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Algorithms are the New Media Planners: 2-3 Million SMBs Eye Digital Ads This Festive Season
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Storyboard•30-09-2026, 09:08
Algorithms are the New Media Planners: 2-3 Million SMBs Eye Digital Ads This Festive Season
- •The festive season in India sees a significant shift in advertising, with algorithms increasingly deciding which ads consumers see, rather than traditional media planners.
- •Millions of Indian SMBs are investing in digital marketing, leveraging conversational and agentic AI technologies to reach customers.
- •Ahshad Jussawala, CEO of Jio Haptik, highlights the transformation, noting that 2-3 million businesses are expected to use Haptik's SMB product in the next three years.
- •SMBs are experiencing a "gold rush" in digital advertising, starting with small campaigns and rapidly scaling up ad spend by four to five times if early results are positive.
- •While creativity remains important, relevance is key, with platforms using behavioral personas to deliver targeted content, and AI taking over much of the "heavy lifting" in ad placement.
Key Questions Answered
At least two to three million small and medium businesses in India are expected to use Jio Haptik's long-term SMB product over the next three years.
According to Ahshad Jussawala, an SMB that witnesses genuine value from its festive campaign is capable of scaling up its advertising spend by four to five times within that same season.
According to an Amazon Ads study, nearly 87 percent of small and medium businesses in India believe that artificial intelligence has enabled them to access advertising opportunities like streaming TV that previously felt out of reach.
