India is not a market. It's 15 markets in a trench coat.
The first thing to understand about India: treating it as a single market is the fastest way to fail. Hindi-speaking Delhi is different from Tamil-speaking Chennai is different from Marathi-speaking Pune is different from English-speaking Bangalore tech.
The vernacular multiplier
Across every category we have tested, vernacular-language creative outperforms English-only by 2–5×. Not 10% better. Multiples.
The implication: if your India playbook is "translate the US creative into Hindi," you are running a suboptimal campaign. Creative has to be written natively in each target language.
CPM reality
India is one of the cheapest digital-media markets in the world. Meta CPMs can be $0.80 on Reels. YouTube can be $1.20 CPM on prospecting. That means:
- Test budgets go further.
- Creative volume matters even more (because you can afford more).
- Organic-to-paid blurring is more important.
Creator economy
India's creator economy is one of the largest and most developed in the world. Creator-led campaigns outperform brand-produced campaigns by large margins in most consumer categories.
Working with creators in India requires:
- A native talent manager (not a rate card and a cold email).
- Localized contracts that account for Indian GST and TDS.
- Multi-language briefing (Hindi, Tamil, and English at minimum).
Platforms
Meta dominates. YouTube is nearly universal. Sharechat and Moj reach a meaningful share of Tier-2 and Tier-3 audiences the big platforms under-index on. LinkedIn is strong for B2B and high-end services.
Twitter/X still matters in India more than in most other markets — news cycles, entertainment, and politics all move through the platform.
Pricing sensitivity
Indian consumers are the most research-heavy in the world. The average Amazon India basket involves 4.2× the price comparison of the average Amazon US basket. Implication: product pages, reviews, and category positioning matter more than they do in the US.
Where our India practice sits
We run performance marketing, content, and influencer programs for India-based brands and for multinational brands entering the market. Offices in Singapore with a fly-in cadence to Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi.