IJMRT: Volume (4), Issue 11, 2022 ISSN (Print):2663-2381 International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Transactions ISSN(Online):2663-4007 (A Peer Reviewed Journal) www.ijmrt.in Copyrights@IJMRT www.ijmrt.in Page28 Meme-onomics: How memes are driving the advertising markets in India: A Case Study of Zomato and Swiggy Pavan Kumar Thimmavajjala 1* , Lavpreet Kaur 2 1 * MA Economics, Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. 2 MA Journalism and Mass Communication, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India. * Corresponding author Abstract In the current era of technological advancement, visual communication mainly takes place on the Internet. Of the many forms of visual expression on the Internet, one of the most widespread and expressive is memes. The creation of memes involves an amusing juxtaposition of phrases and pictures. Largely, Internet Memes are visual (photo and text, or video) content, popularly circulated via social media platforms, that are intended to convey a humorous message and meanings which are well-grounded in the global culture. Advertisers play creatively with memetic elements to get the audiences’ attention. By carefully cleverly selecting certain bits from the content on various media, marketers are able to attract audience attention to the songs, videos, series, serials, or movies and make profits on basis of increasing views and shares. In this context, it is relevant to study the meme market and their impact which is enabling convergence of media. This study focuses on Zomato and Swiggy’s outreach through memes. The memes were using yearly trend analysis and range from the period between 2020 and 2022 (between the pandemic period). We find that both have used the model extensively during the pandemic period despite a cut in their overall advertisement expenditures. Keywords: memes, meme culture, advertising cases, social media, Zomato, Swiggy Subject Classification : New-Age Media and Marketing, Mass Communication