Dive Brief:
- Nielsen Catalina Solutions released a report on CPG (consumer packaged goods) industry benchmarks for return on advertising spend (ROAS) across cross-media, digital video, display, linear TV and magazines.
- In a result that might surprise some marketers, magazines showed the highest ROAS at $3.94 for every dollar spent, followed by display at $2.63.
- Nielsen also found that TV drove the highest incremental sales at $0.33 and mobile ads drove the most sales per 1,000 impressions at $26.52. Meanwhile, display ads drove the lowest incremental sales and the least sales per 1,000 impressions.
Dive Insight:
Magazines aren't the trendiest media in the marketing world today (that goes to mobile), but they certainly work well for CPG, according to the results of Nielsen Catalina's research on advertising ROI.
"The insights we've uncovered by comparing ROAS and incremental sales across media types are invaluable,” said Leslie Wood, Chief Research Officer at Nielsen Catalina Solutions, in a statement. “While there is no 'best' media, and choices should be driven by strategy and message, advertisers can leverage this data to inform their media decisions."
The research uncovered that expensive and frequently purchased CPG product categories, such as baby and pet products, have a higher ROAS than items from less expensive categories like food and beverage. However, the research also found that the size of the brand and the frequency of purchase is a more important factor than product category, while promotional campaigns provide the highest return.
The methodology behind the research included eleven years of analysis of almost 1,400 campaigns run by 450 brands in seven categories: baby, pet, health and beauty, general merchandise, food, beverage and over-the-counter (OTC). Nielsen Catalina’s dataset uses 90 million households of in-store purchase data.