Brands to spend over ₹700 cr on influencer marketing this festive season: Report

As India’s festive season gathers momentum, brands are set to ramp up their influencer marketing spends to more than ₹700 crore, according to the Qoruz Festive Season Report 2025. The surge is being driven by rising engagement from Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets and an increasing preference for regional creators.

The report highlights that influencer-led campaigns will see a 2x–3x spike during Navratri to Diwali compared to average months, with regional content expected to deliver 30% higher engagement than English. This signals a growing shift in consumer trust toward authenticity and relatable voices.

Consumer durables are expected to lead spending, followed by fashion and beauty, FMCG, and e-commerce brands. These categories are focusing on creator partnerships to build trust, showcase utility, and drive festive purchases, particularly in middle India.

Interestingly, 15% of active brands this year are first-time entrants into influencer marketing, largely made up of D2C players and regional brands seeking visibility during the high-consumption window.

“Most influencer-driven purchases now start before the consumer even searches. It is no longer about grabbing attention, it is about earning trust early. When a creator shows up in your language, during your rituals, with products that fit your reality, that is not advertising, that is belonging,” said Aditya Gurwara, Co-Founder and Head of Brand Alliance at Qoruz.

Adding to this, Priya Vivek, Co-Founder of Qoruz, noted that campaigns that refreshed creator content every 72 hours last year saw 1.6x higher engagement than static campaigns. “It’s less about how many creators you’re working with, and more about how early you’re involving them. Teams are sequencing creator drops more deliberately, tracking trends in real time, and aligning content with platform behavior,” she said.

Last Year’s Snapshot

During the 2024 festive season, Qoruz recorded 337,500 brand mention posts, 121,800 unique creators, and 1.7 billion engagements. Significantly, 28% of tracked product page visits during the period came directly from creator links, bypassing traditional discovery channels.

With festive campaigns already rolling out, Qoruz expects this year to surpass last season’s benchmarks as creators become central to brand storytelling during India’s biggest shopping quarter.