YouTube still ranks highest in most-used social media platforms in India amidst the rise of Instagram: Report

• Micro-Influencers hold maximum brand deals but Nano-influencers get higher median engagement.
• The survey by the commerce enablement company states that India is one of the most diverse and fast-growing markets across the world, with a social media population of 448 million users and a 21.2% year-on-year growth rate.

AnyMind Group, an end-to-end commerce enablement platform, published its annual Indian report on “State of Influencer marketing in India 2021” which studies the influencer marketing space in India in depth to analyze various factors such as median engagement rates and influencer category breakdown. The report highlights that YouTube still ranked highest in most-used social media platforms in India amidst the rise of Instagram. Facebook and Twitter saw a major rise in proportion to the other social media platforms during 2020-21.

The report taps on data from over 15,000 influencers in India on the company’s influencer marketing platform, AnyTag, and influencers were placed in the report into five categories: top stars, macro-influencers, micro-influencers, nano-influencers, and end-users for clarity. Further to their examination, they discovered that Nano-Influencers holds the maximum engagement in the Influencers world. However, it’s important to note that engagement rates benchmark engagements against a total number of followers. If we move onto the verticals of influences, food & beverage influencers receive a generally lower median engagement rates on Instagram compared to fashion & beauty and arts & entertainment influencers, whilst food & beverage influencers’ performance on Facebook and YouTube are almost equal to the other two verticals.



They also revealed the most popular verticals for influencers in India. Amongst all the top 15 verticals, they found out pet influencers stood 11th in the row, one of the most unforeseen verticals. For brands, it’s important to note that the top influencer verticals are highly diverse in the types of products that they can endorse, but it is critical to understand individual influencers and their audiences to find the right influencer(s) for a specific campaign or product feature.


The data was further divided into: Performance & Awareness, where the research found out that in India majority of the campaigns are Awareness Driven in the leading sectors.

Talking about the reports, Shuchi Sethi, India Lead, AnyTag, AnyMind Group commented, “This report comprises the top verticals of influencers that are working the most in India for brands to understand and make their marketing investments, along with the most engaging social media platform. Through these insights, brands and marketers can make informed decisions on influencer marketing and educate themselves to amplify their campaigns and messaging effectively across their target audience.”

Data was obtained from influencers in India through the AnyTag platform and encompasses influencers across all ages, all major social media platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), and all influencer ranges mentioned above.