Razdan Sees AI Influencer Marketing Cut Costs 60-80%
Influencer marketing is getting a cost reset as AI-assisted content production can cut creation costs by 60% to 80% compared with conventional influencer shoots. Brands that need daily, multilingual, platform-optimized campaigns are moving toward AI-native creators because they can produce at scale without scheduling conflicts, burnout, or rising talent costs.
Abhishek Razdan said, "Brands and institutions are looking for consistency, control, and scale" as AI influencers move from experimental avatars into infrastructure. He added, "AI influencers reduce dependency risk, allow rapid localisation, and integrate well with short-form content ecosystems."
India’s ₹3,500 crore market
₹3,000–3,500 crore is the current size of India’s influencer marketing industry, or $300–360 million, according to a Kofluence estimate. The same estimate puts the market at ₹5,000 crore, or $525 million, by 2027, showing how quickly brand spending is expanding even as the creator economy remains highly unequal and revenue stays concentrated among top-tier creators and celebrities.
Over the last five years, India’s creator ecosystem has expanded rapidly, fueled by Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and regional content consumption. That growth has widened the pool of nano and micro creators who rely on social media partnerships for income, but it has also left brands searching for a more predictable way to deliver frequency and continuity.
Global virtual creators by 2026
Nearly $12 billion is the size the global virtual influencer market could reach in 2026, based on multiple industry estimates cited by Grand View Research. AI-generated personalities can generate hundreds of campaign variations almost instantly while adapting to multiple languages, demographics, and regional trends, which makes them attractive for fashion, beauty, D2C, and lifestyle campaigns that need always-on marketing.
What was once seen as experimental is now being treated as infrastructure, Razdan said, and that shift leaves a clear split in the market: human creators still bring lived experience and spontaneity, while AI-native creators are being used for repetition, localization, and lower production costs. For brands, the near-term question is not whether AI can make content, but how much of the creator budget can move from one-off shoots to automated production without losing trust.
