Nielsen has rolled out 'The Marketing ROI Blueprint: Unlocking the Full Value of Marketing Investments', a report aimed at helping brand and media investment leaders prove tangible business impact in a fragmented media landscape.

The study highlights ongoing shifts in marketer priorities, identifying three key opportunities for brands to drive measurable results: focusing on business outcomes over delivery metrics, integrating cross-media measurement to close gaps, and linking creative work directly to sales and brand lift.

The report equips marketing professionals with actionable strategies to integrate data across channels, optimise campaigns, make smarter budget decisions, and enable agile, informed decision-making.

Key highlights from the report:

• The industry is prioritising business outcomes: Reflecting a broad industry shift from top-of-funnel reach, 38% of marketers are now prioritising sales or ROI as their top metrics for success, underscoring the demand for measurable business impact.
• ROI measurement confidence gap persists: 85% of marketers express confidence in their ability to measure ROI, but only 32% actually measure ROI holistically across traditional and digital media channels, highlighting a critical gap between perception and practice.
• Opportunities exist for unified emerging channel measurement: 27% of marketers still measure sponsorship separately, highlighting a clear path to gaining a comprehensive understanding of its contribution within the broader media ecosystem.
• Holistic measurement is the proven industry standard: Recognising the limitations of fragmented data, 60% of marketers are now incorporating both reach and frequency, as well as ROI, into their cross-media measurement strategies, confirming the industry’s commitment to achieving a comprehensive view of campaign effectiveness.
• Creative evaluation is crucial for maximising impact: Marketers are increasingly using tools like brand lift and sales lift to connect creative elements directly to measurable outcomes, helping to optimise campaign performance and prove tangible business impact.