What happened after 2016
When data became cheap, the people who came online were not the English-speaking urban minority already there. They were everyone else — and they arrived in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, Odia, Assamese and dozens of dialects. Reports put Indic-language internet users at around 870 million by 2024, and describe roughly 90% of new users as preferring content in their own language.
Language is a trust signal
Surveys reported across the industry find large majorities of Indians trust local-language content more than English — one widely cited KPMG–Google figure is 88%. Engagement follows: vernacular content is regularly reported at around twice the engagement of English equivalents, and users who trust vernacular content report higher purchase intent. A caption in the buyer’s language is not localisation. It is the difference between an ad and a recommendation.
Dialect is the real unit
“Hindi” hides Bhojpuri, Maithili, Bundeli, Haryanvi and Marwari; “Marathi” hides Varhadi and Malvani; “Kannada” sits beside Tulu. Creators post in the dialect of their district, and their audiences notice when a brand brief flattens it. The hero of our home page cycles through those dialects deliberately.
What it means for a brief
- Write the brief in the creator’s language, or let the platform translate it; never ask a Tamil creator to post from an English script.
- Let disclosure labels appear in the language of the post — ASCI requires it.
- Expect the comment section in the same language, and plan replies for it.
- Choose platforms by language depth: YouTube for regional research, Instagram and Facebook for Hinglish, metro-adjacent and community audiences; ShareChat and Moj for deep regional reach once they are live on Oye.
Why Oye is built language-first
Every creator profile carries languages and dialect; every intent carries the language the audience will hear it in; every brief is auto-translated. It is the simplest way to explain why regional campaigns outperform: the message arrives the way trust does.