Digital The Most Lucrative Channel for FMCG Brands: Meta Studies

On the sidelines of Meta Marketing Summit - FMCG edition held in Mumbai, the company announced findings from several Meta commissioned studies with leading market research firms Nielsen and Kantar that show the growing relevance of digital for the country’s FMCG sector. Among the key findings, the studies call out digital platforms, especially Meta, a crucial pillar in driving brand imagery, equity, and higher return on investment across categories.

Said Arun Srinivas, Director and Head (India), Ads Business, Meta, “The FMCG industry is a leading contributor to the country's overall ad-ex, and a marked shift in its media consumption patterns is going to be significant for the country’s creative ecosystem and the digital economy. The studies with Neilsen and Kantar clearly demonstrate the transformative power of digital channels for the FMCG sector. Catering to such an important industry, we are excited to see Meta platforms not only enhancing brand imagery and mindshare but also delivering exceptional returns on media investments.”

The Nielsen study noted that the return on investment (RoI), which is the incremental revenue generated per Rupee invested is 1.42 for digital mediums vis-a-vis 0.95 non-digital mediums. Within this, the RoI from Meta is 1.76 for every rupee invested.

On the other hand, the Kantar study reveals that the digital platforms, especially Meta, contribute significantly in building a brand. Meta has been instrumental in driving brand imagery where   around 20% of all media led brand growth comes from Meta. Furthermore, digital media channels led by Meta provide the highest ROI for building mind measures, according to the study.

Both the studies highlight that the investment by FMCG/CPG brands on Meta poses stronger returns indexed to traditional channels across categories including food, household care, personal care, baby care, laundry, and health & hygiene.

The summit was attended by prominent industry leaders and brands from the FMCG industry that shed light on the evolving consumer landscape and its effects on changing brand strategies, the use of Reels, AI and Business Messaging as new frontiers of marketing, and brands leveraging Meta platforms for enhancing their reach and growth.

“In today’s fragmented ecosystem, quantifying the effectiveness of media strategies has become a daunting challenge. Cross platform nuances require a laser focused approach to uncover what truly drives performance. Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) enables marketers to assess the impact of their investments, understand what is working, and unlocks several opportunities to increase ROI and drive profit, bringing accuracy and simplicity to an increasingly complex advertising environment in India,” said Abhinav Maheshwari, VP APAC Nielsen, Marketing Effectiveness.

Meta commissioned Nielsen to conduct an FMCG Meta-Analysis for India, an extensive study covering MMMs for FMCG categories including food, beverage, personal care, home care, health & hygiene, and others. Nielsen leveraged the Nielsen Compass repository of Marketing ROI norms, and looked at performance of all channels including TV, Other Traditional (Radio, Print and OOH), META, Online Video, and Other Digital (Display and Search). The learnings cover the role of media channels in driving sales, how ROIs compare across media channels, and how ROIs compare across categories. FMCG advertisers can greatly benefit from the Meta-Analysis insights to drive better marketing decisions, added Nielsen.

Meta also released the findings from cross media studies by Kantar. Cross Media is a Kantar preferred and industry accepted solution to evaluate the brand impact for a multi-media campaign. Kantar built the most robust Meta-analysis of Cross Media studies in India covering more than 140 campaigns across industries from 2012 -2023.