Reel Recipes from the Rain: How Monsoon Has Created a New Influencer Subgenre

Introduction: From Drizzles to Discoveries

Every monsoon, the skies open up—and so do new storytelling possibilities. While most brands plan for summer heatwaves or winter holidays, the rainy season remains an underutilized canvas in India’s influencer marketing playbook. But things are shifting. From chai-and-bhutta pairings to soaked sarees and rainy day playlists, monsoon content is not only poetic—it’s powerful.

In this blog, we explore how creators are tapping into the monsoon aesthetic to build engagement, why Tier 2 audiences are driving this trend, and how your brand can ride this seasonal wave to drive real business impact.

The Rise of the Monsoon Microtrend

According to a 2024 Meta Seasonal Insights Report, seasonal content performs 2.3x better in engagement than evergreen content in India. While Diwali and Holi dominate this space, monsoon-themed content saw a 62% YoY spike in views on Instagram Reels between July–September 2023.

On TikTok (prior to the ban), “#MonsoonMood” had already crossed 120M views, while YouTube Shorts in India showed a 44% growth in rainy-season vlogs and street food explorations.

Top-performing themes included:

• “Rainy Day Recipes” (chai, pakora, maggi): Avg. 9.3% engagement rate
  Monsoon maggi recipe
  Healthy Baarish wala snack
  

• “Drenched Outfits” and OOTD reels: Avg. 6.7% engagement rate
  Monsoon Fashion Tips
  Outfit ideas for monsoon
  

• “Bhutta + Background Music” slow-mo edits: Avg. watch time 28+ seconds
  Childhood nostalgia
  Monsoon Nostalgia

Why Tier 2 Cities Are Owning This Trend

Influencer discovery tool CreatorTag revealed that creators from Tier 2 cities (Indore, Lucknow, Kochi, Guwahati, etc.) are seeing 30–45% higher engagement on monsoon reels than Tier 1 counterparts.

Why?

• Relatability: Scenes of power cuts, drenched school uniforms, and mom-made pakoras resonate deeply with Tier 2 life.

• Backyard Access: Unlike metros, these cities offer lush, unfiltered locations—rooftop tea sessions, flooded gallis, and misty fields.

• Language Play: Regional creators using Hindi, Tamil, or Marathi captions and voiceovers saw a 23% boost in audience retention.
  
  Case Insight: A bhutta vendor reel by a creator from Patna hit 1.2M views organically with a ₹0 ad spend—just by pairing local audio and storytelling.

  Brand Opportunities: What Can Marketers Do?

  
  1. Activate Food Creators Around Comfort Cravings

  Snacks like Maggi, chai premixes, instant soups, and corn mixes skyrocket in monsoon sales.

  🔹 Stat: According to Nielsen, instant food categories see a 37% sales lift during the monsoon (June–August).

  What brands can do:

  • Partner with food creators to create “Rainy Day 5-Min Recipes”

  • Use “smell memory” storytelling—chai masala = nostalgia = hooks
    

  2. Style in the Storm: Fashion Reels That Soak Up Attention

  From rain-ready kurtas to waterproof makeup, the aesthetic of “getting drenched but making it fashion” works.

  🔹 Stat: Influencer reels featuring translucent sarees or rainy OOTDs have 18% more saves than standard outfit videos (Source: Instagram Insights, Q3 2023)

  What brands can do:

  • Run a monsoon outfit challenge

  • Collaborate with lifestyle creators to show off “before/after rain looks”
    

  3. Couple Creators, Monsoon Moments

  Couple content during rain—shared umbrellas, chai dates, dancing barefoot—offers strong emotional resonance.
  Old Couple recreated song visuals in monsoon
  
  

  🔹 Stat: Couple reels shot in monsoon settings get 2x higher share rates (Source: CreatorTag Campaign Tracker)

  What brands can do:

  • FMCG & beverage brands can run “Pyaar Mein Bheegna” UGC contests

  • Home appliance brands can play on “wet clothes” moments with dryers/washing machines
    

    Future Scope: Will This Trend Stick?

    
    Absolutely. As short-form video becomes the norm, micro-seasons like monsoon are goldmines for contextual storytelling. With AI-powered platforms enabling hyper-local creator mapping, regional monsoon content is set to explode.

    Projection: Influencer content around weather-based themes (heatwaves, monsoons, winter chills) is expected to grow by 55% in 2025, with brands allocating up to 10–15% of seasonal budgets toward micro-seasonal creator campaigns (Source: GroupM India, Creator Forecast 2025)
    

    Let It Rain (Content)

    Monsoon isn’t just a season—it’s a sentiment. A feeling. A flash of memory in a chai cup or a damp sleeve. And influencers? They’re not just chasing trends; they’re bottling that sentiment in 30-second bursts of magic.

    For brands looking to stand out without selling out, this is your cue: ride the rain, tell a story, and become part of someone’s monsoon memory.