Research Papers
A white paper on what marketing capability means once AI runs the tools, and a reading of NITI Aayog's 2047 skilling report.
Empirical
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Intelligence
Original research in professional education.
Reports on Indian agency pricing and ad spend, a white paper on marketing in the AI era, and short position briefs. All free to read.
Why we publish
The research underpins the practice.
aFactor's frameworks are not authored in a vacuum. They draw on the papers and reports listed below. Each is reviewed internally before it goes up; none has been through external peer review.
Insights are organised across three streams. Research Papers holds our white paper on what marketing capability means once AI runs the tools, and our reading of NITI Aayog's skilling report. Industry Reports covers Indian agency pricing and TV versus digital ad spend, with every figure sourced and dated. Publications bring shorter editorial pieces, frameworks-in-practice, and commentary.
Every piece names its sources, flags its weakest evidence and says how it could be wrong.
Three streams
Research, reports, and publications.
Each stream serves a different audience and a different purpose - but all three rest on the same evidentiary standard.
Industry Reports
Data-backed analysis of Indian agency economics, TV versus digital ad spend, and the future of search. Every figure attributed and dated.
Practitioner-grade
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Publications
Shorter editorial work, frameworks-in-practice, and commentary written by practitioners on the issues shaping digital marketing today.
Editorial
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Decoding the Jargon.
252 digital marketing terms in plain English: what each one means, what it helps you decide, and where people misread it. 45 of them come with a calculator you can run with your own numbers.
Featured insight
What we are reading right now.
A current piece of research that sits at the heart of the aFactor methodology.
Foundations for Digital Marketing in the AI & Algorithmic Era.
Why digital marketing is turning back toward marketing, and what capability means when AI operates the machine. An aFactor white paper from the aFactor Education Excellence Council, 19 pages.
Research domains
Four lines of enquiry.
aFactor's research program concentrates on four connected questions about professional education, competency measurement, and pedagogy.
01
Competency-based assessment methodology
How to measure applied judgement under ambiguity.
02
Role readiness measurement
How to operationalise readiness as a diagnostic construct, including band definition, threshold setting, and reassessment design.
03
Digital marketing pedagogy
How to design teaching that produces capable practitioners, not certificate holders. Curriculum, assessment, and capstone design.
04
Industry–academia gap analysis
What employers expect from new marketers versus what courses teach them.
Recent reports and briefs
Data-backed reports on the state of the industry.
Analysis of how Indian agencies price their work and where ad money is moving, with sources on every figure.
The Future of Search
Will AI replace search engines, or change them from within? Evidence, expert views and scenarios for 2028 and 2031.
Industry reportOctober 2026
Growth Without Margin
Why a growing Indian ad market is repricing agency work, and what the old rate card actually sold.
Position briefAugust 2026
The Symbiosis of Screen and Stream
Television and digital advertising, and what the Indian and global expenditure series really show.
Industry analysisAugust 2026
How we work
Reviewed internally, sources stated.
Every paper goes through internal review and is published with full methodology, data sources, and limitations stated upfront.
Read the research behind the methodology.
Read the papers and judge the thinking behind our programs for yourself.
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