GOAT.(2025)

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GOAT’s nationally scaled report (interviews with 105 CMOs; 60,000-person Kantar TGI panel) argues that influencer marketing is now a mainstream brand-building lever across India. Brands cite trust, credibility, and awareness lift as top investment reasons; banking/finance and beauty/personal care are especially reliant on creators for credibility (pp. 12–14). A funnel infographic on page 7 attributes 63% of product discovery and 62% of information-seeking to influencers, with 69% noting pre-purchase recommendation influence and 60% likely to click promo links—evidence of full-funnel impact in Indian markets. Platform preferences favor Instagram and YouTube, with short-form video driving attention, and a pronounced shift toward long-term partnerships (≈72% of marketers) to stabilize outcomes and relationships (pp. 10, 17). The report also flags fraud risk—estimating significant wasted spend on fake followers—and highlights GOAT’s “Genuity Score” for authenticity screening (p. 15). Emerging categories (finance education, sustainability, gaming) and niche micro-influencers are poised for gains, while macro talent remains vital in autos/electronics (pp. 8–9). Regulatory momentum (disclosure rules from India’s consumer ministry) is pushing the ecosystem toward transparency. For practitioners, the guidance is clear: balance macro for reach with micro/nano for trust; define success by engagement and content quality (not just conversions); and implement brand-safety, background checks, and legal clauses during selection. The playbook fuses cultural scale with measurement rigor to operationalize “influencing with integrity.”