“Attention is not the real prize”: Najil Kamath has just turned over the biggest belief in digital marketing

The co-founder of Zerodha, Nikil Kamt, calls on a digital legend: attention is not the real scarcity-evaluation.

In a newly postponed, Kamath warned that creators and brands face what he called “social media stagnation”, not leading them by getting rid of the eyes of the eyes, but by collapse in curiosity. “We are talking about rare attention,” but perhaps the real scarcity is curiosity, and without that, it has no value.

His argument’s support was the research conducted by Oddbalall Analytics, which shows that participation rates decreased in 2024: X decreased by 48 %, Facebook 36 %, Tiktok 34 %, and Instagram 16 %. The user’s growth slowed since its peak 2021, and the average time it spends for each user decreased by 10 minutes a day.

The decrease is not only in numbers-it is in confidence. Only 11 % of users say they trust in social media. Most of them blame the rise of Clicbait, the frequent brand content, and the wrong information that depends on the algorithm.

Impact on brands is visible. Advertising spending has slowed sharply – from 36 % between 2019 and 2021 to only 11 % in the past three years. Three out of four marketers are revenue in campaigns.

ODBALL Results Echo Echo concept of journalist Korea Doctor on “discrimination” – the slow decline of platforms to commercial noise. More than half of users now say that social media feels less social and more transaction.

Adam Museri, CEO of Instagram, confirms this transformation: Teenagers now prefer DMS and special stories over general summaries. Personal participation goes out of view.

Behind the scenes, creators are exhausted. The ODBALL survey found that 63 % feel combustible. Nearly half are thinking about quitting smoking.

Kamath refers to the previous lessons: brands that remain active after the crash of 2008 and setting the community’s priorities on the most powerful clicks. “If curiosity dies,” its post means, “even the best content cannot penetrate noise.”