With digital consumption rising across India, video has emerged as one of the most powerful tools for brand storytelling and consumer engagement.
Once seen as the preserve of large advertisers with deep pockets, video advertising is now being adopted by startups and growth-stage brands that are experimenting with formats, measuring impact in real time, and using video for both awareness and performance.
However, with big budget requirements, high turnaround times, and limited measurement, it poses certain challenges for growth brands.
At a recent Amazon Ads roundtable in collaboration with exchange4media at the D2C Summit in Gurgaon, marketers across categories shared their experiences, opportunities, and challenges in building a video-first strategy.
Setting the context, Kapil Sharma, Director of Amazon Ads India, pointed out how video advertising has evolved. “When it comes to video advertising, it was largely a play for big brands because of the high cost of assets and the need to commit huge daily budgets. On linear TV, measuring impact was almost impossible, but digital video is now changing that,” he said.
Amazon Ads recently launched Sponsored TV in India, aiming to democratize streaming TV advertising. This innovative solution helps businesses of all sizes run efficient and cost-effective video ads using flexible and self-serve tools.
Startups are quickly adapting, and brands like Wiselife and Anveshan have leveraged video ads extensively to build awareness.
Prateek Kedia, Founder of Wiselife Wellness India explained how format evolution has opened new possibilities. “We make sure to always create a video for every product we launch, earlier in landscape but now also in portrait, since Amazon supports vertical formats,” he said.
For Aayushi Khandelwal, Co-founder of Anveshan, video has become central to awareness-building. “We have moved to more engaging formats such as 30 to 50 second reels and expanded beyond pure performance to include influencer-led and brand marketing campaigns,” she shared.
Measuring success beyond clicks
As video matures, brands are debating how much emphasis should be on measurable outcomes versus the softer benefits of awareness and visibility. For many growth brands, especially when competing with legacy players, it is important to protect brand visibility while balancing limited budgets.
Sumit Batra, Co-founder of Klenzmo added that organic performance guides their paid strategy. “If a video gets decent traction in our feed within 15 to 20 days, we then amplify it with advertising,” he said, while calling for Amazon’s creator-led programs to be more accessible to startups.
Video for performance
Marketers remain split on whether video should primarily drive conversions or serve as a tool for long-term brand equity. While for some it is about building awareness, for home furnishing brand DecoWindow, video is primarily a conversion lever.
“We treat our video content like Kickstarter campaigns, laser-focused on differentiation and driving conversions,” said Vaibhav Jain, CEO and Co-founder of Decowindow.
On the other hand, brands like ExclusiveLane have followed an experimentation-heavy approach. They test multiple creatives and track CTRs, often finding that directing traffic to brand stores performs better than product pages.
The challenges of scale
While enthusiasm for video is high, creating effective and measurable content at scale continues to test many brands. For some, the challenge is bandwidth, deciding which products get videos and then waiting to see results before making other iterations. Also, the sheer number of tools and data points can get overwhelming, making the process more complex.
As Co-Founder of Cocomoco Kids, Shitij Malhotra says, “Marketing has almost turned into a pseudo-science, leading to analysis paralysis.”
There is also a challenge of content fatigue faced by brands. Sometimes creatives start losing impact within a few days. Brands like Artarium, a home décor company, have invested in an in-house studio with over 100 freelance anchors to keep producing fresh videos.
Choosing the right format
With multiple platforms and devices shaping consumer behaviour, picking the right format has become as important as the content itself. This differs from brand to brand.
For some brands, video orientation becomes critical. “Vertical ads work best for us on Instagram, and we have adapted those creatives for Amazon,” said Siddharth Suneja, Co-founder of Rabitat.
Neha Khullar, Head of Marketing, Kenstar underscored the importance of the first few seconds. “We cut one ad to start with a leading actor instead of a newcomer, and performance improved dramatically. The opening five seconds are everything,” she said.
The one common perspective was the need for smooth integration of the ad within the video, which enhances the consumer experience and makes it a natural part of the feed.
Integrating with the full funnel
For many marketers, the true value of video comes when it is seamlessly aligned with the overall marketing funnel.
Closing the discussion, Aman Vashisht, Director-Ecommerce of Antara shared how video ties into broader marketing strategies. “We use video at the top of the funnel to drive consideration, then shift budgets to sponsored product campaigns once organic ranking kicks in,” he explained.
The roundtable concluded with a workshop by Aditya Sekhar, Head, Growth Customer Sales, Amazon Ads India, who showcased how the company’s suite of tools is designed to address some of the challenges marketers face in video advertising.
From simplifying measurement to enabling creative experimentation, the session highlighted how Amazon plans to make video a more effective and scalable solution for advertisers.
For instance, Sponsored TV campaigns have provided efficient reach to small and medium businesses by leveraging trillions of Amazon’s first-party streaming, shopping, and browsing signals to create relevant ad experiences for viewers across screens.
