Trending on Dalal Street: Chatterbox CEO says going public proves influencing is no side hustle

Influencer economy

Influencer economy is not just a fad nor is it merely about likes and followers but a legitimate, high-growth business, Raj Mishra, who is the managing director of Chatterbox has told Monyecontrol.

Chatterbox Technologies on October 3 became the first influencer marketing company to be listed in India. It made an impressive debut, with the stock listing at BSE at Rs 135 against the issue price of Rs 110-Rs 115, a premium of nearly 18 percent.

The Rs 42.86-crore initial public offering (IPO), which was subscribed 52 times, is a proof that influencing isn’t just a side hustle but a full-time profession, which investors are betting big on, Mishra said.

"It's a serious industry to be focused on and with the listing, we put a stamp on the credibility of the entire ecosystem. For the creators and brands, it means that influencer marketing has arrived as a mainstream and scalable business sector."

From likes to listing

Mishra said influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing segments in advertising not just in India but globally as well.

In India, it is growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 30 percent and is about to touch the Rs 3,000-crore mark, Mishra said, adding in a couple of years, it will be a Rs 5,000-crore business.

Chatterbox's Dalal Street debut comes bang in the middle of the festival season. "Festive season is like the Super Bowl of Indian advertising," Mishra said.

He expects a 30 to 40 percent spike in campaign volumes as compared to non-festival months. "Categories like FMCG, e-commerce, fashion, electronic, automobile, BFSI, they all go heavy on influencer-led storytelling during not just Diwali, but Navratri and New Year also. This year, we expect record festive spends with brands doubling down on the digital and influencer campaigns," he said.

His confidence also stems from the recent goods and services tax (GST) cuts. "The GST cut has already led to positive sentiment and increased spends from brands. We are confident that it will reflect strongly on our top line, directly translate into higher campaign volumes and stronger FY26 growth," he said.

The company's FY25 revenue stood at Rs 59.45 crore, up from Rs 55.36 crore in FY24 and Rs 40.19 crore in FY23.

Its profit after tax (PAT) grew to Rs 8.8 crore from Rs 8.5 crore in FY24 and Rs 1.27 crore in FY23.

Mishra pointed out that despite a multibillion-dollar business globally, there are a handful of listed firms. In India, too, everyone is just scratching the surface.

The global influencer marketing platform market size is expected to be worth around $306.9 billion by 2033, from $16.2 billion in 2023, growing at 34.2 percent every year, the company said in its draft documents. In 2023, North America held a dominant market position, capturing more than a 31.7 percent share, holding $5.14 billion revenue.

International chapter

Mishra wants to make the most of both Indian and international opportunities. "Our next chapter is going global. We are going to start off with Dubai and Southeast Asia where Indian creators already have a  massive influence. We have begun servicing global campaigns for Indian brands," he said.

Starting with Dubai, Middle East and Southeast Asia, Mishra wants to tap into the Bollywood influence. "Plus, there are a lot of creators in these emerging markets. I was part of the TikTok launch in Latin America, Asia Pacific so, I see a very long-term and strategic opportunity for us to scale up the business outside of India," he said.

Regional rage

Back home, it is the regional creators he is betting big on to generate cash flow. Chatterbox has a separate regional influencer division called Bharatbox.

Out of the 600,000 creators, there is a very large share of creators coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities, spread across 12 different languages, Mishra said.  "As much as 50 to 60 percent of our campaigns include regional creators because brands usually see a very high trust and stronger engagement from local audiences. For us, a regional along with a micro creator for a campaign can give brands 5 to 7 times Return on Investment (ROI)," he said.

A micro creator is someone with 10,000–100,000 social media followers.

His focus is on getting more regional voices, nano (those who have 1,000–10,000 followers) and micro creators as they are niche category specialists. "We also want to get some of the marquee influencers and ex-TikTokers who are all my mates. Also, we are eying anyone who is crunching good engagement numbers. The average engagement rate fluctuates between 6-10 percent," he said.

Brand building

He expects the brand portfolio to grow, as companies raise their influencer marketing budgets. "Almost every large FMCG brand has about 15 to 25 percent of the media budgets just for digital influencers. And the share is pretty much rising. I expect it to grow to at least 30 to 35 percent over the next couple of years."

He claims to have worked with more over 5,000 brands including Unilever, Amazon, Flipkart, Pepsi, P&G, L'Oreal, Kodak, Google Startup and Samsung.

"Our biggest growth has come from regional creators and FMCG, film, technology, e-commerce  are always on the list of long-term brand retainers. Also, our growth accelerated with brand shifting bigger budgets from TV to influencers post-2023. And we plan to double down on our AI (Artificial Intelligence)-led work," Mishra said.

AI edge

The company is building an AI-led platform, ChattrScout, in India for easy creator discovery, campaign analytics and brand fit predictions.

AI is already driving revenues. "AI is enabling us to reduce inefficiencies and deliver sharper ROI for brands. Smarter insights results in bigger brand budgets," MIshra said.