ChatGPT usage rose 160% in 2025, pushing brands from SEO to AI visibility

New Delhi: India’s digital advertising and commerce ecosystem entered a new phase in 2025, moving from AI hype to real-world application and from keyword-first discovery to conversation-led journeys, according to Madison HiveMinds.

The agency said 2025 was a year when the digital landscape “matured”, with brands starting the year analysing keywords and ending it optimising for conversations. It added that the market is now shifting from platform-by-platform execution to total integration, where data, media and creative work as one seamless path to the consumer.

From SEO to AI visibility

Madison HiveMinds said discovery is changing as users move from “Googling” to “asking”. Citing a 160% rise in ChatGPT usage, the agency said the focus is moving beyond keyword rankings to brand authority. It argued that if AI models do not trust a brand, consumers are less likely to find it through AI-led interfaces.

Bharat powers online festive sales

While metros continue to remain premium markets, the agency said Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities have taken over the leaderboard for scale. It said these markets drove 80% of all online festive sales, signalling that Bharat is no longer an “emerging” growth story.

Q-commerce boom and margin pressure

The rise of quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit and Zepto has turned them into the new high-street for urban shopping, Madison HiveMinds said. However, it added that the ad spend surge on q-commerce is intensifying margin pressure for brands.

The agency said q-commerce is also pushing “high-resolution” advertising, where localisation is not optional. It warned that brands that do not build hyper-local strategies risk being penalised, while larger brands with capital and sophisticated campaign tools are better positioned to protect shelf space in the 10-minute economy.

Agility becomes the edge

Madison HiveMinds said 2025 was a high-pressure year for categories including fintech, gaming and health, where rules can change overnight. With real-time data now widely available, it said the advantage will increasingly go to brands that can pivot strategy quickly rather than those slowed by internal bureaucracy.

Digital and legacy lines blur

The agency said the separation between “digital” and “legacy” media is shrinking. While offline ad spends are declining and online is rising in double digits, it flagged connected TV (CTV) as a major indicator of the convergence, driven by an upswing in CTV video consumption.

2026: consolidation and the unified journey

Looking ahead, Madison HiveMinds said 2026 will be the year of consolidation. It expects brands to move faster on AI adoption and integrate branding, performance and commerce into one operating model, instead of running them as separate silos.

It said agentic AI and AI-curated product showcases are likely to become ubiquitous across channels, making first-mover advantage critical. The agency added that marketing productivity will increasingly depend on how teams use AI for market and category analysis, competition insights and media planning.

Creative takes centre stage

Madison HiveMinds said platforms are steadily shifting campaign control away from advertisers and towards AI-driven systems, pointing to updates such as Meta’s Andromeda and the evolution of Google’s Performance Max. As a result, it said creative is becoming the most important lever, still firmly under a brand’s control.

The agency added that AI can now be custom-trained to learn how specific creative elements link to down-funnel outcomes such as customer profitability and lifetime value, moving beyond top-line metrics like CTR. It said owning this “profit-linked” creative intelligence could become a key competitive advantage.

Tool stacks and agency investments

With complexity rising, Madison HiveMinds said both brands and agencies will need customised tool stacks to stay productive and effective. It said it is investing in marketing tools, including two AI-led products, WIZUAL and FeedX, which it said have received support from a Google tech fund.

The agency said the “unified journey” is no longer a future concept but the operating reality. As the walls between branding, performance and commerce dissolve, it said that success in 2026 will be defined by the ability to master integration, backed by unified measurement that turns complex data into a seamless brand experience.