The South Indian creator economy, by the numbers 

Research from the Indian School of Business and Hashfame puts India's creator base at roughly 4.12 million in 2025. More striking than the size is the geography: about 66% of those creators come from non-metro India. The creator economy did not grow out of Bandra and Indiranagar — it grew out of Madurai, Vijayawada, Kozhikode and a thousand towns like them.

That tracks with where the internet itself went. IAMAI and Kantar count India's active internet users at over 886 million in 2024, with the majority now outside the big cities. The audience moved first; the creators simply followed their own neighbours.

What this means for brands

The talent pool a brand can draw on in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam is now deep enough to cast precisely: by language, by city, by category, by tier. The constraint has flipped — the problem is no longer finding creators, it is selecting few enough to brief properly.

It also means the economics have changed. A fleet of micro and nano creators in Salem, Guntur and Thrissur can out-deliver one metro macro name on trust per rupee — if someone does the unglamorous work of casting, contracting and briefing them well.

The under-priced middle

The industry still prices English-language content at a premium and regional content at a discount, while the audience does the opposite with its attention. That gap is the opportunity. It will not stay open forever.