Maruti Suzuki sees digital share in ad spends stabilising at about a third: Company official

Mumbai: Country's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki sees share of ad spends on digital stabilising at the current levels of being about a third of the overall pie, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The share of digital has grown to 30-32 per cent of the overall spends now, Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director for Marketing Ram Suresh Akella told PTI on the sidelines of an event hosted by social media giant Meta here.

"I think we are almost there…may be a little more," Akella said, replying to a specific question on where he sees the share of digital in the overall pie going ahead.

Asked if he sees the share of digital in the overall spends plateauing, he replied in the affirmative.

In a February news report, a senior company executive was quoted as saying that the overall ad spends by the company will be about Rs 800 crore in FY23, of which Rs 200 crore will be on digital.

Akella said from the automobile industry's perspective, the traditional medium of television continues to hold a lot of relevance for a marketer, even though digital has grown.

On the digital side, there is a lot of traction for short form video content which is less than 30 seconds long and the company is also looking at reels on a case-to-case basis.

At the launch of new campaign on the reels front by the parent company of popular apps Facebook and Instagram, Akella said, he sees spends on reels growing from here.

Meta's country head Sandhya Devanathan said India is already home to the largest base of social media creators who create reels and the number of such creators is estimated to grow to 100 million by the end of this year.

Launching the campaign christened 'Made on Reels', Devanathan said surveys commissioned by the company have shown the importance for brands to use the reels format to reach out to their target audience.

She said the survey pointed out that 77 per cent of Indians ended up purchasing a product or service after watching it on reels, and added that three of every four Indians surveyed said they reached out to a brand after watching reels.

In the times of macroeconomic headwinds, brands need to invest for efficient growth, Devanathan said, suggesting that reels can be the medium of choice.

Niharika NM, a digital creator who has over 3 million followers, said brands need to trust the creators while collaborating for mutual benefit. Her peer Viraj Ghelani said a viewer's attention span is only 1 second and you stand the risk of being scrolled out if a brand comes upfront.