Online advertising offers a better short-term return on investment (ROI) and sales impact than TV according to GfK’s Media Efficiency Panel research.

GfK, which partnered with Google on the research, tracked consumer response to eight major cross-media ad campaigns from FMCG brands that ran last year, and the subsequent sales uplift and ROI during the two to four weeks after the campaigns had finished.

Cadbury’s was one of the brands whose campaigns were monitored, having itself previously revealed it was generating £2 to £3 in sales for every £1 spent on digital advertising.

Response to the campaigns from the 7,500-strong consumer panel showed online video ads to deliver the highest ROI – an average of 81p for every £1 spent, with YouTube ads providing an average 84p ROI.
Meanwhile, the average short-term ROI for all online activity was 75p for every £1 spent, while press was 66p, outdoor 53p, and TV 43p for every £1 spent.

The digital campaigns reached on average 33 per cent of online users, while print reached around 40 per cent and outdoor 30 per cent, according to the report. The average sales uplift from an individual’s contact with an online ad was 9 per cent, with outdoor 6 per cent, TV 7 per cent and 8 per cent for print.

GfK digital strategy director Babita Earle said online can play a “significant and unique” role in the marketing mix. “With online advertising spend set to increase significantly over coming years, it is vital that media planners have quality information and data so they can fully understand the best ways to optimise ad spend, both online and offline,” he said.

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