NEW DELHI: As companies tighten marketing budgets amid an uneven demand environment, marketers and advertisers are being pushed to rethink the old playbook. With audiences spread across multiple media platforms, the emerging consensus is that brands need a more integrated approach—combining television's scale with digital's precision and creators' ability to drive relevance and engagement, marketing experts and companies told TOI.One of the clearest signals of this evolving media strategy came recently when Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez said the company intends to allocate roughly half of its marketing budget to content creators. In India, the shift is visible too. In sectors including personal care, beauty, fashion and consumer products, brands have significantly increased their use of influencers and content creators over the last couple of years. BCG estimates that India has about 2.5 million monetized creators already influencing $350–400 billion in consumer spending, and by 2030, it could cross $1 trillion.For marketers, television largely refers to traditional advertising across broadcast, cable and satellite channels, while digital spans OTT, streaming platforms, online and creator-led content.Advertising experts and companies say brands need to move beyond the television-versus-digital debate and build an integrated media ecosystem that combines the scale of mass media with the authenticity and engagement of creators.For established brands, television builds scale and credibility, with creators reinforcing and amplifying the message. For newer, D2C brands, creator-led content itself can be the primary growth engine, Prasanna Kumar, executive VP South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar, a marketing firm, said.Consumer companies including ITC are interpreting the shift more broadly. Says Shuvadip Banerjee, chief digital marketing officer, ITC: “We increasingly think of media, content, creators and commerce as one integrated growth system. Our optimized marketing decisions seek to answer a fundamental question: How do we maximise attention, influence, and conversion across the consumer journey. Also, with a huge reduction in the half life of communication, we believe that the reason why a brand wins or loses is based on great story-telling which is built with timeless emotional codes.”Kantar estimates campaigns that integrate television and creator-led content generate a 1.7x multiplier effect, with the overlap contributing about 43% to sales, outperforming either channel in isolation.The emerging strategy is to use each medium for what it does best and maximise impact. “The brands that succeed will be those that follow consumer attention, rather than remain tied to traditional media habits. The future is about creating an integrated ecosystem where brands combine the scale of mass media with the authenticity and engagement that creators bring,” says Nandini Dias, advisor, media, brand and advertising.“Television continues to deliver unmatched scale during marquee events, and digital platforms provide precision targeting. Large media can create awareness quickly, while creators add credibility, conversation and influence closer to the point of decision,” she added.