Marketing was once considered a game of darts in the dark. Earlier, brands used to cast their nets wide, hoping something would stick. But those days of ‘spray and pray’ are rapidly giving way to AI-powered solutions designed to engage targeted consumers and drive conversions for a genuine return on investment.

Market data also underlines this shift. Globally, the madtech market, which operates at the intersection of marketing technology (MarTech), advertising technology (AdTech), and data technology (DataTech), is undergoing a seismic change. Industry analysts estimate that by 2027, publishers, marketers, agencies, and those that enable them will invest $245 Bn annually in madtech, up from $100 Bn in 2020.

It is more than a market projection; it is a signal flare. As consumer journeys become increasingly fragmented and ad platforms become more complex, brands can no longer afford to fly blind and rely on generic media buying. They need partners who can ensure hyper-personalisation, automation, and, above all, measurable outcomes.

As in every other domain, artificial intelligence (AI) is quietly, yet fundamentally, rewriting the playbook of new-age marketing. From insight mining and predictive modelling to automated campaign execution, AI is transforming how decisions are made and delivered with minimal human intervention for maximum outcomes.

One of the leading changemakers in this domain is Mobavenue. This programmatic advertising company automates media buying and helps brands optimise ad spend, target audiences with precision, and scale customer engagement to enhance their marketing efforts.

Set up by Tejas Rathod, Kunal Kothari, and Ishank Joshi, the company has positioned itself as a new-age madtech agency, guiding brands through every stage of the customer funnel — from awareness, acquisition, to retention — while enabling them to grow beyond walled gardens or closed ecosystems.

In an exclusive interaction with Inc42, Rathod, Mobavenue’s founder and COO, delved deep into the madtech platform’s AI bet as the foundation of its expanding product suite. He also shared his views on how brands should integrate AI in their marketing strategy and why India is poised to lead madtech innovations. Here are the edited excerpts.

Inc42: How has Mobavenue’s approach to AI-led marketing evolved? What key trends have driven this change, and what adjustments have you made along the way?

Tejas Rathod: When Mobavenue was launched in 2017, our operations were largely manual as we were in the early stages of building our programmatic Demand-side Platform (DSP). Back then, we tailored our campaigns based on marketers’ input, but lacked deeper analytical insights and predictive intelligence. For example, if a client wanted to target specific users of a particular gaming app in Mumbai, our system would execute that request, but without adding much value beyond the basics.

However, over the past 5 years, brands have shifted away from simply running ads or using broad targeting. Today, brands are laser-focused on outcomes — conversions, engagement and ultimately, ROI. This evolution in expectations has driven us to transition from manual, rules-based operations to a smarter, AI-driven model. Automation, self-learning systems, and decision-making powered by historical data are now at the core of our platform. Instead of relying on human interventions, our AI-powered platform now........

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