Brands must blend first-party and streaming insights with creative instinct: Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi

New Delhi: Amazon Ads India has outlined five advertising trends it expects will reshape how brands connect with Indian consumers in 2026, driven by a mix of AI-led workflows, sharper audience insight, streaming TV’s shift to performance, and creator-led authenticity.

In a blog post, Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi, Head, Marketing and Creative Solutions, Amazon Ads India, said the industry is “fundamentally reimagining” how brands earn attention and trust, as the media landscape becomes more fragmented. 

The first trend she flagged was customer insight becoming a creative catalyst, as media strategy and creative development move from siloed workflows to integrated planning. She wrote that campaigns are increasingly strongest when audience intelligence shapes creative thinking from the start.

Gandhi said, “Brands that pair creative instinct with first-party shopping and streaming insights understand emotional drivers and unmet needs that intuition alone would miss. This isn't about data replacing creativity; it's about insights unlocking it.”

The second trend, Gandhi wrote, is “AI democratising creative excellence,” pointing to agentic AI as an equaliser that compresses production cycles from weeks to hours. 

She added that this shift lowers barriers for small businesses to access creative solutions through AI-powered tools, and said early adopters can gain compounding advantages through faster iteration, flexibility and scale.

Third, she highlighted performance optimisation at “machine speed,” saying AI’s most meaningful impact is often behind the scenes in audience understanding, campaign optimisation and measurable outcomes. 

She wrote that the shift is not about replacing human judgement, but augmenting it so strategists can focus on insight and innovation rather than optimisation mechanics.

The fourth trend she identified was streaming TV entering a performance phase. Gandhi wrote that India’s streaming audience has crossed 600 million, while Connected TV users grew 87% year-on-year to 129 million. 

She said interactive formats are enabling brands to extend beyond awareness into consideration and conversion, with success metrics spanning reach and brand measures alongside outcomes such as sales, sign-ups and bookings.

Fifth, Gandhi said contextual advertising and creator authenticity are converging. She wrote that contextual advertising is moving beyond demographic reach towards scene-specific relevance, and described a scenario where a thriller sequence could prompt “real-time flight offers” tailored to a viewer’s local airport. 

She also said creators are shifting from content partners to “strategic catalysts,” increasingly embedded in brand operations to drive innovation and trust.

Gandhi said, “The most resonant brands will master both: creator-led storytelling that builds community trust, and contextual moments that deliver relevance when it matters most.”

Gandhi said the trends point to a common imperative. “Technology should amplify human creativity, not replace it,” she wrote, adding that brands that balance AI-driven efficiency with authentic customer connection are likely to build more durable relationships through storytelling and relevance-led delivery.