In today’s challenging economic climate, marketers are increasingly recognizing the importance of comprehending and measuring their marketing investments. Recently, one of the largest ad powerhouses, Meta, teamed up with Nielsen to conduct a study on the dynamics of advertising impact, both in the short and long term. This report includes a peek into how marketers can enhance their ROI with Meta (i.e., Facebook and Instagram), with a particular focus on video advertisements.
The study looked at 12 CPG brands in the APAC region over a three-year period. You can view the full study, “Maximizing the Impact of Meta Video Ads in the Short Term & Long Term ”, here.
If you haven’t already read our blog post that outlines the stats on why video is such an effective ad format (and how to maximize its effectiveness), be sure to visit that as a supplemental read. Essentially, video has the ability to capture and maintain viewers’ attention more than almost any other ad format. Additionally, videos can convey emotions more powerfully than text ads or static images. The storytelling aspect can help establish brand identity more effectively, leading to stronger brand recall and customer engagement.
But don’t just take our word for it. Nielsen and Meta’s report outlines that Meta videos deliver the highest RoAS (Return on Ad Spend) for marketers at $1.50, which is why the majority of their study focuses on this format.
Despite this, brands continue to underinvest in Meta’s social platforms while over-investing in TV. In fact, according to the study, Meta ads generated a 30% better return on ad spend than TV ad campaigns.
\ The Meta/Nielsen study also revealed this impactful insight: Meta videos deliver the highest return on ad spend, with Reels and short video clips seeing the best performance. Additionally, videos shorter than 15 seconds performed best for promotions.
Why would Reels perform the best in terms of ad recall and effectiveness? The likely answer here is more simple than you might think – Reels take up the majority of a user’s screen and they are easy to consume, capturing viewers’ short attention spans.
If you’re already itching to take advantage of these shorter ad formats, we’ve laid out a list of our favorites in this blog post .
Another finding we found particularly interesting in the Meta/Nielsen study was the RoAS comparison of Meta video ads versus TV ad placements in APAC.
When comparing the short-term effectiveness, Meta’s RoAS ($1.4) was 60% higher than TV & 2.5 times the RoAS of other measured media channels.
In the long-term, RoAS of Meta ads ($0.9) was 5% higher vs TV in APAC.
Long story short, if your brand is still spending your dollars on TV ads, it might be good to start shifting some of that budget to Meta video ads instead.
As always, take these results with a grain of salt, as video ads might not be the best format for your campaign’s goals or industry. Also, keep in mind this study only applied to the APAC region, spanning Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand. However, it is one of the better studies we’ve seen comparing the short and long term effectiveness of video ads.
It’s definitely worth testing video ad formats in B2B marketing land, especially Reels, since that’s a more untouched area for B2B marketers. You can read more about this in our blog post, “Why It’s Time to Hop on the Meta Reels Trend ”.
Were any of the results of this study surprising to you? Comment below, we’d love to know!