Google India, JioStar bring AI Search to hit TV shows Anupama, Yeh Rishta

MUMBAI: Advertisers have long known that Indian television protagonists command a loyalty money cannot buy. JioStar and Google India are now putting that loyalty to work for artificial intelligence. The two have struck a multi-platform partnership that embeds Google Search’s conversational AI Mode directly into the storylines of Anupama and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, two of Hindi television’s most-watched fiction shows, under the campaign line “Google Search ka naya AI Mode. Jo samjhe, samjhaye, raah dikhaye.”

The strategy is shrewd precisely because it sidesteps the usual tech-marketing trap of talking at people about features nobody asked for. Instead, the campaign leans on everyday dilemmas, managing budgets, navigating career choices, helping children with schoolwork, the stuff Indian households actually wrestle with, and shows beloved characters turning to AI Search for real-time, conversational answers. In the flagship brand film, Anupama, played by Rupali Ganguly, is stuck on where to even begin building her new house. Kinjal, played by Milloni Kapadia, nudges her towards AI Mode, and Google Search delivers personalised answers on the spot. It is product placement, certainly, but product placement with a coherent emotional logic behind it.

Mahesh Shetty, head of entertainment sales, TV at JioStar, put his finger on why this works: characters like Anupama are not just on-screen personas but trusted family members in millions of homes, and that trust is precisely the currency being lent to Google’s AI ambitions. Kanika Kalra, director of platforms and ecosystems, consumer marketing, India at Google, framed AI Mode as a fundamental shift in how people experience Search, and the collaboration as a way to demonstrate real-world utility rather than abstract capability. Conceptualised by JioStar CreativeWorks, the campaign fits neatly into JioStar’s broader push towards content-first, custom brand integrations rather than bolt-on advertising.

The distribution muscle behind this is not trivial either. The multi-week campaign runs across Star Plus and JioHotstar, layered with extensive digital out-of-home advertising for contextual, high-visibility reach, a combination designed to marry broadcast trust with physical-world frequency. JioStar’s television and streaming footprint reaches more than 800 million viewers weekly, which means this is less a pilot than a full-scale cultural rollout.

What makes the play smart is the audience it is quietly targeting: homemakers and first-time AI users who might never open a chatbot unprompted but will absolutely trust Anupama’s judgement. If AI adoption in India is going to move beyond metros and early adopters, it will likely be sitcom characters, not Silicon Valley keynotes, that get it there. Google and JioStar seem to have understood that before most of their rivals did.