro-influencers (10k–100k followers) are gaining traction. Some 52 per cent of marketers say they’re best suited for regional outreach. Diwali remains the hottest season, with brands kicking off campaign plans 2–4 weeks ahead.

    * AI and automation take hold: A full 61 per cent of brands are deploying tech platforms to manage influencer ops, with 18 per cent fully integrated. Generative AI is already used by 29 per cent of marketers—mostly to generate content ideas and assets.

    “With India crossing 900 million internet users, the creator economy is poised for continued expansion, fueled by government initiatives as well as significant technological advancements. Looking ahead, I believe we are moving towards the phase of integrated influence in which advertising mediums will increasingly converge together,” saYS co-founder Kofluence Ritesh Ujjwal.  “Decoding Influence 2025 is built on strong platform intelligence and first-party data, and will give marketers strategic insights on a rapidly evolving industry that is being transformed by AI, cookie deprecation and shifting creator-brand relationships. We hope you will find this report useful as you plan your next steps.”

    The Decoding Influence 2025 report leans heavily on first-party data and platform intelligence, offering an in-depth look at an industry evolving rapidly under the pressure of AI disruption, cookie phase-outs, and changing brand-creator dynamics.

  • Kofluence launches ‘Rare Travel’ for Influencer-led travel collaborations

    Kofluence launches ‘Rare Travel’ for Influencer-led travel collaborations

    Mumbai: Kofluence, an Ad-tech influencer marketing platform, proudly announces the launch of its newest business division, Rare Travel. This innovative platform will create exclusive collaborations between top brands and the most influential travel creators across cities. Dedicated to curating unparalleled experiences and showcasing coveted destinations, Rare Travel seamlessly integrates brands into compelling influencer travel narratives. This ensures brands receive enhanced engagement and capture significant eyeballs in place of travel, catering to audiences looking for aspirational content. Already onboarded to the Rare Travel experience are brands such as Ajio, Lenskart, XYXX Apparels, Mokobara, and Zouk, among others.

    As a full-stack marketing platform and connective marketplace, Kofluence delivers performance metrics across the entire customer journey and was recently recognized among Forbes’ Select 200 Companies With Global Business Potential. In January 2024, Kofluence secured a strategic investment from the board of Nazara Technologies Ltd (BSE: 543280, NSE: NAZARA) through the acquisition of a 10.77 per cent stake in Kofluence. This investment was part of a share swap transaction between the two companies, geared towards the launch of an influencer-driven game discovery platform and community.

    Rare Travel’s inaugural initiatives feature two prominent influencer journeys:

    Baku Exploration (June 26th – July 1st): Tanya Sharma (IG: 3.5M followers), Ashish Bhatia (IG: 1.1M followers), Shivani Singh (IG: 840k followers), and other top creators will uncover the allure of Baku, sharing exclusive experiences with their vast audiences.

    South Korea Expedition: Simultaneously, influencers Niharika Tiwari (IG: 1.3M followers), Prabhat Chaudhary (IG: 1.2M followers), Ashna Zaveri (IG: 811k followers), and others will embark on a captivating journey through South Korea, spotlighting its rich cultural heritage and luxurious offerings.

    Commenting on this launch,  Kofluence CEO & o-founder Sreeram Reddy Vanga stated, “We are thrilled to kickstart Rare Travel, where our goal is to discover key opinion creators (KOCs) and top influencers across cities, empowering them to form impactful partnerships with restaurants and travel partners. I envision Rare Travel as a long-term intellectual property that will expand into other realms such as fine dining, lifestyle, and luxury under our Rare Club initiative.”

  • Kofluence secures investment from Nazara Technologies for influencer driven game discovery platform

    Kofluence secures investment from Nazara Technologies for influencer driven game discovery platform

    Mumbai: Kofluence, the leading Social Media Influencer marketing tech platform in India announced a pivotal development in its growth trajectory as the board of Nazara Technologies Limited has officially sanctioned the acquisition of a 10.77 per cent stake in Kofluence.

    As part of the share swap transaction, Nazara Technologies will issue 3,71,637 equity shares at a price of Rs 872.15/- per equity share, amounting to Rs 32,41,23,210 through a preferential issue on a private placement basis to the sellers.

    Kofluence has established itself as India’s premier Social Media Influencer led marketing-tech platform, boasting a vibrant community of across platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The platform represents over 20 languages and operates as a full stack marketing platform, delivering performance metrics across the entire customer journey.

    The collaboration between Kofluence and Nazara Technologies is geared towards the launch of an influencer-driven game discovery platform and community. This pioneering initiative aims to leverage the vast network of influencers on Kofluence to promote Nazara’s games across various social media platforms. Influencers with their ability to tailor content to their audience’s preferences, will generate excitement around new releases, boosting downloads and increasing visibility for Nazara’s gaming portfolio.

    Nazara Technologies Jt. MD & CEO Nitish Mittersain expressed his enthusiasm, saying, “Kofluence is pioneering creator economy led platforms and Sreeram’s extensive gaming experience is invaluable to create a pioneering influencer led game discovery platform and community. Our goal is to create an environment where gaming collaborates with the creativity of influencers, enriching the gaming experience for a global audience. Our new game publishing initiative ‘Nazara Publishing’ will particularly benefit from this new initiative”.

    Kofluence co-founder, and CEO Sreeram Reddy Vanga, expressed his excitement about the collaboration, stating, “Nazara’s investment is a powerful validation of our joint mission to revolutionise the gaming industry. With our extensive network of creators, we’re well-positioned to greatly enhance the visibility and engagement of Nazara’s gaming portfolio. This partnership is not only expanding Nazara’s game reach but also reshaping game marketing dynamics, bringing every creator and user into an expansive and captivating gaming narrative.”

    Kofluence co-founder Ritesh Ujjwal emphasised, “This strategic collaboration marks a pivotal moment in Kofluence’s journey. The gaming industry is swiftly asserting dominance in the handheld technology entertainment business sector, displaying relentless momentum. Moreover, with the surge of gaming influencers, brands have a unique opportunity to forge partnerships and connect with their dedicated followers. We are enthusiastic about the limitless possibilities that unfold as we seamlessly integrate influencer marketing and gaming innovation with Nazara Technologies.

     

  • GUEST ARTICLE: The perils of influencer marketing for brands

    GUEST ARTICLE: The perils of influencer marketing for brands

    Mumbai: The pervasive impact of social media has not only transformed our personal experiences but also woven itself intricately into the societal fabric. This transformation has given rise to a modern marketing phenomenon: influencer marketing. Supplanting conventional marketing approaches, influencer marketing has emerged as a preferred avenue for both brands and consumers, elevating influencers to the status of contemporary social media titans.

    Although influencer marketing has provided brands with countless advantages, it has also exposed them to numerous challenges.

    Here are some perils of influencer marketing proving to be an eminent threat to brands:

    Absence of an influencer directory: A great deal of influencer marketing campaigns fail mostly due to an erroneous choice of influencers. Despite the fact that there are several influencers available in the market, the lack of a universal marketplace or influencer directory that includes influencers across all platforms limits marketers’ capacity to select from a diverse range of creators suitable to their audience. Therefore, regardless of whether they are a good fit for their brand’s offerings or not, marketers often settle for influencers who are easy to access, undermining their reputation in the marketplace and limiting their reach.

    Content fatigue: Have you ever encountered a situation as a brand when your content creators are generating more content than ever through marketing channels, yet the results of all that digital confetti are dwindling? When the audience is exposed to an excessive amount of content on the channels they typically access, they hit their saturation point and experience content fatigue. This might swiftly escalate to a major worry for businesses since it can lead to missed key performance indicators (KPIs) and a reduction in metrics, affecting the bottom line. Additionally, content weariness can make it difficult for marketers to capture viewers’ attention and keep them engaged.

    Influx of intermediaries: Many brands still have to rely on multiple mediums of communication and chase creators, agencies, talent managers and PR partners for timely campaign executions. Unfortunately, the more the merrier concept does not hold relevance in this regard. The efficiency of the overall process gets compromised due a more complicated communication chain caused by the involvement of more intermediaries.

    Rise in influencer fraud: The evident rise in influencer marketing has also led to a corresponding rise in fake influencers. According to a Statista study, over 49% of influencers engage in follower fraud. Utilizing bots and fake followers with a motive to create an illusion of popularity, influencers today are largely duping firms into collaborating with them. Due to the exaggerated engagement and bot audience, it has become challenging for marketers to find their social match as it becomes difficult to manually identify the right influencer, impeding their ability to build a devoted consumer base.

    Lack of price standardization: As influencer marketing has grown over time, social media stars have become highly sought-after marketing partners for modern brands. As a result, influencer marketing companies and other third-party middlemen are utilizing this to play marketers into paying more by promising them higher interaction and reach. Because there is a lack of price standardization and transparency, brands end up falling for exorbitant markups.

    Lack of insights: Depriving brands of real-time data like brand mentions, traffic, and conversions to an influencer’s particular content, vanity metrics fail to provide a real picture. Consequently, marketers are unable to assess campaign outcomes and influencer performance, undertake predictive analysis to gauge campaign success, predict the demand for upcoming content, and embrace data-driven decision-making based on meaningful insights, targeting improved results.

    Lack of platform play: While influencer marketing has transformed how brands connect with their audiences, it’s concerning that many promising voices remain unheard due to limited access to platforms and accurate representation. This limitation greatly hampers the visibility and potential collaborations for budding influencers, preventing them from fully realizing their impact. As larger and more established creators often dominate the spotlight, the unique perspectives and creativity that smaller creators bring often go unnoticed.

    Influencer marketing: A marketing marvel or a failure?

    90% of influencers think influencer marketing is a powerful tool for marketing, according to an Influencer Marketing Hub’s report. In today’s technologically advanced industry, the efficiency of influencer marketing cannot be disputed. However certain threats have tainted the influencer marketing field, creating a plethora of difficulties for brands.

    Technology-centric tools may be just what brands need to get away with these underlying dangers and uncover new heights.  Going beyond the traditional time-consuming processes, influencer management systems perform numerous integrations to identify an ideal match. Utilizing a huge database of influencers, these systems construct creator profiles based on a variety of factors, including location, genre, and content relevance, ensuring appropriate performance play. The development of creator persona goes hand in hand with the generation of the brand persona, and the two are then compared to determine the best fit. By offering data-driven solutions, influencer management tools allow businesses to target a large audience base and acquire a favorable response from the audience.

    These tools not only enable marketers to discover the ideal influencer, but also combat content fatigue, avoid middlemen, guard against falling for false influencers, garner in-depth insights, and practice transparency, all of which would help them gain the most out of their influencer marketing efforts.

    This article is written by Kofluence CEO & co-founder Ritesh Ujjwal.

  • Kofluence launches Kofinity

    Kofluence launches Kofinity

    Mumbai: Kofluence, the largest AI-led influence platform, has launched its latest product Kofinity which offers guaranteed brand partnerships to every content creator, and an opportunity to monetise their social influence. Having successfully delivered over 1600+ campaigns across 30 diverse sectors with over 550K contributors on board and a collective reach of 6Bn+, Kofluence is at the forefront of influencer marketing solutions.

    With the launch of Kofinity, creators can focus solely on creating content and boosting brand visibility, while Kofluence provides them the infrastructure to turn their passion into earnings.  Creators can acquire a free unique URL through ‘kofluence.com/in’, which will serve as a hub for their curated brand deals. With ‘always-on’ campaigns, creators can partner with brands they love, in a hassle-free manner. Each transaction made through their personalized link directly translates to payouts.

    With Kofinity, top performers can earn more than Rs 25,000 per week along with guaranteed shortlisting for collaborations that require minimal content creation and no prior content approval. Typically access to premium offers often come with eligibility criteria or cost considerations, but Kofinity allows content creators to share these offers with their audience so they can avail them easily and freely without having to meet any such criteria.

    Speaking about the launch, Kofluence CEO and co-founder Ritesh Ujjwal said, “We’re thrilled to introduce Kofinity! With this launch, we’re confident that Kofluence is well-positioned to lead the charge in this rapidly evolving industry. We aim to foster India’s thriving creators economy by monetizing 100k influencers in the next 12 months, enabling creators on their journey to becoming creator-preneurs.”

    Commenting on the launch, Kofluence co-founder Sreeram Reddy Vanga stated, “As excited as we are about the launch, what I’m looking forward to is Kofinity being a means of self-sufficiency for all the budding creators. Kofinity is expanding its horizons beyond social media like Instagram and Youtube. Now, creators can easily share their offers and deals within their social circles through multiple social networking platforms by using their unique link.”