Rohit Agarwal, Founder & Director, Alpha Zegus, the next-gen marketing agency specializing in the domains of gaming & lifestyle which manages around 70 influencers:

How do you view this development?
This development has been in the works since over a year now, but it’s finally starting to materialize now. It’s good hygiene to follow since there is a definite need to draw a clear demarcation between ‘endorsed’ and ‘recommended’. At present, most influencer ads are coming across as ‘personal recommendations’ without any indication of there being a monetary advantage to the influencer behind it. This becomes unfair to the audience, and they start losing faith in their creator – since they lose track of who the influencer ‘really’ is, and what they use.

How do you see this impacting the influencer ecosystem in India?
We might see a drop in numbers (reach, engagement, etc.) for branded content, now that there will be a clear disclosure since the audience might just ‘skip the ad’ now that they know it. This might, in turn, cause a drop in creator fees for endorsements, as their fees are highly dependent on these data points. This can be avoided if the influencer finds more innovative ways to showcase the brand and make the branded content ‘enjoyable’ enough like their regular content.