The honest answer — from someone who runs ads for a living. Saurav · sauravdoesmarketing.com · May 2026 · 6 min read I get this question almost every week now. A founder, a brand manager, or a fellow marketer pulls me aside and asks: ", everyone's using ChatGPT and Gemini to search these days — does Google Ads even make sense anymore?" It's a fair question. And I'm not going to give you the consultant's answer of "it depends." I'm going to give you the real answer — with data

Short answer: Yes, but with eyes open — it's evolving fast, not dying. The Real Concern You're Pointing To 93% of AI Mode queries end without a single click to an external website. And paid CTR for queries with AI Overviews dropped from 19.70% to 6.34% between June 2024 and September 2025. That's a real, measurable hit — especially for informational queries. Digital Applied TeamSearch Influence But Google Isn't Losing Ad Revenue Google Search delivered double-digit revenue gr

The traffic reality is grim for generic informational content: AI Overviews reduce organic CTR for the #1 result by ~58% on informational queries (Ahrefs, Dec 2025). Position-one CTR for AI-Overview keywords fell from 0.073 to 0.016 between Dec 2023 and Dec 2025. Seer Interactive (Sept 2025): organic CTR on AIO queries fell ~61% (1.76% → 0.61%). Pew Research (July 22, 2025), analyzing 68,879 searches from 900 US adults, found: "Users who encountered an AI summary clicked on a

By Saurav | sauravdoesmarketing.com Every D2C founder I talk to is asking the same question: Meta CPMs keep rising, Google is getting more expensive, and everyone's talking about OTT. So where should the money actually go? Here's an honest breakdown — not the "use all channels" non-answer, but what actually makes sense based on where each platform sits in the funnel and what it costs to be there. The State of Meta and Google Right Now Meta CPMs for D2C brands in India rose 22

By Saurav | sauravdoesmarketing.com IPL on JioHotstar is India's biggest advertising event of the year. Over 600 million viewers. 74 matches. Brands spending crores to get 10 seconds of attention. But is IPL advertising actually worth it for a D2C brand — or is it a vanity play that only makes sense for Tata, Havells, and Google? Here's a clear-eyed breakdown. The Scale Is Genuinely Unmatched The India vs Pakistan match at the 2025 Champions Trophy drew 611 million views on J

By Saurav | sauravdoesmarketing.com For years, advertising on JioHotstar (formerly Disney+ Hotstar) required going through a media sales team, negotiating contracts, committing to large budgets, and waiting weeks to launch. It was enterprise advertising — accessible to Tata, not to a growing D2C brand doing ₹50L/month in revenue. That changed in 2026. JioHotstar launched a self-serve advertising platform — and it's a bigger deal than most Indian brands have realised. What the

By Saurav | sauravdoesmarketing.com If you've been running Meta and Google Ads for a while, you already know the pain: rising CPMs, shrinking ROAS, and an audience that's been retargeted to death. JioHotstar is worth paying attention to — not as a replacement, but as a new front to reach buyers before they're exhausted by your Instagram ads. Here's what you need to know before spending a rupee. Why JioHotstar, and Why Now The platform crossed 300 million subscribers after the

You already know what MCP is. You've probably seen the April 29 announcement. You might have even set it up. This isn't an explainer for beginners. This is for marketing managers who run Meta campaigns professionally and want to know: does this actually change how I work, or is it another AI feature I'll stop using in two weeks? My honest answer: it changes specific parts of your workflow significantly. The strategic parts — creative direction, audience intuition, offer posit

Running ads on platforms like Meta Platforms can sometimes feel like a mystery. People often think success comes from fancy designs, big claims, and dramatic music . I n reality, the ads that work are usually simple, direct, and almost boring . And the ads that fail are often the ones that try way too hard. Let’s break it down. Ads That Work 1. Ads That Clearly Say Who They Are For Good ads immediately call out the audience. Example: “Lead generation system for UK service bus

One of the biggest mistakes in Meta ads campaigns is running the same creatives for too long. Performance drops.Costs increase.Leads become worse. Not because the campaign is bad — but because the creative stopped working . In most cases, creative is the biggest driver of performance in paid ads . How Many Creatives I Make Every Month For most lead generation campaigns , I aim to produce 15–30 ad creatives every month . This usually looks like: 4–6 new creatives every week M

When running lead generation campaigns on Meta , many advertisers make the mistake of putting the entire budget into one campaign and hoping the algorithm finds the right leads. That usually leads to low-quality leads and higher cost per lead . A better approach is to structure the budget across different campaign objectives and audience stages , so the system learns faster and the leads improve over time. Here’s how I usually manage a €10,000 monthly lead generation budget .

Many businesses run lead generation ads on Meta , but the real problem is not the ads — it’s the form . Long questions.Confusing sentences.Too many fields. People open the form… and then leave. If you want better lead quality and lower cost per lead , your form needs to be simple, fast to read, and easy to answer . Here’s a simple way to build forms that actually convert. 1. Keep Questions Short and Easy to Scan When someone opens a form from a Meta ad, they are usually on th

Many brands focus on writing ad copy that attracts as many people as possible . The thinking is simple: more reach equals more sales. In performance marketing , that approach often does the opposite. The real goal of high-converting ad copy is not to attract everyone. The goal is to attract the right audience that is most likely to convert . When writing Facebook ads, Meta ads, or Google ads , the messaging should clearly communicate: Who the product or service is for What p

You Throw Peanuts, You Get Monkeys Every word and image in your ad acts like a filter. They decide who clicks and who stays. For example, using “50% OFF” in your headline invites bargain hunters. These customers rush in but leave as soon as the sale ends. On the other hand, phrases like “Exclusively Available” attract buyers who care about quality and are willing to pay more. These customers tend to stay loyal. This is not a trick or magic. It’s simple human psychology. Peopl

You've probably noticed it — your feed is filled with 6, 10, 15-second ads. Brands are ditching the 30-second spiels for bite-sized content. Here's the performance marketing truth: it's not just about attention spans. It's about gaming the algorithm. The Algorithm Rewards Completion Rate Here's what most people miss: platforms like Meta, TikTok, and YouTube measure how much of your ad people actually watch. A 10-second ad with 80% completion rate absolutely destroys a 30-seco

How to turn influencer marketing from a vanity metric game into a profit-driving machine Let's Cut Through the Noise You're scrolling through Instagram and see another D2C brand bragging about their "viral" influencer campaign. Great engagement, thousands of likes, beautiful content. But when you check their revenue? Cricket sounds. Here's the truth most Indian D2C founders are learning the hard way: influencer marketing without performance tracking is just expensive brand aw

Your competitor has 500,000 Instagram followers. Their latest Reel got 4,000 views. Your performance campaign also reached 4,000 people — and generated ₹25 lakhs from a ₹5 lakh ad spend. So here's the real question: what is an Instagram follower actually worth to your brand? The Uncomfortable Math In 2026, acquiring an Instagram follower through ads costs between ₹15 and ₹80 depending on your niche and targeting. Premium fashion and D2C brands typically pay ₹40 to ₹80 per fol

Introduction: The $68 Billion Opportunity Most Luxury Brands Are Missing I recently clicked on an ad for Kalki Fashion, a luxury Indian ethnic wear brand, and landed on one of the most impressive experiences I've seen in e-commerce. Right there on the landing page were four options: In-Store Visit, Video Shopping, Live Chat, and Live Shopping . As someone who works with luxury Shopify brands daily, I immediately recognized what they were doing—and why it's brilliant. Here's t

If you've ever wondered why the same 30-second audio clip suddenly appears in every other Reel on your feed, you're not alone. Instagram music trends can make or break your content's performance, but most brands discover them too late—when the trend is already oversaturated. As someone who works with luxury brands on Shopify, I've seen firsthand how the right trending audio can 5x engagement rates while the wrong one (or jumping on trends too late) can make your content invis

A brand selling ₹12,000 sarees asks me: is 2x ROAS good? A brand selling ₹800 t-shirts asks me the same question. The answer for both is completely different — and that's the whole problem with how ROAS gets discussed in Indian D2C circles. If you're selling premium fashion in India — ₹5,000 to ₹25,000 per order — here's what ROAS actually means for your business, and what numbers you should actually be targeting. Why ROAS Benchmarks From the West Don't Apply to You Most ROAS