50% Indians sceptical about authenticity of online content: Report

Over half of the people in India have started questioning online content more than ever before, and nearly 71% maintain that trust is an important factor when choosing to engage with a brand. These are some of the findings in Accenture Song's Life Trends 2025 report.

With insights crowdsourced from around the globe, the tech-powered creative group has identified five macro-consumer trends that capture the changing dynamic between technology and users. It has also highlighted the challenges and opportunities for brands as they adapt their strategies for 2025 to meet evolving customer needs.

Cost of hesitations

The extensive use of AI and generative AI in the recent past has been affecting society’s digital experiences with people increasingly becoming hesitant to automatically trust product images, reviews, marketing campaigns and content they see online. While acknowledging the convenience brought in by digital, due to a rising scepticism about online content, people are increasingly scrutinising what they see.

The survey finds that the trustworthiness of digital technology is under threat as a rise in scams blurs the lines between real and deceptive content. Generative AI is amplifying this confusion, challenging people’s trust in digital platforms.

Accenture Song's research shows over half of people in India now question online content’s authenticity. Trust erosion is also seen impacting online shopping and brand interactions, with 34% of people in India reporting deep-fake attacks or scams in the past one year. Brands must reassure customers by creating beacons of trust in communications, commerce, and product.

“Rapid technological advancements, particularly with accelerated use of AI and generative AI, are reshaping consumers’ digital experiences. As people become more discerning about the digital content they consume, trust becomes paramount and it is crucial for brands to ensure that they foster authenticity and human connections with their audiences,” said Saurabh Kumar Sahu, managing director and lead for India business, Accenture.

The annual forecast identifies emerging digital trends and actions for businesses, via crowdsourced insight and intelligence from Accenture Song’s global network of designers, creatives, technologists, sociologists, and anthropologists. Accenture surveyed 24,295 respondents across 22 countries in July 2024 to validate the trends.

Impatience economy

The pervasive adoption of digital has also led to a perception of quick and easy solutions to every issue, but trust remains the key. Today, 44% of consumers in India say they wish companies would respond faster to their changing needs.

Nearly 70% in India now prefer quick answers and guidance, often turning to crowd-sourced information for faster results, even taking riskier paths for health and financial goals, finds the survey. Terming this syndrome as akin to ‘decade of deconstruction’, report says that consumers’ goals and priorities have been shifting rapidly today.

Incidentally, influencers once focused largely on limited domains such as style, travel, and music. However, in today’s digital era, their scope has expanded to include life fundamentals like health, wealth, and happiness. When companies fall short of consumer trust, consumers look to the digital crowd, pushing brands to keep up to maintain loyalty.

Social rewilding

Nearly 25% of people (one in four) in India attributed their most enjoyable experience in the past week to be a digital experience. However, a greater percentage (27%) attributed it to what they did in real life.

While the digital is becoming a dominating force in consumers’ lives, the data also shows that overall consumers are seeking to find a balance between digital and real. The findings present brands with opportunities to rethink their strategies and align with people’s growing desire for more authentic and immersive experiences.

In the same way rewilding restores nature’s innate rhythms, social rewilding revives people’s connections to each other and to the world around them, states Accenture Song's research. The report observes that people are increasingly seeking depth, authenticity, and sensory richness in their experiences, aiming to engage with the world in meaningful ways. They are seeking a balance between digital and real life for joy and well-being, a trend that brands can factor in while designing their consumer engagement strategies or campaigns.

Dignity of work

Nearly 88% Indians find generative AI tools helpful at work, saying that they make work more efficient (53%) and improve the quality of work (53%). However, there is a trust deficit regarding adoption of digital as some respondents have also shared concerns that these technologies limit creativity (23%), make work more transactional (27.5%), and create anxiety about job security (20%).

Business leaders must, therefore, foster motivation and agency, as they are key to producing high-quality work, observes Accenture. The research notes that as generative AI enters the workplace, dignity of work needs to be viewed in light of these changes factoring in people’s approach and adoption of digital for work.

The parent trap

The rapid adoption of digital has been impacting the roles and responsibilities in society. More than two-thirds of Gen Z and millennials in India agree that they are spending more time online than they would like to--67% and 74%, respectively.

With unrestricted internet and social media access influencing extreme behaviours and exposing young people to different types of harm, parents face the challenge of helping the next generation build a healthy relationship with digital technology.

With parents feeling a sense of urgency in establishing guardrails to protect children from online harm placing pressure on the government to take appropriate policy steps. As young adults struggle with negative impacts, Accenture encourages more debate and action on these subjects to find the right balance and protective measures.

These findings, notes Accenture, aim at providing actionable insights for brand marketers to focus on important aspects of trust, speed, and balancing digital and human engagement with consumers, going forward.