38% of marketers rank ROI as top success metric: Report

Nielsen has released The Marketing ROI Blueprint: Unlocking the Full Value of Marketing Investments, a report aimed at helping brand and media leaders demonstrate tangible business impact in a fragmented media environment.

The report highlights a shift in marketer behaviour, identifying three main areas for brands to drive measurable results: prioritising business outcomes over basic delivery metrics, embracing cross-media integration, and linking creative efforts directly to sales and brand lift.

Key findings from the report include:

Business outcomes take priority: 38% of marketers now rank sales or ROI as their top success metrics, reflecting a move away from focusing solely on top-of-funnel reach.

ROI measurement gap: While 85% of marketers say they are confident in measuring ROI, only 32% actually do so across both traditional and digital media, highlighting a significant gap between perception and practice.

Emerging channels need unified measurement: 27% of marketers still measure sponsorship separately, indicating opportunities to integrate its impact into broader media performance.

Holistic measurement standard: 60% of marketers now combine reach/frequency with ROI in cross-media measurement strategies to get a more complete view of campaign effectiveness.

Creative evaluation matters: Tools like brand lift and sales lift are increasingly used to link creative elements directly to measurable outcomes, optimizing campaign performance.

The report provides marketers with frameworks to unify data across channels, optimize investments, and make informed, agile decisions. The agency says the findings can help professionals enhance campaign performance, allocate budgets more efficiently, and demonstrate the true business value of marketing initiatives.