Namaste ! Wishing you a fabulous 2026 ! Now coming to this week’s digital media updates…
Smarter digital strategies shaped beauty marketing in 2025
India’s beauty and wellness industry reached a new high in 2025, emerging as the fastest-growing beauty and personal care market globally. Valued at $31.2 billion, with revenues projected at $32.5 billion, the year was defined not just by growth but by a shift in how beauty brands built relevance.
Global players accelerated their India entry. Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin launched nationwide through Reliance Retail, while Armani Beauty opened a flagship store in Mumbai and Chantecaille entered via Nykaa, signalling rising demand for premium and experiential beauty.
Digital discovery moved firmly to the centre. Beauty e-commerce recorded 39% value growth, far outpacing physical retail. On Myntra, beauty grew nearly twice as fast as the broader online category and now contributes one in five orders. Gen Z accounts for around 60% of beauty users, while Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets are growing almost 50% faster than metros.
IGTV Is Back, With an Instagram Reels TV App
Instagram testing out a new TV app, which is focused on facilitating Reels watch parties on the bigger screen.
As you can see in this example, Instagram’s new TV app is similar in format to YouTube’s CTV UI, with a layout that’s designed to be easy to navigate via more limited TV remote functions.
And Reels are the star of the show, with Instagram looking to capitalize on communal viewing.
As per IG:
“We’ve heard from our community that watching reels together is more fun, and this test is designed to learn which features make that experience work best on TV. Reels are grouped into channels that match your interests, including new music, sports highlights, hidden travel gems, trending moments, and more.”
Facebook is testing a link-posting limit for professional accounts and pages
In a new experiment, Meta is limiting the number of links users can post on Facebook, unless they have a paid Meta Verified subscription.
Over the last week, severalusershave spotted Meta’s test, which impacts link posting. Social media strategist Matt Navarra noted that users part of the test can only post two links unless they pay for a Meta Verified subscription, which starts from $14.99 per month.
According to the screenshot posted by Navarra, users can still post affiliate links, comments, and links to Meta platform posts, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The company confirmed the test to TechCrunch and said it impacts those people using professional mode and Facebook Pages. Professional mode lets you convert your personal profile into a creator profile while making your content eligible for discovery by a wider audience.
YouTube Tests Still Image Carousels Within Shorts Feed
Carousel posts are among the best performers on Instagram, which YouTube has clearly taken note of, as it’s now trying out its own form of still image carousels within the Shorts feed.
As explained by YouTube:
“We’re experimenting with showing image posts in the Shorts feed to help creators reach their audience with posts in a new place. Creators can include up to 10 images in their posts, making them a great way to tell a story.”
So soon, in amongst the short-form video clips that populate the Shorts feed, you’ll also see side-scrolling, still image displays, much like TikTok or IG, bringing Shorts more into line with the common short-form content experience.
Google AI drives 300% conversion boost & 95% cost cuts
If 2024 was the year Indian marketers cautiously experimented with artificial intelligence, 2025 was when the industry finally embraced it at scale. Now, as brands look ahead to 2026, AI is evolving from a creative assistant into the operational backbone of marketing strategy, shifting the focus from experimentation to measurable business outcomes.
A key pillar of this evolution is intent mapping. Search behavior in India has moved beyond keywords to nuanced, conversational discovery, prompting brands to rely on AI-powered systems to decode consumer intent. Companies such as Lenovo, Cashify, Nykaa, and Policybazaar have adopted AI Max for Search to interpret what consumers mean rather than what they simply type. The impact has been immediate: Policybazaar reported a 28% increase in policy bookings at 23% lower cost, while Lenovo saw a 73% surge in purchases and a 53% rise in revenue. Tira Beauty used Google’s Gemini to rewrite around 600,000 product descriptions to align with conversational search, resulting in a 50% jump in organic clicks and a 27% increase in conversion value. Meanwhile, Myntra tapped Google AI to transliterate English search terms into colloquial Hinglish to capture intent from non-metro shoppers, improving ROI by unlocking previously missed audiences.
AI-related B2B searches grew 35% YoY
FTA Global, a new-age marketing company, today released its industry report, “B2B Indian Tech Industry: Search & Demand Trends 2025”, providing an in-depth analysis of the search shifts and demand patterns shaping India’s B2B technology landscape.
The report highlights how Indian enterprises increasingly discover technology solutions through search-led discovery, covering categories such as AI, SaaS, cloud, FinTech, cybersecurity, and Industry 4.0. Insights are drawn from search and visibility patterns across major metros and high-growth Tier 2 industrial hubs.
Key findings include a 35% YoY growth in AI-related B2B queries, nearly 28% growth in IoT and industrial automation searches, and a steady 20% increase in searches for B2B logistics, inventory SaaS, and ERP tools. Google’s AI Overviews are shaping visibility, compelling brands to optimise for zero-click results, structured data, and conversational queries.
Segment-specific insights reveal Zoho and Freshworks leading Indian SaaS visibility, while Tier 2 cities show nearly double the growth rate compared to metros. Vernacular searches and “near me” queries have risen by 20–30% YoY, indicating the increasing importance of localised content.
AI Slop Videos Dominating 33% YouTube Feeds
Low-quality AI-generated videos now make up a significant share of what users see on YouTube, raising concerns about platform quality, monetisation, and misinformation, according to new research by Kapwing.
The study estimates that 21-33% of YouTube’s content feed may consist of what it describes as “AI slop” or “brainrot” videos. These are cheaply produced, repetitive videos generated using AI tools, designed mainly to attract views rather than provide meaningful content.
Kapwing’s analysis also suggests that some of these channels may be earning millions of dollars annually, despite minimal human effort or creative input.
From the BC Web Wise Desk
And as you head into the new year, we’ve got something special for you:10 Questions Every CMO Should Ask Before Approving Anything in 2026! And with it we have A practical decision checklist & thinking tool that you can download for your personal use!
Wishing you happiness, good health and success through 2026. See you next week.
