Meta’s global business head says 'too early' to look at returns on AI spends

By Ashmit Kumar

Even as Wall Street begins to question the incremental revenue generated from the vast expenditure on artificial intelligence projects, Meta Platforms said it may be too early to seek a return on investment in AI.

Nicola Mendelsohn, Head of Global Business at Meta, speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18, has urged stakeholders to consider RoI (return on investment) in terms of the value derived by advertisers on the platforms.

In the Indian context, she said, “The headline here is that for every rupee that's being invested in Meta platforms, on average, we're seeing back ₹1.76. So this is really strong in terms of the increment.”

Mendelsohn recounted a conversation with Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, during which she learned that the e-retailer saw a 3.6x return on revenue after using Meta’s suite of Advantage products. These products are tools that help advertisers customise ad campaigns across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.

She also noted that Reels are resonating with the Indian audience. She said, “We are seeing a huge explosion of short-form content on our platforms that people are putting out there, that people are enjoying, and a lot of that is a result of AI really surfacing the things that people want to see. Over half the content that people are actually enjoying now is because of Reels, and that is also because of AI as well.”

Addressing the stress among Big Tech players, she emphasised that Meta is focused on investing in innovations.

She stated, “I've been in the office this week, in our different offices, and there's a huge energy. There's a huge momentum. There's huge excitement around the direction of the company, the investments that we're making, but also, equally, the partnerships that we have right here on the ground from some of the very smallest businesses—the mom-and-pop businesses—to some of India's largest businesses, and everything in between.”