New Delhi: KlugKlug, the global Influencer Marketing SaaS platform, has released new data showing that India’s influencer marketing industry has already crossed ₹10,000 crores in actual deployment-far higher than the widely cited ₹3,000-4,000 crore estimates. The insights are sparking conversation across marketing, agency, and digital commerce circles, underscoring a widening disconnect between traditional measurement systems and the true scale of the creator economy.
KlugKlug’s internal findings reveal that only about 25% of India’s influencer marketing spend flows through organised agency channels, while a significant 75% takes place directly between brands and creators. The surge of D2C brands has accelerated this shift, with more than 100 companies now independently spending over ₹20 crores each year through in-house creator teams rather than agency-led models. Founder-driven initiatives, product seeding, and barter collaborations continue to drive strong Earned Media Value (EMV), yet remain largely invisible in conventional ad tracking.
Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, KlugKlug, said, “Influencer Marketing has transformed in the age of AI, automation, and precision targeting. We are seeing a structural shift in how commerce, content, and consumer intent intersect. Young, agile brands are capturing category share within months, backed by e-commerce data that proves the power of influencer-led growth. With intelligent platforms like KlugKlug, brands can finally see what truly works.”
Vaibhav Gupta, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, added, “The long-standing gap in India’s influencer spend exists because the industry relied on limited, agency-visible datasets. This analysis brings essential clarity and sets the foundation for more transparent, data-driven measurement moving forward.”
The report also emphasises the critical role of micro and nano creators in fuelling digital commerce. As D2C brands scale their internal influencer engines, India’s creator economy continues to outpace traditional tracking tools-marking a pivotal moment for industry-wide recalibration.
